Wish upon the Stars chapter 541

"So." I said, holding the pair of pills. "This is going to fucking  suck, isn't it?" We were back at the inn, Callie and I sitting across  from each other. Chelsea was sitting in too, having volunteered to be  the one wishing for the eight points I'd need to rank up after I took  the elixirs. "Our souls are pretty sturdy, but nine hundred points is a  decent chunk of our current values. Especially in the stats we have.  Almost a quarter of each for me."

Callie  grimaced. "The Might won't be a problem, percentage wise five hundred  is much less for me than it is for you. Four hundred Vitality is  literally more than a hundred percent increase for me, though. It's  going to be agony, especially since I don't even have an Azure Soul Body  like you do to blunt the pain."

I  reached out and took her hand, squeezing it gently. "I'll take as much  of it as I can handle. We can go one at a time, so it'll be more like  both of us are doing the upgrades together. Do you want to go first?"

"Oh  sure." She said shakily. "Soulrending pain is my favorite thing ever. I  guess I'd better do Vitality first then. We can deal with it when we're  both in peak condition. You sure you want to help me ride this one out?  You can't do much more than take some of the pain. It might not be  worth it. It's not like it's going to kill me."

Rolling  my eyes, I pushed the emerald pill in the box closer to her, and she  sighed, nodding as she used the hand I wasn't holding to pick it up.  Popping the clear crystal box open, she picked up the shimmering green  pill. "Wish me luck." She said as she tossed the thing back like a shot.  She sat there for a second, waiting, and then her back arched and her  body slammed back against the wooden floor.

Life  energy blazed through her, manifesting like a tidal wave of pure  Vitality rolling through her whole body. Her hand clamped down around  mine like a vise, and my eyes widened as several of my bones cracked. I  hissed in pain, but I didn't pull away, letting her grind them together  as she choked down screams of pain. It honestly helped me focus as I  tried to withstand the flood of agony coming through the bond.

I  was taking as much of her pain as I could, this was a weight on my soul  sure, and on hers, but more than that, this was her body and state of  being adjusting to suddenly being more than twice as strong. I was  regretting picking Vitality as the stat we used the elixir for, and I  could feel she was too.

Finally,  after what seemed like an hour but was probably more like thirty  seconds, the pain faded. Callie slumped back, panting in pain and  releasing my hand. I triggered a heal burst immediately, using my other  hand to try to shift the bones into the right positions to make the  healing easier. "That..." Panted Callie. "Was the worst idea we've ever  had. Why would I possibly have considered doing that? On the upside I  got a full fourteen percent to my soul strength for weathering that  shitstorm."

I  flexed my hand with a grimace. "Yeah, probably would have been smarter  to let Vitality drag up naturally as you ranked and pumped the points  into Perception or something else that could have taken it better. On  the upside Might should be a cakewalk after that."

She  shrugged. "Our logic was solid. It would have been stupid not to  fortify my Vitality. Even with the extra Impact from the rank up, the  extra stamina and regeneration will be vital. Let's get this moving.  Might time." She grabbed the second box, popping it open and tossing it  back like she had the first.

This  time, there was some strain as she adjusted, but it didn't really HURT.  Callie was heavily invested in Might, and the five hundred points she  was gaining was far less of a shock. There was still a bit of difficulty  as she withstood the E-ranked pill as it converted to an abundance of  F-ranked Might, but between the two of us withstanding it was easy.

She  completed the stat acquisition simply enough, and after allowing  herself to rank up, she ascended smoothly to E-rank. It was almost  anti-climactic after everything else. But her soul was strong, and she  was able to handle the growing Impact easily enough. In fact, it was  stronger than mine now. As she ranked up, it made the shift from green  to blue officially sublimating into a form that prevented any further  breakage of shackles. Not that she would have a problem with that.

I  felt the weight of her beat on the air as she Ascended, breaking  through to a rank that I knew she'd been dreaming of since she was a  little girl. She was officially an E-ranker like her father, and with a  Path already to boot. She was already ready to take the step into D-rank  that he could never take on Callus. She opened her eyes, tears spilling  down her cheeks as she stared at me in wonder. I could feel the emotion  crashing through the bond like a tsunami, her new and weightier sense  of self almost overpowering to my weaker being. Almost. She grabbed a  piece of paper, writing out her new status and handing it over to me.

Calliope  Reynolds. E-rank. Ability: Expert 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-3350
Impact-65
Vitality-742
Fantasy-2105
Focus-908
Perception-2375
Creation-485

Progress to next rank: 10030/100000

Soul strength- Blue-64%

Pet-Wolf named Rellia

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

Path of the Abyss-Illusory

"I...I  can't believe it." She said quietly. Staring at the paper. "I'm finally  here. Finally as strong as he is. Maybe not as far along, but I have my  Path, and that has to count for something. Plus my soul is definitely  way stronger than his. I bet I could kick his ass."

I  laughed. "Maybe hold off until we hit D-rank. Might as well make a big  spectacle when you prove to him what a dumb asshole he is."

She  lunged forward, throwing her arms around me. "Shane...you don't know  what this means to me. Or maybe you do, but still...I love you. Thank  you so much." She giggled. "Apparently helping me achieve my lifelong  dream was at least worth a Skill rank. Paired duelling ranked up. I  should be able to help you withstand your own stats way easier with a  blue soul." She puffed out her chest as she pulled back, proud to be  able to help and of how far she'd come.

Blue.  The soul of a Master. It was a heady thing. My own upgrade would bring  me to the next soul rank, and I was curious what that would be. What was  the complete sublimation state after Azure Soul Body? A halfway step  into Indigo, I was sure, but what would it be called? Deciding I was  going to find out, I grabbed my own pills. One and then the other, I  took them, tossing them back and then waiting.

It  wasn't...pleasant, but it didn't hurt, not really. Just some pressure,  and the small amount of discomfort Callie helped with easily through our  new and improved bond. She seemed almost annoyed she couldn't do more,  and it was hard not to smirk at her pouting for not being needed during  this.

Chelsea,  who had been watching the byplay with an amused smile, smiled at me.  "Alright, you ready for this? I wish for eight points of Might, and I'll  pay with eight points of Fantasy." She enunciated clearly.

Wish detected. Grant wish?

I  agreed without hesitation, holding out a hand and grabbing hers,  letting the rising static of my power carry the last eight points I  needed. I was glad I'd been right about the bump being enough to get me  to eight points per wish. It would have been hellish getting stuck at  one point away from E-rank. As soon as it settled, I felt the weight of  my incoming shift in self.

Impact.  The conceptual weight of a being. Thirty points of Impact was nearly  double what I had now. But I wasn't worried. Impact weighed on the soul.  Stats affected the body, especially ones like Vitality, so there was  bound to be difficulties in a big jump, but Impact? The soul weight  settled onto my Azure Soul like a warm blanket.

I  was uplifted. Ascended. I became more than I had ever been before. My  Path of the Doom Sovereign, an ability I'd clawed and scraped together  and worked to refine, seamlessly rose alongside my wish power. I  couldn't wait to see what kind of changes that brought about. New  subskills, sure, but changes to the ones I had I was sure. The changes  were gradual to that one. It would take time to settle from its first  rank upgrade. I'd check those later, for now I was more focused on the  earlier portions of my status and how it had changed.

Wishmaster candidate status. E-rank.

Ability:  Expert Wish- Seven times a day grant an Expert wish in return for  proper  compensation. Wish must be feasibly   achievable by the  candidate's own  efforts within a three day period  with  current  statistics.
                Expert Path of the Doom Sovereign- A Solid Path toward a great destiny.

Might-2975
Impact-65
Fantasy-950
Vitality-2162
Focus-1120
Perception-1204
Creation-1554
Progress to next rank:10030/100000

Soul strength- Sapphire Soul Body

Stored:7  shadow attacks, 10 shadow jump (seven in reserve), 10 Stealth charges, 0  fire attacks, 10 triple strenth tranq blows (ten in reserve), 10 triple  strength density shifted attacks (ten in reserve). 10 spider leg  attacks (ten in reserve), 9 heal bursts (4 reserve), 3 gravity attacks,  10 shadow clone (2 in reserve), 19 scan heals (I-rank ability so Shane  can hold more)
Pet- Wolf named Jin

Financial resources:10 E-rank chits


Skills:  Expert Path of the Doom Sovereign, Lesser Valtek Mastery, Lesser  Cooking Mastery, Lesser Inventing Mastery, Beginner Balam Mastery, Minor  Piano Mastery, Minor Guitar Mastery, Minor First Aid Mastery,  Intermediate Paired Dueling

There  was a lot to unpack there. Seeing Expert instead of intermediate  thrilled me, obviously. Seven wishes would come in handy and let me  stockpile more for the territory while fulfilling my contract with  Camden still, and I could feel my body shaking off the bonds of the  pressure it had been under. Not completely, obviously, but some of my  old strength and speed were returning.

Then  there was my soul. Sapphire Soul Body. Each rank of the soul had its  own peak sublimation. The Azure Soul Body was the first, but each rank  up would reveal another. I'd never bothered to ask what the peak of blue  was, and seeing it, I wasn't sure how to feel. I didn't feel different  really, though I suppose I wouldn't. The new clarity I'd gained in the  temple had been a result of same rank soul changes. Ascending was the  natural method of growing the soul, and it wasn't really supposed to  alter the way I felt.

Turning  to Callie, I scribbled out my own status, passing it to her, and let  her read over it. I could feel her pride and excitement against my soul,  the combination of new bond and new us making me feel even closer to  her. She finished reading it and threw herself at me again, and I held  her as bright, shimmering laughter spilled out of her, pure exultation  at we had accomplished together. I started laughing alongside her, and I  didn't even care that Chelsea was looking at us like we were lunatics.  It was good to be alive.