Wish upon the Stars chapter 347

I'd been under Zeke's aura before, but this felt...different. of  course, I'd know that he hadn't been trying last time. Given that an  E-ranker's unleashed aura had been able to seriously pressure a whole  crowd of us in the scavenger hunt I was pretty sure if he felt like it  Zeke could have crushed us all to death with this kind of attack.

Instead,  it felt JUST strong enough to overpower us, and his extreme precision  and power made it easy enough for me to figure out what exactly I was  feeling. This was soul weight. It was more direct than what we went  through when using Skills, but it was definitely the same thing. I  wondered if this was what it felt like for your soul to shatter under  the weight of your own stats when trying to rank up.

As  expected, none of us were immune, but Abel was doing surprisingly well  resisting the aura, managing to come partway to his feet against the  massive force being exerted on all of us.

What  I didn't expect was that Zeke wasn't sparing any of us, nor was he  letting up. This test wasn't just for them, it was for me, and I could  feel that resisting the soul weight, while exhausting, was also viable  training, and since he was putting as much weight as my soul could take  (no more and no less) at all times, this was wearing me out fast, but I  felt like it was slo helping soul improve at a much faster pace than  just sporadic Skills would.

"Why..."  Alec gritted out. "Why is someone like you in this place? This level of  control over your soul isn't something an E-ranker could have.  Manipulating the weight across all of us individually at the same time.  You're a monster. There's no way you're less than D-ranked." His voice  was rough and his face pale, he looked genuinely terrified. "Are you  some bodyguard the Saintess left with him?"

It  took me all of ten seconds to realize the point of him doing this. He  was setting the stage for me to tell them about my dad. Zeke looked at  me inscrutably, clearly leaving the choice in my hands. I could see why  he'd do it this way too. The combination of me getting them out of this,  me healing them already, and my own potential strength down the road  made this whole thing a perfect combo of carrot and stick, and one only  possible for him to even do because I'd brought them into his space like  this.

"Not  my mother." I gritted out, making my decision. I mentally rolled my eyes  at the fact that Zeke didn't bother to exclude me from this bullshit.  "My father. Specifically Elijih Wyndham an A-ranked former member of the  Wish Curse Palace. The person I inherited my own ability from."

Even  under the pressure, I saw Alec flinch back in shock. "What? That's...I  mean I wondered what your ability was, since you used such a crazy  variety of attacks. But if it's THAT ability... I mean, I know  Wishmaster candidates are known to gather a variety of Skills. It  explains all the variety. I'd just assumed you made some really crazy  unique Skill that did all of that, kind of like my Fist of the Red God."

"I  have questions about that actually." I admitted. "But first I need to  know what you plan to do with this information. I admit, I wasn't  expecting the test, but I WAS hoping to recruit you all to work with me.  Unless that's against your arrangement with the Church. I'm not asking  you to join the WCP of course, just my personal faction. If you agree  you could become members of my Starchaser Pavilion if you want, or we  could just make a personal alliance."

Alec  made a pondering sound. "I...I'm not sure. It isn't against our vows to  the Church. The Wish Curse Palace isn't a rival to the five faction  alliance, they exist among and around us. That position makes dual  employment possible in a way it wouldn't be with other factions.  Granted, the Church isn't the CLOSEST faction to the WCP, but we still  use their services and have a decent relationship. None of the higher  ups are stupid enough to alienate the only source of wishes in the  universe."

That  didn't sound like a no, but it also wasn't a yes. It took me a second  to figure out what he was saying and I rolled my eyes when I did.  "Really? You're being crushed under the weight of a B-rank soul and  you're trying to negotiate for compensation?" I said it derisively, but  honestly I kind of respected the hustle.

It  was still hilarious seeing the even more sever flinch from Alec when I  mentioned Zeke's rank. "I-I'm just looking out for my team. Even if he's  B-B-rank that doesn't mean we'll be bullied. You wouldn't want to work  with us if you thought we'd fold so easily anyway."

With  a chuckle, I looked to my uncle. "Hey Zeke, ease up on them? I don't  know if that's a pass in your book but it's definitely one in mine. Any  longer would just hurt our negotiations going forward." My uncle raised a  brow, but fast as it had descended, the pressure vanished. When it did,  we all gasped and our bodies went limp. While there wasn't really a  physical aspect to the pressure, the way our bodies REACTED to the soul  weight was another story.

Abel,  who had been trying to stand up, fell over when he muscles went limp,  and crashed through a flimsy table next to the couch he'd been sitting  on. We all stared at him in shock for a minute, before he groaned out.  "Ow." And that opened the floodgates. He wasn't hurt, couldn't be from  something like that, and seeing our brutal mentor make a fool of himself  set me and Callie off into a storm of mad giggles. The others stared at  us for a second, but they needed to release all the tension, and one by  one they started laughing too.

Our  mentor just laid there in the wreckage of the table, sulking, until our  bodies started working again. I groaned as I sat up from where I'd been  slumped. It was extremely uncomfortable, all my muscles felt like they  had been cramping at the same time. I triggered a heal burst, bringing  me to fifteen total stockpiled including my reserves. Since the damage  was done by a G-ranked source (me tensing up) it healed straight away.

I  considered healing the others, but their Vitality should patch them up  soon, and I didn't want to waste the heals on minor annoyances.  "Thanks." I said to my uncle. "Can you give us the room?" It was a  useless gesture, since he could eavesdrop on things happening across the  planet, but I thought it would at least make us all more comfortable.

Callie  was glaring at Zeke, and flipped him off as he left, something that  made me smile and the members of the Heavensong Tower's team blanch.  Abel had gotten back up on the couch and was doing what I could only  describe as pouting while Mel sat next to him trying to suppress the  giggles the rest of us had gotten past already, which I imagined didn't  help his irritation.

Turning  back to Alec, I gave him a smile. "Now, I figure we can talk a bit more  openly without all the threats. Don't mind Zeke. He's my guardian and  he tends to be a bit protective." I neglected to mention his complete  inability to actually ACT on that protectiveness most of the time of  course, but it wasn't like they needed to know everything. Since talking  shop when they were sore and shaky seemed stupid, I figured I'd let  them recover a bit by finally asking something I'd been wondering about.  "I was curious by the way, can you tell me more about the Fist of the  Red God?"

He  nodded slowly, seemingly happy to have something to focus on other than  just being in the presence of someone who could casually destroy his  home planet with a disapproving look. "I...yeah. Of course. It's not a  secret or anything. Fist of the Red God is true martial art. The high  level ones don't just include movements and themes, they incorporate  other Skills that give the techniques direct effects. Like my peace  blossom barrage. That's one of the lower level techniques in the Fist  repertoire. Of course, the wind spheres are my own twist that make it  more effective, but still."

That...that  was interesting. I briefly wondered why Callie hadn't gotten some high  level shadow art, but then I realized she'd wished for the 'best martial  art for her' in that situation, and presumably the inability to learn  something like that due to a weak soul and the complexity of progressing  had made stronger martial arts a bad fit, not to mention the inability  to teach it to me since she'd intended it for both of us.

It  at least opened up some interesting new options, specifically for  Jessie and Benny, who were much lower in G-rank. I supposed a Minor  Skill would work for Callie too, but given our bond and its connection  to Balam, I doubted my girlfriend would upgrade like that. She might try  to synergize the Skill with her Shadow Embodiment or whatever came  after it manually though, to make her own version.

I  refocused on the opposing captain, but before I could bring it up, Lena  spoke. "So...you can really grant wishes?" She sounded  uncharacteristically somber, based on what I'd seen of her. "Like, you  can give us anything we want?"

Shaking  my head, I decided to clarify. "No. Not anytime soon. If you want  Skills or items or other things around our rank then sure, but big  wishes require big stat pools. The crazier the wish is the longer you'll  need to wait to have it granted. I take it you have something in mind?'

Alec  cut her off. "We don't. Not in the short term if that's the case. But  it's something we'd like to address later on, if you're willing to  commit to that eventuality." Based on their demeanor, I was pretty sure  this was a Jessie scenario. They'd lost someone, or someone they loved  was ill or something. They must be strong if they didn't think it would  be anything I could help with soon. Future consideration wasn't a  problem for me though.

"I  can do that." I said carefully. "I can't make any promises without  finding out what the wish is in terms of when, but it shouldn't be too  long from now. A few years at the current rate. Is that ok?"

Lena  exhaled in relief, looking at her tall dark haired friend. "See Ella, I  told you they weren't so bad." She winked at her. "I have a great eye  for people. You should listen to me more often, instead of always acting  like I'm a total airhead." She leveled a finger at the taller girl.  "Respect your elders!"

Ella rolled her eyes, but she was smiling slightly. "Whatever you say Lena."

The  smaller blonde puffed up her cheeks. "That wasn't even remotely  sincere! Call me big sis! I don't think you take me seriously enough as  the older member of this team."

Alec  pinched the bridge of his nose, sighing heavily, and I smirked under my  mask. I liked them, all of them so far. I walked out of the room to  grab a piece of paper and start writing up a contract that would benefit  both of us, letting the captain give his input as I worked. I was  thrilled with how this had gone down. These guys were strong and tons of  fun to be around. This round couldn't have worked out better for us.  Only three left in the team matches though, and I had a feeling things  would only get harder. I didn't mind. All I could do was be ready for  anything.