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

[Malcolm Tent]

I thought it was the nine reincarnations tree, did it change name

Click to shrink...

Yup, he bound one of his forms to each reincarnation and then bound the whole staff to himself, to synergize it with his Chronicle.

 

[Lone-sith]

Yup, he bound one of his forms to each reincarnation and then bound the whole staff to himself, to synergize it with his Chronicle.

Click to shrink...

Oh I see, and now it's 10.

 

[Malcolm Tent]

My normal style, at least recently, had involved a lot of head on combat. Explosive charges and big flashy explosive battles. But after my earlier epiphany, I started to analyze my behavior a bit more. I realized that I had better tools for combat than just burst strength. As useful as that was when I needed it, some enemies couldn't be overcome with brute force.


Bethy, it turned out, was one of those enemies. Within an instant of the start of the fight, the entire clearing was full of copies of me. Half illusory and half real, as the real ones surrounded her and attacked from her blind spot.


It was all a cover, not only allowing me to enter stealth but to give murmur time to start adapting more deeply to the environment and erasing even more of my traces. With Dantalion having been enhanced by my first use of the staff, I was confident that even if I couldn't hide from Bethy, I could at least slow down her noticing me by a bit.


That confidence was shattered nearly instantly, because as my twelve doppelgangers, all in Sammael and using Mornax, attacked, things started to go wrong.


Bethy, eyes a burning, hellish red, extended her fingernails into claws and just sort of…blurred. Two of the attacks, aimed at her kidney and shoulder respectively, slid past her seamlessly as she did a graceful pirouette between the blows, and as the lunging clones passed by, she neatly ripped out their throats.


It wouldn't have killed me. Not with my defense and my capabilities, but the clones coldn't actually use the full strength of any of my forms. I hadn't really noticed the gap until Sammael was completed, but the stronger I got the less they could keep up. As constructs, they weren't as powerful, and unless I improved Beelzebub, they weren't going to close the gap.


Still, despite the fact that I would have survived, I couldn't help but wince as Bethy's claws effortlessly sliced the carotid arteries on the pair of clones, drifting past them like a ballet dancer as they collapsed to the ground, dissolving into fine dust.


I made a mental note to experiment with a new pseudo Domain that merged Agares with Beelzebub, making stronger clones. Unfortunately, that would have to wait, because as I was thinking that another three of my clones had converged on Bethy from all sides, trying to lock her down by attacking from multiple directions at once.


Bethy arched her back, bending backwards over the staff like it was a limbo stick, planting her palms and then popped up off her feet essentially curving her body around the still moving staff swing. She twisted on her hands, legs snapping out, and the heels of her shoes opened the throats of the two passing clones, whirling back up to her feet in time to spin and knock aside a powerful staff blow with her wrist and disembowel the third, her claws gutting him THROUGH his fucking armor.


Now I knew that my clones didn't have gear at the same quality as mine, my power couldn't recreate C-ranked items, but that was still a suit of full plate armor made by someone above the peak of D-rank Impact wise.


The other eight clones, being me and therefore not fucking idiots, backed off, creating a perimeter around Bethy at an equal distance. It was a solid move, it meant she'd have to move the same distance to attack any of them, giving the others time to react, and they all had Double Trouble to exploit to get close.


Bethy licked one of her fingers, then grimaced and spat. "Gross, your blood is all dusty." She stared at the clones intently. Her eyes had an odd shine in them, not the literal shine of the blood colored light, but a sort of fae madness, like a cat playing with a mouse.


It occurred to me that while I'd seen Bethy fight before, I'd never seen her TRY before. She just brutalized anyone she fought against. While that might make it seem like I knew her capabilities, I realized now that if no one had ever pushed her past, say, ten percent of her strength, that would be the highest level I'd seen her fight at. It was a sobering thought.


But I wasn't out of this yet. As I sat and waited, Murmur deduced the world around me, slowly scrubbing more and more traces of me from the environment. Every second I became more completely hidden, more impossible to find. Bethy was an apex predator, but even C-rankers hadn't noticed me after a certain point.


Not to mention that Gluttony was active, along with Abomination Engine. Every time Bethy hurt or killed a clone the damage fed back through Beelzebub into me, slowly increasing my strength.


It said something about her power that I still wasn't sure I could win. Even with my slowly growing strength, Bethy was on a whole different level. Beyond that, I was starting to worry that she might have slipped too far into the bloodlust. The gleam in her eyes was beyond the normal play-crazy act she liked to put on.


My Danger Sense was screaming at me to run, which wasn't ideal, but I didn't listen. I could do this. What I did do was activate Mornax, and tweak Abomination Engine to feed back into the defensive form. I should create a more powerful defensive domain, but I hadn't gotten around to it yet. I was beginning to regret coming into this half cocked.


On the upside, I was absolutely not feeling invincible right now, so lesson learned, I guess. I just had to made sure I fucking SURVIVED it.


I didn't think Bethy would kill me if she had control of herself, but I wasn't sure that she did. In fact, I was pretty sure the longer this went on the more blood mad she was getting. I could feel a sort of…aura coming off her, like the scent of freshly shed blood, and it was getting stronger.


Callie was watching from a distance, and I felt her worry starting to build as Bethy blurred forward, engaging four of my clones at once. They lashed out in a picture perfect formation, condensing their power into a single whole using some of the tricks we'd learned in the Imperial Army. It didn't matter. Bethy dipped gracefully under an attack, and as one of the clones went by, ripped his arm clean off and spun to smash the disintegrating stone limb into the head of a second.


Her head snapped forward, neck twisting like a snake and slightly ELONGATING as she ripped out a third clone's fucking throat with her teeth and left it choking to death on dust as she pounced on the forth and tore him apart with her claws.


The other four rushed her, obviously terrified and trying to end things quickly, but she dismantled them, seeming to get stronger and faster as she killed. She was inhaling something from them as they died. Not blood, but…death, maybe? Like a conceptual life force that she was able to steal with their demise.


Which was when it clicked for me. I had a way to fix this. Bethy had gone over the deep end. I wasn't sure why, maybe I was too strong and she'd gotten too into the fight, maybe killing the clones had been too close to killing me and she'd snapped. Whatever the case, she was currently being overwhelmed. Taken over. Corrupted.


I pulled on Abomination Engine, shifting it so it fed back into the pit in my stomach instead of my defense. Mornax was reinforced heavily, and with C-rank armor I should survive at least one attack. Hopefully. In the meantime, I triggered Zagan, and pulling on my connection with Archie, I started to form the Life Nova.


My companion's power, my own power, the damage Bethy was doing to the clones, I funneled all my strength into that single burst. And as I did, knowing I didn't have much time, I closed my eyes and fell into the staff.


Inside of it I was a king. A grand demonic lord sitting atop a jungle pyramid, lording over a wild world of predators and animals. The trees grew dense and vicious beneath the green sun, and I felt the world evolving, growing and shifting to become more dangerous, more deadly, with every breath I took.


There was no disease, no poison or rot, simply the purity of combat and the growth of species, selecting for the strongest and most powerful beasts to come to pay supplication. I ignored it all, forcing my eyes up to the sun. That was the Life Nova, the beating heart of the world that Zagan ruled, the manifestation of his constantly overflowing life force and the basis for this world of evolving horrors.


It was…terrifying. One of the most awful things I'd ever seen. It was TOO MUCH life. Like I was looking at something that had transcended the state of life and become some sort of conceptual predator that lorded over the concept of living itself. This was life two point oh, the next stage of life, and there would be no more room for the rest of us when it finished its ascension. Because it WAS Ascending. Growing even now, become more alive, more vital, creating a vitality so potent it would kill your average person, overwhelming their pathetic bodies with power, running them ragged like an engine trying to function on jet fuel.


I fixed that image in my mind, created a parallel just to hold it, and then I opened my eyes. I triggered Double Trouble, appearing behind Bethy, and reaching out with one hand, I grabbed the back of her head and dumped the most powerful Genesis Burst I could manage right into her skull.


Bethy's head jerked in my hand, her mouth opening in a scream as green flames ERUPTED from her mouth, eyes and nose.


Genesis Burst, at its core, was a technique created to erode the soul damage done to my cousin Felicity by her father. It fundamentally repaired an aspect of her that was broken in such a way that normal healing couldn't fix it.


This time, I altered the intent of the technique, aiming it at Bethy's nature. Bethy HATED her bloodlust. The only times I'd seen her cry were in regards to hurting people she cared about because of the overwhelming bloody madness in her bloodline I'd eroded that with wishes up to this point, but I hadn't been able to figure out how to fix it beyond my wish power. It was too complicated.


A mix of the vampire's bloody hunger and the maenad's belligerent battle madness was too much for one person to handle. If it had been before, I wouldn't have had any way to deal with it, but now I was different, for several reasons.


First, I had a Chronicle. I wasn't a B-ranker, but my techniques were qualitatively around that level. I was lucky Bethy's madness had prevented her from using her Domain because this wouldn't have worked. Second, I'd created a racial trait. I knew enough about how they functioned to know where I should aim this Genesis Burst.


And finally, I wasn't doing this alone. I knew my friend, and there was no way that the real Bethy wasn't somewhere in her head, raging at the bloodlust for trying to kill her 'bestie'.


The power from the dead clones lasted about ten minutes, and when it lapsed, I dropped her, letting her collapse bonelessly to the ground. She lay there, twitching, and then her eyes opened and the madness was gone. They fixed on me, tears beginning to well up as she whispered. "Thank you."


My technique didn't fix her. There was no way I could cleanse the bloodlust from her bloodline, let alone with a single purge. But I had HELPED. Her control would be better, and she'd be able to tap into more of her power without losing it. Once she was feeling a bit better, I helped her sit up, and then I got straight to the point. "Ok…what the FUCK just happened?" That had not been a normal sparring match.

 

[Malcolm Tent]

Bethy looked bad. Not just devastated (though that too) but tired and slightly thinner. She wilted a bit at my question, but shook it off quick. "I'm SO sorry," she said emphatically. "That was…I've never had that happen before. My bloodlust usually doesn't surge like that, and you've been helping me wear away at it." She subconsciously toyed with her bracelet, seemingly unaware of her own actions.


"It's fine," I assured her. "I'm not dead, which means you weren't really trying to hurt me. I'm under no illusion that I won that fight. I subdued your bloodlust and you decided not to fight me any more. You were kicking my ass."


"I think that was what did it," she said worriedly. "Not me kicking your ass. I think my instincts detected a genuine threat. I've never felt THREATENED before. But I could feel something nearby waiting to attack. It wasn't you though. Or, I guess it was you, but in stealth. I could sense you but couldn't pin you down and my blood lust went crazy."


That was…frankly terrifying. The idea that Bethy was so much more powerful than other people her rank that she'd never felt threatened enough to realize she had a trigger like that only emphasized how fucking strong she was.


Because I knew for a fact that based on the beginning of that fight, I had no shot against her in my current form. Granted, I wasn't anywhere near the peak of my rank, but then neither was she. I reached out a hand, putting it on her head and channeling Zagan into her, hoping to restore some of the lost energy.


"So what happened to you just now?" I asked as I worked on her. "Bloodlust I get, and from what I can tell we just purified at least part of your bloodline, like…permanently. Which is great. But if that's the case why are you so weakened?"


"I was supercharged," she explained weakly. "The life essence I harvested from your clones…it's like spiritual blood. I don't usually mess with it, daddy says it can get out of hand fast. But it's basically like rocket fuel for me. I pumped myself up super big and strong, and when you washed all of it out I was left with just a skeleton of my normal power."


Chelsea, who had come running as soon as Bethy went down, glared at the other girl. She seemed like she wanted to yell at her, but couldn't think of a reason to do so. I felt an amused flash from Callie, who clearly also recognized the sentiment and empathized, I shot her a quick pulse of…well, it was basically the emotional equivalent of sticking out my tongue at her.


My sister, after thinking over the situation, just hugged the small vampire. "I'm glad you're ok. Don't scare me like that. Gabe was about to charge in here to try to help."


Gabe nodded resolutely, and we all winced at the possible disaster we'd averted. Gabe was an Adamant, whose path only worked if he maintained victory. After reaching D-rank he had a BIT more flexibility, in that he wouldn't just lose all his power if he was defeated, but it would still be really bad for him. Bethy, specifically, was a person Gabe NEVER engaged in combat with. Not just because of his very obvious crush on her, but because she was someone he couldn't beat.


Bethy looked abashed. "I didn't do it on purpose," she protested weakly. "But if it helps I don't think this will happen again. Not just because I'm not going to spar with Shane again but because I feel…different. Whatever you did, it wasn't just cleansing my bloodlust. I feel like I've CHANGED somehow."


"I didn't cleanse your bloodlust," I told her bluntly. "I cleansed your bloodLINE. Or a bit of it. Related to some new tricks I picked up. But I don't have near enough power for a permanent fix. At the very least it should help though."


I didn't think it would be possible to purify all the bloodlust. As a vampire, Bethy's predatory instincts weren't a corruption, they were a natural part of her racial trait. That said, SOME parts of her heritage could be mitigated. Her mother's maenad power had mixed with her father's vampirism in a very alarming way. She had a lot of power, but at the high end little control. Part of that was because maenads had a sort of wine madness that was heavily mixed up in bloodlust.


The madness I could purify, at least partly. Without the combination she would have much more control over her vampiric nature, but it would take more than a few attempts to get rid of it all. Not to mention I got the feeling the only reason I'd succeeded at this first attempt was because I'd only just gotten started. Based on the suppression of Bethy's bloodlust we'd tried to do with wishes, this kind of thing got progressively harder the further you went.


For now, everyone was safe and alive and that was all that mattered. We helped Bethy up and Archie offered to carry her back up to the platform. Once we got her up there Chelsea and Gabe took her back to the room she was staying in to get some rest.


Gabe, based on what I could see, wanted her to feed on him, but she'd gotten enraged last time he suggested it. Bethy's bite was agonizingly painful because it literally ripped stats out of her victims. The idea of subjecting Gabe to that kind of agony horrified her. I considered offering myself, sure I could take the pain after my ordeals, but I realized Zagan would probably be just as useful and WOULDN'T inflict mind numbing agony on me.


My wife, who I'd mentioned this too, seemed ecstatic I'd come to a sane and rational decision about the problem, and the attitude made me seriously rethink some of my decisions over the past few months. Most of them I would stand by, but a quick recap of my choices made it clear exactly how much recursion had been affecting me.


Callie stopped me after we split from my sister, Gabe, and Bethy. Benny and Jessie had gone ahead so it was just us. "You alright? I felt…something."


"The staff," I told her. "It's kind of intense. Surprised you didn't sense it last time. I think I might have blocked you from picking it up with Murmur. Subconsciously worried about it affecting you, maybe."


She nodded with interest. "Well I have to admit the results are impressive. I can't wait to see what you can accomplish with that thing after some time to work with it." She stopped, stepping forward to wrap her arms around me and rest her head on my chest. "It feels so good to have you back with me, Shane. Talking through the bond just isn't the same."


I hugged her tightly. "I know. And I still owe you a honeymoon. But with the succession war coming up…"


She just shook her head. "I'm not in a rush. We're going to spend the rest of our lives together. You being safe is way more important than a honeymoon." She smirked at me. "Besides, imagine where you can take me if you become the Wishmaster. I'm thinking a planet entirely covered in delicious food. Maybe a giant fruit orchard."


I laughed but shook my head. "I figured you'd want to hit something like Strega Thirty Seven. It's a giant ocean of random loot. Half of it is worthless, but there's a whole society dedicated to mining that place for treasure. It's at the junction of a bunch of portals leading to destroyed battlefields and objects fall to earth there every day. It's been going on for centuries now, and some of the biggest up and comers in the universe got their start there."


Her head snapped up, eyes intense. I'd been researching possible honeymoon locations on my downtime for a while now. I knew Callie had to wait because of everything going on, but I refused to let her down beyond that.


I knew my wife though, and the loot goblin in her was strong. Forget paradise planets or fruit orchards, the massive interstellar junk yard full of mysterious loot was pretty much her dream destination. Feeling how smug I was, she cleared her throat, looking away. "Sure," she said with faux nonchalance. "That sounds like fun."


"Never change, honey," I said with a laugh. "Anyway, we can worry about that after the succession war. We've got more than a few of our A-rankers, but B-rank recruiting is going to be a pain. As for C-rank and below…well, I wanted to see if we could get a few Dryads onboard. I bet Daysia would help if I asked. Tree Singing would be a huge advantage in almost any survival situation. I still don't know the details of the succession competition but given the WCP in general and my personal experiences in specific, I somehow doubt it's going to be a puppy shampooing contest."


She cackled at the image. "You say that, but dogs hate getting baths. Imagine Bethy trying to shampoo Luggage."


"CAN you shampoo Luggage?" I asked with genuine interest. "Because I still don't know what hellhounds are made of. Hell, I don't even know if they have actual fur. I'd kind of like to see that now."


"Do NOT suggest that to her," she said firmly. "That hound might be docile around her, but he's way stronger than most of us. With our luck he'd burn the tree down or something and then we'd have no chance of working with the Dryads. I know you well enough to know what you find amusing, but that would be way too much trouble."


I had to admit to that one, so I just nodded. It sounded hilarious to me. I wasn't sure if this was an example of recursion influencing me or just me being an idiot, but I decided to give myself the benefit of the doubt.


"So, we have this big banquet and then we're heading out," I said with enthusiasm. "Where's the next stop on the recruitment tour? I figure since you've been training with my grandmother you might have heard." My grandpa had planned this whole thing, but I hadn't asked him too much about it, having been so excited to see my friends and family.


"One of the imperial clans I think," she said with a grin. "More than that though, while you were out on your nature hike Bethy got a message from her dad. Apparently Abel has successfully completed the first leg of his training, and Lark is sending him out to gain experience."


I perked up. "Wait, he's finished? Did he succeed? Did he learn anything impressive from Lark?"


"I asked that too," Callie snickered. "Bethy said he must have, since he's still alive. I thought she might be joking, but really it's hard to tell with her sometimes."


That was true, but still I was excited. While apparently Bethy was someone I was completely incapable of matching, I wanted to spar with Abel. My mentor had given me a lot of…personal guidance, over the time I'd known him. It was my duty as his student to show him exactly how much I'd improved.


I briefly worried that Bella might come to a similar conclusion later in life once she had trained more…and then I dismissed it. No way she'd be able to keep up. I was safe. Though I decided to maybe be a little less enthusiastic about recreating my mentor's methods.


Callie and I kept talking as we walked back to our place, enjoying the crisp evening air and the alone time. The breeze carried a faint scent of apples and flowers, and the silvery light of the leaf canopy above (it apparently had a moonlight setting) illuminated the world around us in beautiful relief. It was a good night.

 

[Malcolm Tent]

The returning contestants took longer than expected to get back, so they ended up pushing the feast back until the night after. I spent that whole evening with my wife, and then the next day, after stockpiling my wishes, I went to see Benny. I hadn't checked in with my friend beyond our greeting, mostly because…I didn't know what to say. While he was happy to see me, I knew him well enough to notice the hesitation in his mannerisms when we reunited, and I knew exactly what had caused it.


Benny had come on this trip to explore with me, to have my back, and I was slowly leaving him behind. It was inevitable really. Callie had a whole bunch of very lucky encounters (for some value of that word) and was getting a massive income in stats from all the renown, not to mention possibly being able to gain some inspiration from the scythe (I didn't expect her to be swinging that thing around anytime soon, but using it as a roadmap might be helpful, and if anyone could help with that it would be my grandma), and Jessie had her new racial trait.


My best friend probably felt totally useless, and I hadn't known how to help besides just focusing my wishes on him.Of course, I could still do that if I handed over all my scrolls, but unless he could borrow some cash from Celine he wouldn't be able to pay for it all anyway, because I didn't need stored attacks as much, and if he paid with points he'd just be course correcting and not gaining anything.


But now I'd come up with a new plan. Or rather, one had fallen into my lap. "Catch," I called to my friend as I tossed him the fruit I'd been carrying. He did, his hand reaching up casually to snatch the item from the air without getting up from where he was lounging in front of a small pond.


"You brought me a snack?" he said wryly. "You didn't even peel it. Some effort would be nice." Despite the flippant words, I saw his eyes brighten. He could feel the C-rank power in the fruit, even if he didn't know what it meant.


I laughed and flopped down next to him, putting my arms behind my head and staring out at the pond. "Reincarnation fruit. It'll cleanse the soul. There's actually two ways to do that. There's the normal condensation, which increases clarity and improves your odds of forming a Chronicle, and there's a secondary method that cleanses deeper impurities from things like pills and…honestly I don't even know yet. But I've gone through both, once in the Falls of Lamentation and once in a rebirth ceremony performed by the Lady."


Pointing at the fruit, I grinned. "That is supposed to do the same thing as the falls. It should pave the way for you to get into B-rank more easily, and having a purified soul will make Path stuff easier. Your progress forming your Solid Path should be easy as pie, and it'll help you exert way more power with your Path, which will make gaining renown easier. Even I didn't have something like that going into D-rank. I'm a little jealous."


Benny had been training and working the whole time we'd been apart, probably even harder than Jessie had. I knew some of the wishes had gone to him, but beyond that he'd been busting his ass to get stronger, working on his inventions and integrating new tech I hadn't even seen yet, not to mention his Path advancement.


Without Celine around, he'd been desperately pushing to improve, I'd heard as much from Callie. I didn't feel bad for him or anything, we all trained our asses off, but I thought that kind of determination should be rewarded. Not to mention he was my best friend, and I wanted him to have all the advantages he could get. From a selfish perspective, I didn't want to leave him behind, and this might help with that.


I'd considered giving the fruit to Callie, but after thinking it over, she had plenty of advantages already. Benny had been with me since we were kids, and I owed him my support.


He stared at it with a complicated expression. "I want to say no," he said in frustration. "To give this to Jessie or something. But she already got that new racial trait. I considered wishing for one, but I don't have anything I'm suited for like that. Nothing that feels right. I'm just…mediocre. But this will help me in ways you can't imagine. Invention is heavily dependent on the soul. I think that the way it works is reminiscent of randomly generated Paths. With this, I might be able to more easily control what I make."


"Wait, really?" I asked with interest. "How are the Paths generated?"


"It's like…bringing out the inner nature," he said after a slight pause. "The more I work with my Path the more obvious it becomes. Like calling out the renown inside and letting it twist into whatever form it's most suited for. Basically just letting recursion go nuts on a bunch of materials."


I nodded thoughtfully. "I always wondered about that. Invention is…weird. And the high percentage of mad scientists seemed strange when we were starting out. You never really had that issue, so I thought it wasn't that serious and the others were just hamming it up for renown. I guess your soul has always been a bit further ahead, at least since you really got deeper into Inventing."


"Pretty much," he admitted. "I didn't even realize what it was until I formed my Path, and then it started to seem…familiar. I've been experimenting with infusing my Path into my Inventions to change their nature, and I've had some success. It's kind of like a technique. But this will take my control to a whole new level. And going into D-rank…" his eyes burned with an almost manic intensity. "Shane if I can create enough powerful tech and integrate it all, I think I can upgrade my ability that way. Not exactly a racial trait, but close. And one I make myself."


That sounded amazing. "If you need some help I've made my own temporary racial trait and helped with Jessie's. I mean, you could even wish for the catalyst, but it doesn't sound like you want that."


"No," he said firmly. "Stats are fine, but if you help me with this I feel like I won't ever be able to take the next step on my own. I need to do this myself. It's the only way I'll be sure I can keep going. But this…yeah, this'll help. Thanks, man."


It was funny, I knew Benny well enough to know how his mind worked, and I was aware of how he'd been feeling just from that, but I hadn't seen many signs of it. Benny wasn't the type to show his unhappiness on the surface, at least not most of the time. Now that it was gone though, his previous dissatisfaction was obvious for its absence.


The energy and life that filled his face were the kind that had nothing to do with green fire or stat points, and everything to do with a renewal of purpose. Abel's advice all those months ago about drive and determination flashed through my mind. Maybe this would be even bigger for Benny than I imagined. The idea of my friend being able to catch up to or even surpass me in the short term made me beam with pride, and I hoped this would be as effective as I thought.


"I don't know what this will be like," I warned him. "My experience with this process happened during the course of trials for a goddess of torture. So you can imagine that the sensation might not be what you'd describe as pleasant. I don't know if the fruit will be the same…but I also don't know it won't."


Of course, I had no clue how much of the Falls of Lamentation had been Falls and how much had been Lamentation, so to speak. It was highly possible the actual reliving of my experiences was the only necessary part and all the suffering was just Order of Mercy seasoning. For Benny's sake I hoped so. My best friend was tough, but I wasn't sure it was possible to get through some of the stuff I had without gradually working up to it.


Before I could warn him again though, a message shot through the bond and I cursed. He raised an eyebrow at me and I climbed to my feet, brushing off my armor. "The last Dryad just got back. We're being summoned for the banquet. I have to go schmooze tree people to try and recruit some B and C-rankers."


"Sucks for you," he gloated. "I'm going to go eat this fruit and get way stronger. Bet you wish you could skip like I am."


I snorted. "Dude, I remember going through what you're about to. I'd rather deal with politics all day than go through that again. Have fun spending your next two hours curled up in a ball on your bathroom floor crying and throwing up."


"You cried?" he snickered as we walked away from the pond. "Wuss. I bet I won't make a sound. I've always been tougher than you."


"More delusional at least," I retorted. "Remember when we were fifteen and you broke your toe? You acted like you got eviscerated. You would stare dramatically off into the middle distance whenever you talked about it. I've met literal crying infants with a higher pain tolerance than you."


He bristled. "That was a COMPOUND fracture! Those are extra painful. And I don't want to hear that from the guy who sprained his ankle and told everyone he broke it in three places. I-"


"If you idiots don't hurry up, I'll show BOTH of you what suffering feels like," came my wife's voice from a nearby shadow. "The banquet already started and they're hassling me to know where the big hero is. Daysia won't shut up about how amazing you are and I'm getting mobbed."


I winced. "Sorry honey," I called sheepishly. "I'm on my way." I turned to Benny. "You got lucky this time."


"Please, your wife totally saved your ass," he sniffed scornfully. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go eat this fruit and then casually relax and watch a movie. Then make fun of you for being such a baby." He flipped me off and we separated, me heading toward the banquet and him back toward his tree lodgings. Before he got too far though, he stopped. "Shane?" he asked quietly. I made a sound of inquisition and he sighed. "Thanks. For real. It means a lot. I won't let you down man."


I laughed. "I know that, idiot. Be careful with that fruit. Seriously."


"I will," he promised. "And you kick some ass at that banquet. Snag us some tree people for the trip."


Smiling, I watched him go. I followed the sensation of distress to the banquet hall, and Chelsea met me at the door with a smirk. "You're in so much trouble," she told me with a grin. "Callie has been fielding questions from admiring Dryads, including Daysia who I think has a crush. She is NOT pleased."


I shrugged. "She'll get over it, I can't help being awesome. Someone was bound to notice." I did a fake flex, making sure to exaggerate so it was clear I wasn't actually that conceited. My sister remained unamused. Everyone was a critic.


Sulking because no one appreciated my humor, I made my way over to Callie, slipping in to sling an arm over her shoulder. "Sorry ladies, need to borrow my wife for a minute. I'm lost without her you know."


Callie's shoulders straightened smugly as we walked away, and I triggered Bael as soon as we broke line of sight. "Well," I said with a laugh. "That seemed like fun. Now, who am I supposed to talk to around here to get some backup?" I saw her consider being annoyed, but eventually she just laughed along with me and turned me toward one of the Dryad elders. Hopefully this party wasn't going to go on all day. Maybe Benny WAS the lucky one.

 

[Malcolm Tent]

The banquet was surprisingly energetic. Most of the ones I'd been to were somber, formal affairs, but the Dryads were incredibly lively. Dancing, singing, party games. Rather than champagne or wine they served chilled fruit smoothies (though some of the fruits were intoxicating, I avoided those) and everyone was laughing and having a good time.


The group of Dryads who had been looking for me (most of whom had just been hoping I could help them like I helped Daysia, despite my insistence that SHE had helped ME) had all been scared off by Tasha and Alyssa, so we were free to approach the elders and some of the stronger Dryads in peace.


Speaking of Alyssa, Tasha's daughter had bonded with a powerful metal and electric attribute tree called a "Gold Leafed Thunder Spirit Tree", and was glowing literally as well as figurative. The latter glow was mostly because of her date, a smug looking Jessie, who had finally gotten the courage to ask the girl out. I was happy for her, both because I knew that her relationship with Maria was over because of the strain of distance, and because Alyssa seemed like a good match for her.


Daysia, meanwhile, had dragged a very similar looking Dryad woman and a tall Dryad man with lavender hair over to us. "Mom, dad, this is Solomon, he helped me so MUCH. I don't think I could have ever found my tree without him. Solomon, this is my mother Heather and my father Connifar."


It was clear she was trying to pitch me some helpers, and B-ranked Dryads would definitely be helpful. I smiled at the couple from behind my mask. "Nice to meet you. Are…am I allowed to ask what your tree is? Or is that impolite, I don't know the etiquette."


Heather laughed cheerfully. "Perfectly fine, dear. Con is bonded to a Dreamcatcher Oak, and my partner is a Sunshine Maple. Daysia got her attribute alignment from me, I think. Though clearly she's much more compatible with her tree than I was, and already C-rank. It took us both centuries to reach B-rank. I can't thank you enough for giving her this opportunity."


"Is it really that important to have a higher rank tree?" I asked. "I mean I get that it makes ranking up easier, but…"


Connifar shook his head. "You don't understand. The rank up prerequisite is the biggest roadblock to Dryad advancement. Our growth is steady and our foundations are much more solid than normal Ascendants, but the price for our power is slower advancement. Trees are long lived beings, and they grow slowly. There are substances to increase that growth speed, but they're rare and difficult to get in large quantities."


"No to mention the headstart," added Heather. "With her tree already at C-rank, Daysia can continue to help it grow to the edge of B, preparing herself to help it break through again once she ranks up to C herself. Her Dawntreader Elm is near the peak of C-rank as well. Rather than just being a rank ahead, it's closer to two. As long as she doesn't rush herself too much, she'll have no barriers up to B-rank. Especially not with her tree's Path to use as a model for her own advancement. You've completely changed her future."


"She helped me more than I helped her," I said firmly. "The new staff she helped me get, the one she helped shape. Well, my Ten Demons Tree wouldn't exist without her." I called the staff out, enjoying the sensation of it smacking into my palm as it appeared in my hands.


Connifar whistled. "That's a beautiful weapon. Lady Tasha's work, I assume? Her Bulwark Bonsai has always had a strong affinity for Sapsteel. There are many trees that can condense it, but hers is the highest quality. May I?" I nodded, passing him the staff. I could recall it into my soul at a moment's notice so it wasn't like he could steal it.


He passed it between his hands, stepping back as he whirled the weapon around himself in a complicated flowing pattern. "A regal piece," he said with a solemn nod, handing it back.


"Oh stop being such a stick in the mud," laughed Heather. "My husband can be a bit somber. We just wanted to thank you, and possibly discuss joining your retinue."


I nodded enthusiastically. "I'd love to talk about that. Though I was curious, how would you all come with us? Don't you need to be like…with your trees? I'm not sure what the limitations are on that."


"There aren't many," she assured me with a warm smile. "The bond between a Dryad and their lifebound tree is a soul connection. I'm told you and your wife have a similar bond, do you have any issues being separated?"


That made a lot of sense. I'd been subconsciously leaning on old Dryad stories for my information. "So, you two want to join my retinue? You realize the succession war is going to be rough. We're allowed ten B-rankers and five A-rankers, so you'll be up against pretty steep odds. I don't even know how many relatives will be IN this competition. I'm guessing probably not just a few."


Which actually explained why the limitations on A and B-rank forces were in place too. I knew there were a hundred S-rankers in the universe, give or take (not counting the ones brought over by the vanished gods), but how many A-rankers were there? Ten times that number? A hundred times? Even if it was a hundred times, that was only ten thousand Ascendants. Letting any competitor field more than five risked taking a large bite out of the top ranked forces if anything happened.


If there were two hundred contestants that was a full TENTH of the A-rank forces in the universe. Granted my numbers could easily be off, but I was still sure that resource scarcity was part of the motivation for the throttling of high ranking forces, at least as much as "fairness" a concept the WCP rarely had any use for.


"So…what do you guys DO?" I asked slowly. "I don't know how the variants of Dryads actually work. Just that bonding to a tree makes you different."


Connifar shrugged. "It's mostly Path harmonization. Makes techniques easier. We get a sort of base power with the racial trait that works like a Job. Becomes a main Skill. The real benefit is being able to mobilize soul power across the bond. It's like having two souls, though plants can't break their shackles."


Even with a lower level soul, having a secondary source of soul strength was pretty useful. I could see why Dryads considered themselves so powerful at the same rank, even if it was harder to advance.


Heather cut in. "At least for us personally, I have a lot of fire and light techniques, and Connifar can use a mental attribute that's incredibly difficult to defend against. He calls it Dreamshadow, and it's sort of a silvery mist that fogs the mind. We're considered two of the more effective B-rankers in the Temple, though admittedly not the top."


"That's Salvang," Connifar grimaced. "Strong man, but not the most humble, and not so easy to get on with."


His wife smirked. "Salvang had a bit of an infatuation with me when we were younger. He used to ply me with gifts. Admittedly, he's also a bit of an ass, but Con is a bit sensitive when his combat prowess is brought up."


"He bound a C-rank tree in his ceremony," sniffed Connifar. "It's just a brief advantage. Another thousand years or so and I'll catch up. Regardless, Salvang is in line for an elder position when he hits A-rank. He wouldn't leave the Temple. We, however, would be happy to be two of your B-rank warriors. If you would have us."


I nodded enthusiastically. "Hell yes, even just Tree Singing would be a huge boon for us. We have no idea what the succession war actually entails, so versatility is key."


In fact, I was on the fence about trying to get an A-rank Dryad, but with only five, I had to be sparing with my invitations. Mom, Zeke, possibly dad. Maybe Killian? And potentially an A-ranked Vampire if Bethy could swing it. Having seen how terrifying my friend was going all out, having someone of that level on my team would be a hell of a comfort.


Most of my picks were more recent A-rankers, but at the A-rank Path mattered more than stats. Mom, dad, Zeke, they all had absurdly powerful abilities for their level, with my dad crushing another A-ranker who had beaten Zeke down and Zeke himself destroying an A-ranker at B-rank, bridging a MONUMENTAL Impact gap. My mom had two abilities, which meant theoretically should have two Solid Paths (even if I wouldn't be able to take that Path due to how overcomplicated and time consuming creating my Domain had become) and could honestly be even scarier than the other two for all I knew.


Whoever my last one or two A-rankers were would need to be elites, and while Tasha seemed nice, I didn't think she was in their weight class.


After confirming Heather and Connifar for two of my B-ranked slots and adding Daysia to the retinue, I decided that my high rank Dryad quota had been filled. Whereas before it seemed like a chore to fill all those spots I had available now it suddenly felt like there weren't nearly enough of them.


Still, with two B-rankers down, I still had plenty of C-ranked slots. Alyssa, being Tasha's daughter, was able to introduce us to the most promising C-rank candidates. There were a surprising amount of them, but sadly most of them weren't willing to come along. I had my pick of about fifteen C-rank Dryads who had been enticed by the promise of power and adventure. I picked five of them.


A tall, teak skinned man with bright purple named Eldrys, a shorter girl with red leafy hair and blue eyes named Naria, a pair of twins named Zelden and Rayda (both pale with green hair and eyes, though Rayda, the sister, had longer hair), and a short, barrel chested man with green skin and a green leafy beard named Kelgan.


The others either didn't want to go despite saying they did or were annoyingly cocky. Given we were meeting back up with Abel I didn't have room in my life for that nonsense.


Once we finished up, I went to find my grandfather. He was outside standing on branch walkway out of the large tree building, staring down into the darkness. "Hey old man," I said casually. "What are you doing out here? Want me to leaf you alone?"


He rolled his eyes. "That was terrible. And no, it's fine. Just thinking. Not that long ago, at least as I measure it, I was here with Tasha, ready to go on an adventure. The seed journey is the next step in the Temple journey, undertaken by new B-rankers. That's when they're considered strong enough to venture out on their own."


"She said it was her fault," I said matter of factly. "Everything with Black Sorrow."


He rolled his eyes. "Despite what my wife would have you believe, her mother is more than capable of causing problems without provocation. Celia loves her mother, and she makes excuses. Not to mention she's a god. It's hard to hold grudges against a force of nature. Of course, that's recursion talking. But it doesn't change how we feel."


"Wait…what?" I said with a blink. "What do you mean?"


He laughed. "Gods are beings beyond human understanding, beyond petty mortal concerns, revered and lionized, they're above reproach. Or at least, that's what they tell us. It's part of their marketing. Kind of like how being an Ascendant makes it easier to do brave or stupid things because we all associate Ascendants with those kinds of actions."


I frowned for a second, then started laughing. Well that certainly explained a few things. "Well, I can't wait to be a god myself then. All I have to do is become the Wishmaster. Guess we ought to get going to our next stop then, huh? I have an army to recruit." The affairs of gods were out of my hands, I could only worry about my own coming troubles. Worry or not though, I would damn sure be prepared.

 

[koya]

possibly discuss joining your revenue."

Click to shrink...

So, you two want to join my revenue?

Click to shrink...

After confirming Heather and Connifar for two of my B-ranked slots and adding Daysia to the revenue

Click to shrink...

Did you mean retinue here, or was it some sort of money pun?

 

[Malcolm Tent]

Did you mean retinue here, or was it some sort of money pun?

Click to shrink...

I did mean retinue.

 

[Lone-sith]

I think revenue should be retinue

 

[Malcolm Tent]

Our next stop was the Imperial clan descended from Alkem, the Varhana clan. They were a Ducal clan under Duke Darius Varhana, known for their wind attribute abilities. Apparently even in Alkem's time they had a whole legacy of wind based Skills and spells, and often synergized them with their main Skill to create unique capabilities.


It wasn't a bloodline, because they'd never had an S-ranker, but after generations of similar abilities they had a tendency to develop powers in that vein, which was a fascinating little quirk. I had no idea you could achieve that effect without merging with a Saga.


I'd been planning to pick up Sable and Dom, but the two of them had elected to meet us at the Varhana clan home base, a B-ranked planet called Akasha. We'd been approved for meetings with their clans but they would be a week or so out. Ostensibly because they needed time to prepare their hospitality, but Zeke told me it was more of a power play. A-rank factions had a lot of pride, and especially in their own territory couldn't be seen capitulating too easily, even to a candidate.


We didn't have much information on Akasha at this point. Alkem hadn't been back in thousands of years, so any knowledge he had of the planet was completely useless. Even the oldest living member of the Varhana clan hadn't been born yet when he was frozen, and while they HAD already been on the planet, it had been C-rank when he went under.


The only real reason they were welcoming him back so enthusiastically was because of a particularly powerful legacy Skill he practiced that had been lost to the clan for millennia. I didn't dig into it because it seemed like an internal thing, and honestly I didn't need more fucking Skills, I already had way too many if you counted subskills from DS Mastery. Still, his lack of information meant we were flying blind here, so Callie and I were waiting in the bridge to watch the initial descent onto Akasha.


Which was what were seeing now. As we watched, the ship descended into the atmosphere, and on a large screen in front of us, the details of planet Akasha came into view.


It was, of course, absolutely beautiful. Most high rank planets were gorgeous, which made sense given the renown needed to rank them up was as good as terraforming. Still, the strange way that stories could spread and twist, combined with the changes brought on by Ascendant materials, animals, plants, people, and even natural formations, meant that high ranked planets could be pretty unique, and Akasha was by far the most interesting I'd seen.


Firstly, there was almost no land on Akasha. Or rather, no land on the surface. Below us, over a citrine sea of leaping waves, continents floated miles above the ocean, chunks of rock suspended in the air.


The reason for that was pretty obvious at a glance, because among the waves, howling gales of wind raged and whipped across the surface of the planet, hurling the ocean to and fro. The continents were high enough up to avoid the waves and wind, but there were jagged mountains spearing out from the seas that weren't so lucky. As we watched, the wind and waves pounded the dark stone, and based on the pitting and sharp lines on the rock, the water was hitting pretty damned hard.


Alkem, who had been called up when we started our descent, entered, staring down at the planet with a conflicted expression. "The Sulfuric Sea has risen," he said unhappily. "It wasn't this high when I was here last. And some of the continents remained on the surface. Important land with cherished history. To abandon the caverns and labyrinths of the ruined cities in the Valkyr Wastelands, the weeping palaces of the Benretti hills. What could have changed Akasha so much?"


"Time," said Zeke bluntly. "Time changes everything. Even the gods aren't totally immune to time, much less a B-rank planet. Sorry, just following up, that ocean is literal acid? Because time changing things is pretty common but that one is new for me."


My grandfather snickered. "I've seen it before. I visited this one planet where the whole ocean was made of a gelatinous bouncy substance you could sink into. It would digest anyone who fell in. Turned out the whole thing was a giant slime monster. Coastal property values went down pretty drastically after we publicized it."


Alkem chuckled softly. "Yes, it is acid. The Sulfuric Sea is a unique feature of the planet. It's sop powerful the waves actually burn away the air as they crash. It creates pockets of vacuum that disturb the atmosphere, creating the powerful winds that rake the planet.


"They were a staple of Akasha even before the sea expanded." He said wistfully. "It's why the Varhana specialize in wind Skills. The animals in the sea are also shockingly powerful. Fishing is a dangerous but lucrative business. Or at least it was. Who knows how things have changed with the alterations of the climate and environment. Perhaps fishing the Sulfuric Sea is no longer possible."


I nodded with interest, though I suppressed a small chuckle when I saw my wife eyeing the ocean speculatively. She loved food almost as much as loot, and super powerful acid fish was both.


"So, which of these continents are we heading to?" I asked Alkem, gesturing to the screen. "Looks like there's a fair few of them. You've been in contact with your family, right? How did you manage that by the way?"


"Wishes," answered Callie for him. "They used some of the scrolls. They paid in cash."


Alkem smiled. "It was quite useful to be able to reach out so simply. But yes, they told me where to go. We are looking for the highest continent. The one made of golden stone. Its name is Deva. It shouldn't be difficult to spot." He pointed at the display. "In fact, I see it right now."


I did too. Staring out at the screen it was pretty obvious based on the description. In fact, I probably should have guessed earlier, because Deva was the most opulent and majestic of the continents. However, it was also on the other side of the planet. B-ranked planets were big, but being so high up in the atmosphere we had a bird's eye view so we didn't have to go far before more of the world was revealed, and Deva came into view only seconds after I'd asked my question.


My first impression, as we descended toward it, was…gold. Lots and lots of gold. Not normal gold, obviously, because mortal metal would have been crushed into dust on a planet like this, and I could see even as we approached that the metallic…stone, according to Alkem, was at least D-rank.


It was a sprawling palatial city covered in towers, spires, and strange swirling and twisting architecture. Not twisted in a way that an architect could manage, but like someone had melted and shaped the stone itself. Some parts of it had even turned crystalline, making natural windows in the rock that were mostly covered in curtains. "Damn," I said in a reverent tone. "Now that's how you build a house."


Alkem looked similarly impressed. "Golden stone was very rare in my day," he admitted. "Such exquisite workmanship requires abundant resources for practice. I too am impressed by the beauty of this new architecture."


Everyone else nodded along as we approached. Gold is normally a pretty intense design element. It's easy to overwhelm people with it, making your whole project look gaudy and cheap. But because of the melting of the stone and the clean and sweeping lines, this whole continent seemed like one solid piece, and the style underscored the natural beauty of the material, making it seem more, for lack of a better term, down to earth.


Which is where we were now heading, having passed through a large number of floating figures that I was pretty sure were B-rankers. Flight was possible on D or lower planets at D-rank, using Impact to push against the natural suppression of the planet, but since we'd left Callus right after hitting D-rank, I'd never been able to do it without wings.


Except they weren't doing that either. Not really. On closer examination I was able to see swirls of wind beneath them all, acting as a platform holding them up. While eyeballing the Impact of a continent was doable through the screen, estimating the rank of a bunch of random flying people was a little harder.


It was kind of nerve wracking, actually. We had introductions to the Temple when we approached before, my grandpa knew Tasha and we were invited by an elder. Here, we just knew Alkem, and he didn't actually know anyone. Sure he was their ancestor or whatever, but the connection was pretty tenuous obviously. Aside from the first impression thing we were also going in mostly blind here. Only knowing we had my grandparents and Zeke and mom along made me feel a little better about the possible risks.


The floating people were NOT stupid enough to attack an S-rank ship, so we slid effortlessly between the buildings, stopping above a large courtyard that Alkem read us directions for off a piece of paper.


When we got there, I was pleased to see that Sable and Dom were already waiting, and more than that, Abel was there, his old black rabbit mask back in place as he lounged in a woven beach chair, wearing a wide brimmed hat with rabbit ear holes punched out and sipping a brightly colored drink from a swirly straw.


As we descended, the air pressure from the ship blew the dust of the courtyard up, and he had to shade his drink with his hand to stop it from being filled with dirt. He glared up at us resentfully, and I grinned, knowing from just that reaction that my mentor was the same as he'd ever been.


I'd worried that hard training from someone like Lark might have changed him, and not for the better. Abel's Path was already based on blood, and training from one of the most feared and brutal beings in the universe was a great opportunity, but it was a lot to handle. Obviously I shouldn't have worried, from his mannerisms, he'd managed to retain that charming devil may care attitude that we all knew and tolerated. Thinking about it, if anyone could handle that kind of pressure it was my teacher. Not to mention I'd been through something similar and come out of it fine, and he was way tougher than I was.


When the ship finally touched down, we all filed out, and I had to admit, despite the increase in pressure, it was nice to be on solid ground. I'd spent so long on B-ranked planets lately I'd developed a bit of a fondness for the stable feeling of hard packed high rank ground under my feet. The whole time back on Callus I'd felt like I was walking on sugar glass.


Abel popped up to his feet casually, ambling over, but he was blindsided by a red masked streak as Mel tackled him from the side, not that he seemed to mind. I had been approaching, but I pulled back, letting Callie meet up with me as the two lovers greeted each other. They'd been separated longer than we had, and we both understood the kind of joy you felt when being reunited with a bondmate, especially one you loved, after such a long time.


Once they finished their reunion, Abel accompanied Mel over, an arm around her shoulder as he greeted us with a wide grin. "Hey kids, miss me? Because man do I have some stories to tell you." I couldn't help it, I burst out laughing. It was good to have the gang back together.

 

[Droosh]

What a tease chapter. Reunion but no storytime. LOL

 

[Malcolm Tent]

"So, what have you all been upto?" My mentor asked as he flopped back down onto his chair. "Heard you've had some decent fights. Even killed a C-ranker at early D-rank, that's pretty wild. Punching up is doable, but most people only manage it from the peak of the previous realm. Your new minions were telling me all about."

Dom bristled. "What do you mean minions? We're not his minions."

Sable rolled her eyes. "We're totally his minions. But I'm cool with it. What kind of minions get paid with divine artifacts?"

"Hey, I never got paid with a divine artifact," Abel protested. "I was one of your very first minions. Sure, I don't listen to you or do what you say, and I treat you with middling to low levels of respect and don't care that much about your opinion, but other than that I've been an awesome minion! Where's my god weapon?'

Mel snickered, patting him on the shoulder. "I feel like it you repeat that little speech to yourself out loud you might stumble on the answer on your own."

"I already arranged for you to train with the most powerful mortal Ascendant in the universe," I told him mercilessly, enjoying the karmic retribution/ "You only get one life changing opportunity from me. You're not my wife."

He snorted. "Yeah, thanks for that. Being tortured by an insane vampire for a few months was at the top of my bucket list. How would I have gotten through life without this foundational experience." His tone was dry, which was a good sign, so the rest of us weren't shy about laughing at his pain.

"Oh, is that Adnab?" chirped an excitable voice. "Welcome back! Did you have a good time learning from daddy?" Bethy appeared from seemingly nowhere, beaming at Abel as she brushed off her dress.

Abel actually flinched. "Oh! Bethany. I mean Lady Lark, I mean…your highness. It's nice to see you."

Bethy's winning smile deflated, replaced by a suspicious frown. "That's weird. You don't usually refer to me so formally. Or anyone. You're not a formal person at all. Did someone tell you to do that? It was Sebastian wasn't it? That old busybody. Don't listen to him. He's not the boss of anybody."

"Lord Stein is a noble and generous person," said Abel mechanically as he glanced around the courtyard, his eyes darting in paranoid little hops.

Bethy whirled, looking around in outrage. "Oh, he's HERE isn't he? Sebastian! You get out here right now! You're not allowed to bully my friend! Only I'm allowed to do that." She waited, expression thunderous. "Not coming out? Then how about I tell daddy who stole the spine from that Tomb Lord that he was planning to have made into a whip."

There was a whisper of darkness and a tall man appeared in front of us, his expression apologetic. "Young mistress, there's no reason to do that. I would never STEAL from the master. He simply forgot to let us know of his intentions for that piece of material. He completely forgot about it eventually, and there's no reason to bring it up. How did you even hear about that incident?"

"My mom told me," she beamed. "She said you're a busybody and that I needed leverage to keep you from being mean to me." She jerked a thumb at the man. "This is Sebastian Stein, my daddy's personal butler. He's like…super old, but he's stuck at A-rank because his body is built out of dead person parts."

The older man winced. "Young mistress, that is a GROSS oversimplification," he protested.

"It's your power," she said with a shrug. "If you think it's so gross why don't you try something else?"

His shoulder slumped in despair. "Yes, young mistress. I'll take that under advisement." He turned to smile at us pleasantly. "Good evening, my name, as the young mistress so helpfully informed you, is Sebastian Stein, and I am the butler of the Lark family. The young mistress beseeched her father to send one of her siblings to aid you in your succession battle, but the master decided it would complicate matters politically to allow a high ranking vampire to participate."

Bethy's eyes widened. "Daddy sent YOU? But don't you need to mind the house? He won't be able to travel if you aren't there."

My grandfather cleared his throat. "Regardless of internal business, we're honored to have you on our grandson's side, Lord Stein." He shot me an urging look, and I agreed, thanking him for his assistance.

Sebastian Stein looked…old. Which was saying something for an A-ranker. Bethy hadn't been kidding about his age. Silver hair, close cropped beard, serene blue eyes, he was every inch the elegant butler. The only confirmation of her earlier accusations were a few nearly invisible seams running across his skin at the neck, ears, and on his hands. Seams that could easily be very well applied stitches.

My grandfather stepped up next to me, and I felt a subtle shift as he used some kind of stealth technique. "Sebastian Stein is the most powerful non Lark Ascendant under Morgan's control. He must adore his youngest daughter to dispatch his steward. Stein is a Revenant, a necromantic construct of his own design, and he is one of the most powerful A-rankers I know of. His attendance will be a huge boon to your cause during the succession war." When he saw me start to speak and then stop, he chuckled. "You can just respond out loud, I'll hide your traces."

No one, not even the super scary A-ranker, noticed him speaking to me, though I suppose demi-gods have to have their tricks. "Ok, so this guy is some sort of mad scientist undead? Like that old story about the doctor?"

"Similar," he said with a grimace. "Because of his particular powerset, he's stronger than most A-rankers, but he's never been able to integrate a Saga. Regardless, for our purposes he's basically ideal. With him involved, we've got all your A-rank slots filled."

I was just as excited as he sounded, but sadly I was pulled back into the conversation by Bethy, who was lambasting the older man for "bullying her friend". "Isn't that right Shane?" she demanded triumphantly. It took me a second to replay the conversation in my head, but once I did I could only sigh and nod.

"Yes, Abel is an important member of my team. If he were to change because of your decrees it would make me…sad." My tone was dry, but Bethy ignored that, whooping with joy.

"See! Daddy says you're supposed to help Shane, and making him sad isn't helping, so bullying Alice is ignoring daddy's orders!" She sounded smug, and I had to choke down a laugh at her complete refusal to call Abel by his name, despite being actively defending him at the moment."

Sebastian sighed. "Yes, young mistress, I shall endeavor to treat master Abel with more respect. As a nominal disciple of the master, I suppose he deserves at least that much. His Ragam Blood Body is…acceptable. At least for his level. Perhaps he might one day become a halfway competent Ascendant."

Abel rolled his eyes, clearly less terrified the old man would smite him. "Acceptable," he says. My new form is fucking unstoppable. I based it on your staff art, Shane, creating my own Ragam form out of a fusion of my Path and martial art. I know your fire bullshit is overpowered, but there's no way you can keep up with my Ragam Blood Body."

I just smirked at him. With Sammael and my domains, I wasn't afraid of anyone my own level…except Bethy. I was terrified of Bethy. But her powers were bullshit and didn't count. Still, it was impressive he'd managed to create a form like mine. I'd never heard of anyone else doing anything similar. I wondered if he might eventually be able to make a pseudo Domain, though based on what my dad had told me it was vanishingly rare at my rank.

I was about to retort when I felt something change in the air around me. I tensed, ready for an attack, before realizing my grandparents, mom, and uncle were all here, and the chances of me detecting a threat that they couldn't stop before it smashed me like a bug were pretty much zero.

Looking around, I tried to figure out what was going on, and my attention was immediately drawn to something odd. Namely, a reflection in a nearby glass pane. Except it wasn't a reflection of me, or anyone else nearby. It was someone I knew though. Desria.

When she saw me, she slumped with relief. "Fist!" She shouted anxiously. "Thank the gods I got through. We're in trouble. I used your scroll to reach you. After you left, we stuck around Rackham for a while, but we decided to try to put our scrolls to work elsewhere. We waited like you said, but somehow someone noticed us leaving. We were chased into a nearby dungeon by some priests of…someone, and they're hunting us en masse. Hundreds of D-rankers are after us!"

"Des?" I asked in shock. "That's…ok, give me a second," That was a lot to process. "Where are you?" I checked my ring and sure enough, ten E-ranked chits had been deposited. Apparently messages to the actual wish granter weren't too expensive. Good to know.

"The dungeon is called the Screeching Shoals," she said urgently. "It's not too far from Rackham. We were heading here already when they caught up to us. Fist…I think it might be a trap. We're pretty sure they're luring you in. Ray says not to come, but I couldn't think of who else to call. I can't watch them die."

I shook my head. "It's fine," I told her firmly. "You did the right thing. I'm on my way, just lie low and stay safe."

The connection faded, and I turned to look at my grandfather, my expression solemn. "Ok, this little good will tour is going to have to be put on hold." I explained the situation. "I know that gathering my forces is important, but my friends-"

He waved me off. "No, I get that. We'll take you. With all of us here, unless there's an actual god waiting in the wings nothing can hurt you. But the actual dungeon…based on what she said, I think they're right about it being a trap. A hundred D-rankers is a nasty force. Chances are good no one above that rank can enter. I know you're strong, but those won't be normal D-rankers."

I was well aware. Raxus was most likely trying to get ahold of me to learn the location of the other divine artifacts. He'd send his strongest, and a hundred plus…that was a tall order, even for me. Quantity had a quality all its own.

Abel slung an arm over my shoulder with a laugh. "A hundred? Please. That's child's play. I hope they miscounted, honestly, because I could use a workout. We got this."

I stared at him for a minute, touched. Abel didn't know any of my new friends, and had no reason to take a risk like that. Confidence or not he wasn't stupid. That many presumably peak D-rankers were a danger even to him.

"What he said," I laughed. "You all just take care problems outside. But I'm a little worried. What if one of the Vanished gods show up?" I explained my theory about Raxus.

"Don't worry about that," he said confidently. "Gods can't engage directly so easily, not when we have our own to counter. I wouldn't be surprised if Black Sorrow is waiting in ambush in case he tries." That was something I hadn't considered. My great grandmother had pretty much vanished after I passed her the stone, was this still part of the mission? Was I bait? It didn't matter. My friends needed help, and I was going to help them. And I wasn't doing it alone.

 

[Malcolm Tent]

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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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

 

[Droosh]

I don't know why they'd be worried about natives? It seems the far greater and more likely threat are how many of the >100 peak D rankers rank up to C for the fight. Seems kind of obvious though, so I assume the god of Deception has real tricks in store. Seems like a suicide mission for a handful of mid to low D rankers to face 10 times their number of higher ranked. Especially with how rare it is for even peak D to punch up to low C 1 on 1.

 

[Malcolm Tent]

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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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

 

[Lone-sith]

A reminder of what the unlucky thirteen was?

 

[Malcolm Tent]

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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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

 

[BJJPanda]

I still don't get how random people can get to E rank where most people work all their lives for it, where does he get the renown, he practiced his abilities? His kid is also E rank?

 

[Malcolm Tent]

I still don't get how random people can get to E rank where most people work all their lives for it, where does he get the renown, he practiced his abilities? His kid is also E rank?

Click to shrink...

Renown is qualitative, which means being born on a high ranking planet helps you rank up faster. The renown from a village full of E and D-rankers, not to mention all the people they interact with, is worth exponentially more than lower ranked people or mortals. Especially the D-rankers. There are special areas for kids before they can withstand the pressure. He's the mayor of a village of E-rankers, which made getting his kid to E-rank much easier. It slows down a lot at D-rank, obviously, with Path requirements and stuff, but in a place like this, with so many high rankers, the first five ranks of Ascendant are pretty easy to get through.

 

[Malcolm Tent]

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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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

 

[Malcolm Tent]

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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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

 

[Malcolm Tent]

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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


Might-67,550


Impact-105


Vitality-29,742


Fantasy-56,520


Focus-17,908


Perception- 36,375


Creation-27,485


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


Soul strength- Amethyst Soul Body


Pet-Wolf named Rellia


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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

 

[Malcolm Tent]

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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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

 

[Malcolm Tent]

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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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

 

[Malcolm Tent]

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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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

 

[Malcolm Tent]

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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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

 

[Malcolm Tent]

"So, you're hoping for an intro to Dezi's territory?" asked the Citizen with a jovial grin. He tossed back a huge mug of beer, smacking his lips and pulling a small comb from his pocket to comb the foam from his glorious mustache.


I assumed "Dezi" was Dezcarta, the general in charge of Ironreach, where Ashborn was located. I had learned recently that the island chains surrounding the larger islands where the cities were located were called "domains" and were named after the city they surrounded. We were in the domain of Highhaven, and had BEEN in the domain of Highhaven since arrival. Ashborn, which was the closest village to where my friends had been last I heard from them, was in the domain of Ironreach.


"Yeah, I'm looking for someone," I confirmed. "Or, rather, a group of someones. Just a warning, there are also some people looking for ME. I'll be dealing with a few of them on the way out of town when I leave tomorrow, so if you send a guide with us they might want to hang back.:


He chuckled. "Noted. It shouldn't be a pro-" he was cut off by a violent rumble beneath our feet. The floor shook, dust fell from the ceiling, and several people fell over (albeit they were mostly pretty drunk). The Citizen's head snapped up, and he was suddenly on his feet, crossing the room to stare out the window. His face paled, and he cursed, whirling on us. "Was this your doing?" He demanded.


I blurred to the window, looking out to find a dome of swirling green light manifesting over the city. "Um, no…" I said slowly. "I don't even know what that is."


"It's the Skylock," he said sourly. "A method of locking down a city. Malzareth uses it at random intervals to sweep for "dissidents". Of course, there are no actual dissidents in Highhaven, but it gives him deniability. He warns those of us with friendly relations ahead of time so we can make arrangements. This is WEEKS too early."


His implication was that he didn't believe it was a coincidence, which…well it was fair. The timing was suspicious to me too. I turned to my wife. "Seems like the tower's misdirect didn't work. Maybe one of them was smarter than expected. In any case, Malzareth is clearly not friendly to us. Lucky he's not Perception focused, because if he had some method of tracking us we'd be fucked."


Abel, who was clearly expecting trouble, had shifted into his blood body, his form now composed entirely of rippling red. Callie started readying for a fight too, but I was a bit less eager to mix it up with a gang when a C-ranker was hunting for us.


"Stop," I told them sharply. "Let's think this through. We know a few things for sure. First, the cloak didn't turn on us. If they knew what we were looking for specifically, combined with what we'd been told, they'd have found us here already. They know we're in the city but not where. Second, while the Citizen looks upset, he doesn't look AFRAID, just a little nervous."


I turned to him solemnly. "You have another way out." I paused as I said that, turning to Callie. "At least assuming you can't-" Even as I spoke, the shadow on the floor across the room spat out a shaking, horrified form, and then shortly afterward a chair that smashed into him from behind. I held up a hand as she opened her mouth. "Yeah, shadows blocked, I got it. So we're back to you. I don't believe anyone who makes their living as a professional thief actually depends on the kindness of the local government to keep their business in order."


The Citizen shrugged. "Maybe I got another way out. Maybe I don't. Either way I doubt you can pay for it."


I reached into my ring, pulling mentally, and a scroll dropped into my hand. I tossed it to him. "That requires payment to function. You can pay us with safe passage for us and our people. If I die, or get captured, the payment won't be proper compensation, and it won't work. I get final say on those."


This was the backup plan. I'd been trying to avoid exposing my wish power, but at the same time, if I had it and couldn't use it there was no point. Aside from my own safety, I'd come here to rescue my friends, and getting my OTHER friends kidnapped seemed like a really stupid outcome to that. We needed locals on our side, and preferably ones who knew what they were doing.


By passing him the scroll free of charge, I essentially forced him to act within the bounds of the wish contract. He had to pay me with our freedom, or I would just turn down the wish. I could do that, though I usually had a parallel handle the interactions with the scrolls because otherwise it could distract me at key times.


He unfurled the scroll, reading over it, and his eyes widened in shock. "This is…is this real?"


"It is," I confirmed. "Not sure if you know what the Wish Curse Palace is, but that's their seal on the top corner. In fact, you get me and my friends out of this and you can have these two as well." I produced another pair and tossed them to him.


He caught them, staring down at them in shock. "I have heard of them," he admitted. "Outside forces aren't exactly common drinking topics around here, but we know the big players. If this really is a wish…yes. I'll help you. These are too valuable to pass up. If, of course, you're lying to me, I'll turn you over to Malzareth directly, and I'll keep some parts for souvenirs when I do it."


The formerly jovial tone had gone hard and cold, a permafrost razor held to our throats. I didn't mind it much, they were just doing business. We gave him the information about our inn, reasoning that since we were here, and he could just turn us in if needed, he didn't have a reason to be a threat to our people. Plus Bethy was there, and I didn't believe anyone aside from the C-ranker could pin her down, and probably not even him.


After meeting my eyes for a minute or two, he finally nodded. "Alright, Tarn, Skeller, you'll be going to get their friends. I'll need you to meet us at the bottling plant."


Two men, a red haired man with a thick beard and a large dark skinned man with a bushy mustache nodded silently and then turned to leave. Meanwhile, a muscular women with a scar on one cheek and a rangy man with a ponytail had stepped forward to grab the asshole who had been hitting on Callie, who was now staring listlessly at the wall.


"Did you, uh…test that whole falling in the dark thing before using it?" I asked her warily.


She just smirked. "Nope, didn't come up. Like I said, time to think about his manners. He's fine though, I've spent plenty of time in the shadows, it doesn't hurt you, it can just be a bit jarring if you're not ready for it."


I shrugged. "Play stupid games, win stupid prizes. Seems fair to me."


The Citizen approached us. "My lads are fetching your friends, but you'll need to come with me. Our only hidden exit from the city is somewhat difficult to access, as you might imagine. You mind telling your rabbit friend to stop…being made of blood? It's attention grabbing, and quite honestly a bit unsettling."


"A bit unsettling?" said Abel outraged. "I'm made of BLOOD. It should be VERY unsettling. At least mildly disconcerting."


"Not the time," I told him with an eye roll. "Do me a solid and…become solid."


Scoffing, he dropped his form. I stepped up next to my wife. "Ok, after we're out of here, I want to check in with my family. You have some way of contacting my grandmother? Other than actually leaving with the bracelet?"


"She gave me a mirror that connects to one she owns," my wife said reassuringly. "We figured there might be a need for non emergency contact."


I sighed with relief. I had questions about my epiphany, and I wanted to check if they had any better understanding of the infiltrators from out there. Finding out some of them might be ranking up soon was…disturbing. If they could detect that from outside, we might be able to avoid running into one of the god world C-rankers, which I couldn't see going well.


With Abel officially powered down, we followed the Citizen to the back of the bar. He walked us into a broom closet off the kitchen, then moved a shelf to one side revealing a bare patch of floor. Pressing it in a specific spot produced a click and the floor tile popped up, exposing a ladder down into the dark.


"Man, why are secret exits always creepy ladders into dimly lit holes," complained Abel. "None of you could spring for a spiral staircase or something? Maybe a pole we could slide down?"


The Citizen shrugged. "Ladders are cheap and easy to install. Stairs take time to carve out or hammer in. More time under construction means more chances someone will see, which defeats the whole purpose of the exit. Come on."


He lowered himself down, sitting on the edge of the hole and planting his feet on the ladder before mounting it and descending. I was pretty sure he went first to reassure us this wasn't a trap, which was both thoughtful and a good idea. I held Callie back, taking up the lead position to descend. "My armor makes me the best choice for Vanguard," I told her firmly, and I didn't even need to look to see the fond eye roll.


Luckily, it was unnecessary. The ladder led down into a cramped but well maintained tunnel. The grey dirt of the Shoals has been dug out and the whole thing was reinforced with wooden braces across the top and sides, forming a series of interlocking archways that propped up the ground.


The tunnel was EXTREMELY deep, presumably to prevent anyone from easily noticing it, and I was surprised how much work must have gone into establishing it. Robbers or not, the Casual Friends were surprisingly thorough about their preparations. No wonder they were still around when the cloak told us Malzareth had gotten rid of so many other groups.


We followed the tunnel a few miles, taking several sharp turns doubling back a few times, before finally coming to a metal door set into the dirt.


The Citizen stepped forward, pulling the door open for us, and then shoved against a flat surface. It was moved away to reveal a huge stack of boxes that we had to climb over, and once we were inside, I was able to identify the new location as a cramped basement. It smelled…weird. Chemical and kind of cloying.


"This is the Happy Time Spirits Bottling Plant," he explained as he led us over to a nearby pile of crates, opening one to pull out a large amber bottle. He popped the top and took a long pull. Grimacing, he replaced the cap and the bottle vanished, presumably into a ring. "The plant is under my ownership, through a number of false faces, and the tunnel out of town is here. Your friends will meet us in the basement and then we'll leave quietly through the back. No muss, no fuss. I'll have my second, Devon, guide you to Dezi's place, and our business will be concluded."


Nodding, I held out my hand. "Your wishes will be granted, provided they're nothing to absurd. I have limits on power output, but the scroll should tell you if your wish is within my capacity. I'll make sure to confirm them for you as soon as we're safe and away, so don't make them immediately. I'm officially considering bringing us here, bringing us out, and guiding us to Ironreach each as a separate payment, that should cover you for some decent wishes."


He thanked me, and then we settled in to wait. Happily, it wasn't for long, the rest of our group showed up not long after, and we all moved a big machine aside to reveal another ladder down to an even deeper tunnel leading out of the city. We bid our goodbyes and then descended, heading out into the dark. We couldn't get out of this damned city fast enough.

 

[Malcolm Tent]

We emerged on the outskirts of the island that Highhaven was in the center of. "Island" might actually have been a poor choice of words. Continent was closer, though admittedly it was a small one. Because of that, we had plenty of room to travel before we had to come up from the tunnels, with the Citizen informing us that they'd needed to end the tunnels at least a few miles from shore.


"Beyond the usual issues with moist ground holding shape, the dark force from the ocean can seep through the ground if you get too near," he said solemnly as we pushed aside the giant rock on the surface and climbed out.


"It's fine," I assured him. "Based on my calculations we've traveled…what? A hundred miles? Outside of direct line of site I'm not as worried."


I'd activated Murmur as we moved. It wasn't as impressive during mobilization, but it was still a strong domain. "We'll stay here for a bit, catch out breaths, and then head out. I have to check something."


Specifically, the mirror Callie had mentioned. I needed to consult my family about all this, with C-rankers being introduced into the equation, not just locals but godworld C-rankers, things were getting complicated, and I had a lot of questions about my epiphany. Plus the chances of them finding us dropped the longer we stayed here. C-ranker or not, I didn't think anyone could get through Murmur after I'd had time to let it cook.


The Citizen looked dubious, but eventually shrugged. I had no doubt he would bolt if we ran into trouble, but I didn't exactly begrudge him that. Of course, it would render one of those scrolls unusable, or rather, I would render one unusable, but hey, you get what you pay for.


Luckily, inside the Murmur domain I could decide what was seen and heard. I could make a shouting into the Citizen's face and he wouldn't notice. Since I wasn't a lunatic (or Bethy), I didn't do that, I just walked over and hopped up on a rock, taking the mirror out of the paired ring.


Following the instructions Callie gave me, I breathed on the glass and then wiped away the fog. Rather than my mask, the glass cleared to reveal my mother's face, creased with worry. As soon as she saw me, her expression cleared, replaced with a beaming smile. "Shan! Oh thank the gods. We just detected-"


"A breakthrough to C-rank," I finished for her with a sigh. "Yeah, that was what I was calling about. I wanted to see if you had any information on WHERE that happened, so we can steer far clear of it."


She angled the mirror, showing my grandparents and uncle. Behind them though, I saw someone else. Someone I'd never met before…hanging from the ceiling by wrist chains. He did not seem to be in particularly good shape. My mother noticed my glance. "Oh, that's one of the S-rankers we ran into. Your grandfather captured him, and my parents have been politely inquiring about the details of this trap."


"I'm not FIVE mom," I said dryly. "I can obviously tell you've been interrogating him. Are you sure you can trust his information though? Those kinds of tactics are notoriously unreliable."


As for the morality of it…I wasn't super comfortable with the idea, and wouldn't do it myself, but my grandparents were S-rankers. They knew what they were doing, and it wasn't my place to object, at least when the opponent was ANOTHER S-ranker, and one who had obviously had nefarious plans for me."


My grandfather laughed. "The damage was all from the fight," he assured me, reading my discomfort from my tone. "My flame of purification is quite a bit more advanced than your sister's, and lies are a form of impurity. We haven't hurt him for answers. If he was strong enough for that to be necessary we couldn't have taken him alive."


"Wait…you can INTERROGATE people with purification flame?" I said with interest. That gave me some interesting ideas for a new domain. I shook off the concept, I could explore that one later. "Doesn't matter. What did you find out? And did you pick up the location of that breakthrough?"


My grandmother sighed. "Void distortion makes accurately identifying hotspots like that impossible. Not within a hundred miles of you, that's all I can tell. As for information, we have some. Apparently the vanished gods have all sent their own to recover the artifacts. As we suspected, they were unaware of the handoff, most likely by my mother's design, though neither she nor they have shown themselves yet, as far as we know."


"Most of them are tied up with the Six," my mother cut in. "But Raxus is likely to be nearby. As for the people in there with you, apparently they've called for something called "A Wild Hunt". The ones who actually capture you will be heavily rewarded. The Lady's forces have mostly chosen to abstain from the contest, though the Order of Punishment are apparently in the Shoals. What you need to watch out for is the godchildren. Personal disciples of the deities raised in the godworlds."


My grandfather raised a hand, stopping her. "It should be noted that breaking through in there is a death sentence. No one with any talent would be willing to stay locked in that shithole for eternity. We're not sure exactly what they were offered, but chances are good that only the weakest and least talented disciples answered the call for the hunt, so you're not as screwed as you might have been."


I grimaced, but nodded, and they briefed me on the rest of the information, mostly just random tidbits they'd learned from the questioning. Once that was done, I drew their attention to my epiphany.


To my shock, my grandparents were the only ones who seemed to know what I was talking about, and they looked absolutely flabbergasted. My grandmother turned to my grandfather with a bewildered expression. "Is he…?"


He nodded slowly. "He's detected Mythology. I've only met a couple A-rankers who were able to perceive it. Hell, it takes a while in S-rank most of the time."


"Loving the confidence boost," I said dryly. "But what exactly is Mythology?"


"Essentially, it's stats," he said bluntly. "Except it's not. You can think of stats like molds. Mythology fills the molds, and then it solidifies. It does NOT penetrate beyond that. Mostly because the soul isn't…I guess the easiest way to describe it is that it's not porous enough. When your soul is impure, it acts like a filter, keeping the Mythology from saturating."


I considered that. "So the fact that my soul has been purified twice over means I can detect it?"


"It's the literal bare minimum you need," he corrected. "It also requires a lot of insight and a fair amount of either work or talent. Being able to detect and accrue Mythology is the prerequisite for properly establishing a Domain seed, AND for integrating a Saga and becoming a demigod."


That was interesting, but not super helpful. It also brought up a question I'd been wondering about for a long time. "How many layers of soul are there?" I asked after a moment. "Because I feel like I cleansed two…"


"Three," said my grandfather in a tone that implied I should already know the answer. "You broke two of the shackles, didn't you?"


I blinked. "Wait…Mind, Heart, and Self?" I hadn't thought about shackles in ages. "Does that mean you can't purify the third layer because of the self shackle?" Because Zeke had told me that breaking that would kill you.


"You HAVE to purify the third layer," he corrected me. "But not yet. It's a delicate process. Actually, breaking the self shackle is only dangerous if you do it too early. We tell younger Ascendants it's lethal to avoid them messing with it. After purifying your third soul layer, you have to break the third shackle to allow your soul, body, and Saga to combine."


That was a lot to process. "Ok, but what about Mythology, why is it such a big deal that I can sense it and what does it do?"


"It fills Domains," my grandmother responded. "Domains, real domains, are unfinished. Even if you have a form for one, until you saturate it with your Mythology, it can't really be condensed into a seed. Domain seeds are kind of a mold. The power of the initial Domain and the Saga decide how much the seed can hold."


I pieced together everything I knew. "So, when you hit S-rank, you have to accrue Mythology to fill your Domain?"


"No, you have to fill your SAGA. Then you integrate it, THEN establish your Domain." My grandmother corrected me. "Mythology is unique. That's what differentiates a self established Domain from one of the early half-measures some younger generations use. Without your own Mythology to saturate the Saga, a Domain won't integrate into the body."


That was why my mom had told me that people who established Domains early were crippling themselves. No Saga to use as a foundation meant they could never integrate them, which meant they would never become a Demigod. It was also why we were trained to open factions, it allowed us to create more unique Mythology in preparation for this step later on.


It was…a lot. I just kind of spaced out, but my mother comforted me. "Shane, they're only telling you all this because you came into contact with something that's well beyond your level. They wanted you to know what you were dealing with so you didn't accidentally hurt yourself by misunderstanding. You don't need to worry so much about all this until much later. For now, you need to focus on your Chronicle. Realistically, you shouldn't be able to inscribe pages until B-rank, but at this pace you might manage at C."


I wasn't sure what the benefit of that would be, but judging by her tone, there definitely was one. Sadly, I didn't get to learn it, because my grandmother interrupted. "Don't," she warned my mother. "That kid has no sense of self preservation at all. If you tell him too much he'll start doing dangerous things without thinking them through."


I…had no response to that. She wasn't wrong. My mom sighed. "You're right. Just work on your domain shards. The more you refine the ones you have, the more powerful the subsequent pseudo-domains can become. I'm not sure what exactly you're going to accomplish, but I'm sure it's going to be amazing."


"But you have to survive this first," my grandfather stressed. "It's too late to back out now even if you wanted to, but you're not completely screwed. You have good friends with you, strong people who can have your back, if you're careful."


My grandmother looked guilty. "I wouldn't have let you go if I'd known they would be willing to send peak D-rankers. Solid Paths aren't usually a dividing line. Most genius D-rankers have already completed theirs by the time they hit the peak and immediately rank up, it's not like E-rank where people linger at the top. I didn't think they would have anyone on hand who could break through on demand, much less that they would be willing to do so."


I shook my head. "This was my call," I said firmly. "I came to help my friends, and I don't regret it. You didn't do anything but do your best to help me. I appreciate the intel, you've given me a lot to think about. Love you guys." I wiped the mirror, disconnecting the call. I wasn't mad at my grandmother for letting me come here, but I was overwhelmed. I had a lot of new knowledge, and it changed…not a ton.


I couldn't use any information about Mythology for the moment. It was nice to know, but it was ultimately just a forewarning for future Shane. Present Shane…well he had other problems. Specifically, how to handle any of these godchildren if I met them. In the end, I just sighed. There shouldn't be too many C-rankers, and I could avoid them or run. And if I met a D-rank god disciple…well, that might actually be a lot of fun. At least that was something to look forward to.

 

[Ranan]

I wonder if one of his thirteen domains will be absolution/bliss. Seeing as these baby domains seem to be the building blocks of his future divine realm it would make sense that each circle of hell becomes a genuine domain within his future realm, and he'll definitely need a place for his subjects and allies. Also the offensive applications are huge like what his grandfather does with his higher level applications of the purification flames.

 

[Malcolm Tent]

Once I finished my talk with my family, we left. Murmur included Dantalion, which meant I was deeply aware of exactly what was happening within the domain. Murmur not only allowed me to hide traces in increasingly detailed ways, it also allowed me to divine when someone was LOOKING for those traces.


A few people had swept the area we were in with different detection methods, but they failed, of course, and after the sweeps stopped I informed everyone else it was time to go.


We were headed for Ironreach now, with the Citizen leading the way. He was guiding us personally, which might have been nice of him, or might have been some kind of follow up to make sure he could get access to those scrolls. I didn't mind either way, he would be useful to have on our side when we arrived.


As we walked, I listened to my friends chat, and I ended up getting sucked into a conversation between Bethy and Daysia. "What I'm saying is that plants are also a kind of vampire," Bethy insisted. "They just drink water from soil with roots instead of blood from humans."


"Plants photosynthesize!" Retorted our resident dryad. "That's the OPPOSITE of vampirism."


Bethy scoffed. "You don't even know. I bet I could photosynthesize. It's just eating sunlight. Sunlight is kind of like blood. It's warm and keeps people alive. Watch." She opened her mouth, taking big long breaths and snapping her teeth. It would have been comical, except that I could sense the air pressure shifting and the energy inside the domain starting to sort of simmer.


"Alright!" Chelsea said, appearing next to Bethy and putting a hand over her mouth. "Let's not start eating energy next to the creepy monster ocean."


Daysia giggled, and it dawned on me that she was looking a lot less worried. Bethy's antics had cheered her up enough to wash away the perpetual nervousness that our newest member had felt since arriving.


Of course, seeing Bethy, Abel, and I kick ass when we'd dropped the Pale Men probably helped.


I smiled as they pulled ahead, but to my surprise, I was joined by two more figures. Winged ones. "So," said Holly cautiously. "You're an angel now."


"Only part time," I assured her. "It's one of my forms. I used some of the abilities you stored for me to figure it out, but obviously I couldn't recreate the entire racial trait." I suspected, having learned more about abilities, that the problem might be related to Mythology. The way that racial traits worked was different than most abilities, though I couldn't say how yet.


She shrugged. "I don't begrudge you the power up. It's just…weird. There aren't a lot of us.The tower is a select group. The catalyst and requirements for becoming an Angel are extremely strict. Most of us are from the Church originally, or born this way. Seeing a brand new angel just appear, especially one who is so…unique, is odd."


"When you say unique like that, I can tell you mean weird," I deadpanned.


She shrugged. "Well, you're an abomination, what do you expect?" She winked to let me know she was teasing, and we both laughed.


We were walking the walkways between two of the islands, enjoying a peaceful stroll. Despite the overwhelmingly creepy atmosphere of the misty dark water around us, the warm green light of the candles along the edges of the platforms created a tranquil and almost haunting kind of beauty.


Callie stepped up next to me, blatantly shoving herself under my arm, and I laughed as she snuggled into my side. No matter how much we went through together, she was still the same girl I fell in love with back in Callus. "How about I make us dinner tonight," I said as we stepped out onto an island. "Whenever we decide to stop. It's been a while since I cooked for you."


Her face lit up under her mask, and for a minute, I felt like we were back in Valen as we enjoyed each other's company. I thought about that first night we went on our mission to the underground fighting arena, Callie going undercover and me chewing her out about her driving skills. It seemed so far away, but at the same time like it was just yesterday. We'd come so far together, seen so much, and I knew we still had more to do.


Feeling my affection through the bond, she smiled up at me softly. "You're still the same idiot I met back at the guild. Except maybe now you wouldn't be such a baby about letting me drive."


"Nope, you're still never guiding a vehicle with me inside it," I said bluntly. "I have no clue how you have Perception and Focus at the level you do and still suck at driving, but I refuse to be a part of it."


She stuck her tongue out at me, and I laughed, enjoying the memories. Before she could respond though, my Danger Sense triggered. Without even hesitating, I triggered Double Trouble, bringing Callie with me as we appeared behind Bethy, who had been walking a ways in front of us.


Behind us, an explosion rocked the dusty hard packed earth, and I spun to find an arrow buried in the dirt. The ground underneath it was shattered, and from inside it, dark twisted brambles snapped forth, tearing at the air and rock, pretty much mulching the area. Along the edges of the thorns, I could see a tenacious and malevolent energy that was seeping into the ground, killing even the stone.


I turned to follow the line of sight, and found a cloaked figure with a drawn hood standing not far away. The figure held a black bow, built in a strange way. It was a recurve, but on the top and bottom it was also strung on the opposite side. It was so obscure it took me a second to sort through all the information on it with Dantalion. A double recurve. I'd never seen one in real life before, mostly because they were considered inferior to compound bows and most people didn't bother making them.


"Who are you," I asked the figure as I considered what we should do. I didn't believe we couldn't beat them, in fact, between me, Bethy, and Abel, the chances of us crushing this person were high, even with the frankly absurd level of damage that shot had done.


I wasn't sure exactly how strong that attack was, but I suspected this person was like me, having already condensed a Chronicle. That was actually a good thing. It meant they were monstrously strong, but it also meant this wasn't one of the disposable disciples that would be willing to rank up in here.


With a Chronicle at D-rank, this person would hit B-rank smoothly with no bottlenecks. They only needed to accumulate stats. Not even a god would waste a genius like that on a place like this.


On the downside, that meant this person was strong enough to threaten me, and honestly might be even stronger than I was. I didn't believe they were more talented, but we were at similar levels, and they might be much further into D-rank.


The figure was silent for a moment, but eventually, they reached up to push back their hood to reveal…an elf. I'd met elves before, so that wasn't strange, but this particular elf had a different vibe. Her eyes were blood red, and her teeth were sharp and jagged, like a shark's. She seemed predatory, even violent, without actually doing anything to imply she was threatening us.


"Heathen," she said in a surprisingly melodic voice. "You have stolen from the gods. You will return that which you have taken, or you will meet your end. So states the Wild Hunt."


I triggered Mornax, pushing my defense up as high as I could get it. Just in case. "Firstly, I didn't steal anything. I was invited to the Fields of Strakkenthar, and I claimed my prize there in good faith. Secondly, I don't have those items anymore, so it wouldn't matter if I HAD stolen them, because I can't give them back."


She sighed, withdrawing a small bottle from a pouch at her side. "If you must continue down this path, I can only do as I have warned."


To my surprise, Bethy stepped in front of me. "I know what you are," she said in an uncharacteristically serious tone. "Heaven Murder Elf. I heard you were extinct. You're brutal, but you have a code. Is there really no other way to settle this?"


My blood went cold. Bethy sounded…worried. Genuinely nervous even. I'd never heard of a 'Heaven Murder Elf', but then, I'd never heard of lots of things. Especially stuff related to the vanished gods, who knew how long it had been buried in the annals of history. More than my own knowledge though, I trusted Bethy's instincts, and almost as importantly, I trusted my powers.


Murmur was still active right now. A stealth ability even C-rankers couldn't punch through, this D-ranked elf had penetrated with no fanfare. In fact, it had taken me a minute to realize she was even DOING it, because she was so casual I'd forgotten the fact that she wasn't supposed to be able to see us.


The elf stared at her. "Verdyn is the initiator of the Wild Hunt. Within the laws of this chase, we, his children, are entrusted with the sacred duty of pursuit. There is no surcease. No stay of execution. We must hunt. We ARE the hunt. And you are prey. I will allow you a moment to say your goodbyes, for once the final hunt is upon you, the only outcome is death."


Bethy stared hard at her, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath. It took me a moment to realize what the expression on her face was. It was sadness. She empathized with this person, and didn't want to have to hurt her.


I gathered Heaven Murder Elves were rare, probably almost unique at this point. Bethy was also unique, and probably felt some kinship with another blood focused species. Because the elf STANK of blood. It wafted off her in clouds, I felt like I was suffocating in an ocean of copper scented red.


"Shane," said Bethy in an oddly detached voice. "Don't interfere. I'll handle this." She focused on the girl. "You're a hunter, so you must understand how this works. In this world, the hunter is kind and the prey's life is in their hands. So if I beat you, that means I'm the superior hunter, and so you would belong to me. Is that correct?"


There was no romantic implication behind that question, even if the wording would normally have implied one. This wasn't a matter of romance, but of pure primal might. Survival of the fittest, the winner was king.


Bethy didn't like that kind of mindset, and while she would proclaim power over enemies sometimes for her own amusement, I doubted she was excited about the idea of claiming a subordinate like this. That said, I could see where she was going with this. While under normal circumstances, this situation would be a hopeless case of kill or be killed, we had some wiggle room here.


The elf was acting as a sort of huntmaster, a dedicated participant of the Wild Hunt. She must have information on the others, and even details on the hunt. If she was with us, we could question her. Moreover, I could sense through Dantalion the almost fanatical devotion she had to the construct of this hunt. She would honor the deal if she agreed to it. Her belief would allow nothing less.


The elf stared at Bethy for a moment, then nodded. "I will. Your logic is sound. Best me, and become my master, fail, and your souls will be handed over to my master. I warn you, the horrors of such an existence are beyond your imagining. Are you sure you don't wish to simply hand over the objects? I can even spare your lives."


"Like I said," I sighed. "I don't have them."


She nodded grimly. "Very well. Defend yourself, hunter, and shoulder the fate of your friends." Her hand blurred for the quiver on her back, and Bethy exploded into a wave of bats, and the battle was on.