Malcolm Tent
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Wish upon the Stars chapter 874
🕑 Added 2025-04-28 22:59:01 +0000 UTCAfter I finished checking my stats, it was Callie’s turn. It had been a while since I’d seen her stats, not just the length of this trip, but a bit before that even. I knew my wife grew fast, and while she said she hadn’t quite caught up, I was expecting quite a bit of progress from her, maybe even more than my own.
“So, you ready for this?” I asked eagerly. “I really want to see how much good the new trait did you. I’m not sure if you got the same boost Jessie did, given you didn’t bond to an existing being like her, but having that extra power probably benefited your renown a ton over the last five months.”
She beamed at me. “Oh it definitely did. And honestly, I don’t think the costume hurt either. Changing my brand a bit seems to have helped get some attention. Who knew?”
“My dad,” I said with a grimace. “As much as I hate to give him credit for anything.”
I had mostly moved past my annoyance at my father after benefiting from the help he gave me when forming my Chronicle. I knew why he’d done the things he did, and as much as I didn’t approve, I could accept that he cared about me. He was still a dick, and I wasn’t planning to stop pointing it out anytime soon.
Callie just chuckled, pecking me on the cheek. If anyone got having a disappointing dad it was her. She was the last person who was likely to push me to forgive and forget.
I felt through the bond as she relaxed her soul, allowing that renown to pour into her. I just lent my support, offering her my metaphysical shoulder to handle the pressure like she had done for me. She grimaced, but powered through, and then when it was over, she let out a long breath and opened her eyes. She grinned at me. “I knew it would be good, but this is even better than expected.” She pulled out a sheet of paper, copying down her stats.
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-157,550
Impact-105
Vitality-89,742
Fantasy-136,520
Focus-67,908
Perception- 76,375
Creation-56,485
Progress to next rank: 584,685/1,000,000
Soul Strength: Amethyst Soul Body
Skills: Master Path of the Abyssal Priestess, Minor Tracking, Beginner Dual Dagger Mastery, Intermediate Stealth, Intermediate Trap Mastery, Beginner Disguise, Lesser Balam Mastery, Mastery of Shadow Manipulation. Master Trait: Heretic Angel.
Path of the Abyssal Priestess- Solid. Technique: Dance of the Abyssal Fairy
I whistled. “Three hundred and fifty thousand or so points,” I marveled. “That’s pretty crazy. No wonder it was so uncomfortable. More than doubled. All that work you were doing with my great grandmother while I was on Rackham must have paid off. Especially combined with the renown from all those C and D-rankers.”
She grimaced. “I…I think it was more than that. I think the Void has started to take notice of me. On a wider scale. Not sure how I can tell, just an instinct. I think a lot of that renown came from them.”
That hadn’t occurred to me. Renown, I knew, didn’t have to be a positive thing. With Callie being noticed by the Void Children back in the shallow and the rest of the void entering said shallow to field their army, news of her bizarre affinity for the void was bound to get out. So much attention from so many creatures was a surefire way to spike her renown, but it definitely wasn’t something to celebrate.
I suspected it would have been even worse if she wasn’t so low ranked. Potential or not, I doubted any A or S-ranked Void Children cared much about a random D-ranker. I reached out to take her hand.
“The more they pay attention, the faster you hit peak D-rank, and the faster we can combine your path and racial traits.” I grinned at her wolfishly. “Given how well your flames resist the void, I’m guessing mixing the two is going to produce some…interesting results. Let them talk, they’re sowing the seeds of their own destruction. Just watch, in a few decades, Void Children will be too afraid to even think your name.”
Callie was slowly growing into an almost ideal predator for void creatures. By the time we became gods, I shuddered to think what she might become. Well, no, I was super pumped. But the Void Children probably wouldn’t be as excited.
“Can we leave your plans for universal domination for later?” Benny asked in annoyance. “SOME of us still have to show off. And mine is a doozy. Not the stats, because I only recently hit D-rank, and I’m not like you monsters. But my new ability is pretty fascinating. Sebastian taught me quite a bit, and it synergized really interestingly with my current build.”
Benicio Cortez- E-rank. Ability: Master Necrotech Integration- Allows the integration of existing artifacts into the users body for the purposes of strengthening and enhancing them, three items per placement. Allows the integration of souls into created technology.
Might-65,044
Impact-105
Fantasy-23,486
Vitality-26,441
Focus-48,141
Perception-13,582
Creation-13,471
Progress to next rank: 203,852/ 1,000,000
Soul strength: Sapphire Soul Body
Current integrated tech. 14/30. Torso: E-ranked intangibility for short bursts, Three times multiplication of Might for five minutes. Right fist: triple punch. Left forearm: E-ranked energy barrier or variable shape. Left fist: minor slow acting tranquilizer effect. Right foot: Density shifting to create heavier kicks and more powerful jumps. Left Foot: momentum neutralization to allow stopping instantly. Head: slight cognitive boost to allow more thinking time, Three times multiplication of Focus for five minutes. Back: ability to grow a shell to tank damage. Chest: Pair of golden E rank spider legs that arch up from the shoulders. Waist: Belt of spiritual calming, Three times Multiplication of Perception for five minutes. Heart: Illusionary double, Three times Multiplication of Vitality for five minutes.
Skills:Minor Cooking Mastery, Mastery of Inventing, Mastery of Necromantic Engineering, Lesser Haggling Mastery, Minor Stealth Mastery
Path of the Dracolich-Illusory. Proto Technique: sword art, Dance of the Dracolich
I blinked at him. “Not like you monsters my ASS,” I said in awe. I was blown away. Sure, it had been…what, seven or eight months since I checked on Benny’s progress, but still. “You have a new Skill at Mastery? What the hell did Sebastian TEACH you?”
“Used a scroll to get that started,” he admitted. “Took it up to peak Beginner, then pushed it from there. Not to mention there was a lot of crossover with Inventing. My Path helped a ton too. But yeah, Sebastian took me on all sorts of crazy ass adventures to grind that up. I am REAL good at grave robbing now. Zeke actually helped. Necromantic Engineering is based on the principles of mixing inventing with soul manipulation.” He grinned at me fiercely. “Didn’t think I was going to let you leave me behind forever, did you dick?”
I shrugged. “Not bad, but you have a lot of work to do. Your integrated tech is still way out of date. You have to replace all of that. I see you upgraded a few pieces to E-rank, but I’m guessing you haven’t been at D-rank long enough to create what you need.”
He grimaced. “It’s harder now. My gear can be WAY scarier, similar to the kind of stuff Zeke can do, but it’s also much more limited. With souls as one of my major inputs, I need strong enemies to make any decent artifacts. I had to go this route though. This was my plan to set the foundations for integrating my Solid Path when I form it.”
“I figured,” I said encouragingly, clapping him on the shoulder. “It’s going to be a hell of a powerset when it’s done. Plus we’re heading into a literal warzone, so I don’t foresee issues finding enemies whose souls you can use. Obviously we’re going to be aiming at bad people for this.”
“Of course,” he assured me. “I’m willing to take shortcuts to catch up, but I’m not Zeke, or any member of the WCP. I wouldn’t trap an innocent person inside an object. Even if the soul isn’t EXACTLY a person.”
I nodded. The relationship between soul and consciousness was complicated, but the mind wasn’t the soul, it was part of the body. They were intricately connected, of course, but souls weren’t sentient, not on their own. Benny would have never agreed to take that path otherwise. I turned to Jessie. “Alright Jess, last one. “Let’s see what you’ve got. You broke through to D-rank not long after we last talked. I don’t know what this lunatic has been doing to earn so many points, but you’ve had lots of attention as a healer onboard.”
She grinned. “I don’t think I did too bad. But you know how focused my development is.” She pulled out a piece of paper, letting some stats hit her before filling it out, but it wasn’t a huge dramatic shift like ours, more of a normal burst of renown. She hadn’t been putting things off until the last minute.
Jessica Evans- D-rank. Ability: Master Thirionad Triat- Undying Lifestorm variant. A spirit of the wild, bonded deeply with the Undying Lifestorm Ursa Randall. The beginning of a line.
Might-45,625 (x2 effective multiplier from racial trait)
Impact-105
Fantasy-12,758
Vitality-179,587 (x3 effective multiplier from racial trait)
Focus-9,755
Perception-15,765
Creation-13,958
Progress to next rank: 277,724/1,000,000
Path:Path of the Green Sun- Illusory
Lifebound partner: Undying Lifestorm Ursa- Randall
Soul strength: Amethyst Soul Body
Skills: Mastery of Lifeweaving, Intermediate Horticulture, Expert First Aid, Minor Herbalism, Minor Flower Arrangement, Mastery of Beast Taming
Benny glared at her. “You’re the worst. Must you always show me up? And why the hell are your modifiers showing and Callie’s arent?”
She shrugged. “No idea on the modifiers, probably because her racial trait isn’t integrated with her main ability yet. As for the stat gain, It’s a snowball thing. My VItality is so high for my level that it produces outsized effects, which produce outsized results and outsized renown. My Might is falling way behind where I was expecting though. Besides, a bunch of those points are from other stats, which were so low for my level they got forcibly dragged up. And I started at ninety two thousand anyway. I got probably a hundred and eighty thousand points or so. I think it might even have been a bit less than you.”
I just laughed and clapped him on the back. “Face it, we’re all monsters. You’re going to have to work your ass up to stay on our level. But I can see it now. You’re on the way to amazing things. Who knows, in a hundred years, maybe we’ll all be gods together. Though we might need to workshop your branding. You’re on the way to something like that Stralthrem guy. We don’t want you to be the god of dread fabrication part two.”
He shuddered. “Good note. But I think my Dracolich imagery will help. I have some pretty interesting plans for that Path.” Despite his teasing of Jessie, I could see his confidence, his determination, and his excitement.
My team had grown so much. Not enough to make it safe to go into this war, but enough that I wasn’t quite as worried. We were in this together, and we would get out of it the same way. And when I finally won and became the Wishmaster, I’d be taking all of them with me. The universe wasn’t going to know what hit it.
Comments
Anime Problem
Mecha Dracolich Benny would be awesome especially with specifically draconic additions to his kit while still maintaining that inventive side to it.
Malcolm Tent
Five to in Benny's case as much as eight months is a long time to grow, especially with the kind of help they have. I wanted to show their progress off screen without making it too crazy, and I think I stayed within reasonable bounds. Benny has a lot of work to do, but he's taken a big step to catching up. I left the gear upgrades to last because I figured people would want to see the process there. It's going to be fun.
