Wish upon the Stars chapter 1 pt 4

The Wish Curse Palace did not, oddly enough, move. It was ostensibly  hidden, but asking around a bit near where we had seen the symbol tags  the next day got us concise directions. It turned out that none of the  Five Faction Alliance were quite willing to piss off the secretive force  of fanatically loyal spies and assassins who lived hidden amongst their  civilian population, go figure. Because they weren't willing to break  into an outright war and they themselves benefited from the place, they  didn't try to shut down the WCP branches.

Since  we didn't have to look around for the location we made good time the  next morning on the bus down to the local branch. On the way we sat and  discussed what the actual plan was once we got there. Benny was, of  course, excited. "I can't believe we're going to the WCP." He whispered  excitedly, somehow speaking louder than if he had said it in a normal  tone of voice. I glanced around frantically but didn't see anyone  staring, so I just glared at him. He smiled sheepishly and lowered his  voice properly. "Sorry, but still, I've never been. I wonder what they  have there?"

Despite  his borderline bad boy image of himself, my best friend was actually  kind of a goody goody. I was the closest thing to a tough guy he spent  time with and I was an introverted game nerd with limited social skills.  He liked to think of our friendship as rebellion, but he was basically  the equivalent of those kids in child care who look both ways to make  sure no one is watching before saying a curse word and dissolving into  fits of giggles. He never did anything too bad and this kind of thing  was a major rush for him. Granted it kind of was for me to. I was just  distracted by other issues.

I  kept my voice pitched low but didn't bother to actually whisper as I  responded. "We're looking for the prices for a masking program or  artifact or whatever the hell. I don't know. But we need to at least  figure out a price for it." I grit my teeth before asking the next  question, hating myself for bringing it up because I knew Benny was  uncomfortable with his money. "Did you bring any credits?" He opened his  mouth and I hurried to add. "I can grant you a wish for however much  you have to spend, I wouldn't ask to borrow cash for nothing."

He  rolled his eyes. "Relax man, I'm not going to bitch in circumstances  like this. I appreciate you taking my attitude about my money into  account but shit like this is a once in a lifetime opportunity. I've  never been to the WCP but I hear you need an invite to attend. I have a  hundred thousand credits in my savings and we can use that. Though I  won't say no to a wish id it'll get me another meal like that steak." He  bit his lip. "Or should I ask for something else? Shit we should do it  while we're on the way right? So you have the credits when we get  there?"

He looked around slowly,  making sure no one was watching. His brow furrowed as he considered what  to ask for. "I wish I was a master haggler. I'm willing to offer one  hundred thousand credits." I winced as he decisively offered his entire  savings, but I made a promise to myself to pay him back once I had the  money. I should be able to earn it pretty quickly once I got this all  figured out. I had a few ideas for making money, though I admit a not  insignificant part of me wanted to bust out my new Doom Sovereign skills  at next weeks tournament and clean up on bets.

The purple flames wrote themselves across my vision. Wish detected. Grant wish? I mentally confirmed. Insufficient  stat points for Skill- Master Haggling. Requirements: NA Master level  skill beyond the capacity of Minor Wish ability. I  blinked. Huh, that was new. I frowned but then my eyes lit up. "Right,  Master must be too high level. My ability is Minor Wish but I have a  Lesser Skill, wish for that." He tried again and I accepted. Insufficient stat points for Skill- Lesser Haggling. Requirements. 30 Focus, 10 Impact, 10 Perception.

I  cursed. "Shit. That one is too expensive. I guess I can go up a rank if  I need to though, so that's good to know. But how is giving you a  Lesser skill on the same level as giving you a fucking superpower? What  level is Lesser?" I thought back to when I got my Doom Sovereign Mastery  skill. Apparently my power could take most anything as payment as long  as it was worth the value of what it gave, but just flat out creating  things was harder. I did remember something though. "Ok, try wishing for  a Minor Skill. That should be doable. Minor was weaker than Lesser so  try wishing for that."

Another wish and I accepted again. Stat points sufficient. Requirements: 3 Focus, 1 Impact, 1 Perception. I  felt that same tingle in my skin, and I accepted. I saw tiny purple  sparks play over the surface of my flesh and leap to Benny, whose eyes  once again lit up purple, before subsequently rolling up in his head. I  started to freak out slightly, but I felt my scan ring buzz and when I  flicked up my display I saw a deposit of a hundred thousand credits. I  exhaled slowly. Ok, if my power completed the wish then he was fine, I  could feel that it wouldn't have worked if he couldn't handle it.

Still,  that had been terrifying. Also what the hell was with those  requirements? The stats from Minor to Lesser differed by a full ten  times. If that pattern held true what the hell would Master rank skills  cost? Judging by the way my power phrased it Master wasn't just a single  rank above Lesser. Probably not even two or three. What the hell were  Skills? It couldn't just be knowledge. Not at that kind of price. What  did they do? My introspection was interrupted however by a quiet groan  from next to me.

Benny  was coming out of his...trance? Fugue? Who knew. Point was he was  waking up. He rubbed his temples. "Wow. That sucked. A lot. Like, more  than most things." He blinked his still faintly glowing eyes, the light  fading from them as his brain integrated the new skill. He looked at me  in awe. "Holy shit, Shane. I...I know so many things now. Shit I never  knew before. I know how to read people's expressions and body language,  how to tell when someone is willing to fold and when to take the deal,  how to detect uncertainty in someone's voice... Damn man, this is wild.  Like I'm not a genius at haggling, but it feels like I've been doing it  for years and I'm pretty damn good."

His  voice was tinged with awe, and I made a promise to myself to test out  my new Doom Sovereign skills tonight when I got home. I'd been too  excited last night and gone right to sleep so I could wake up and come  down here. Apparently you could have a skill for literally anything. I  wondered what they were for? What did they do? I couldn't imagine what a  skill past Lesser even did. I shook off the thoughts however as our bus  pulled up outside the building we had been instructed to head to.

I  looked at Benny and we grinned weakly at each other and got up, heading  off the bus to make our way into the massive building. The skyscraper  in front of us was, much like the rest of the city, massive.  Architecture had advanced considerably with the creation of certain  hyper alloys and various advancements from Mad Scientists around the  universe. Valen city, the city we lived in, was a thriving metropolis,  and most of the buildings were absolutely towering monstrosities, packed  incredibly close together and filling the sprawling land inside the natural ring of mountains the city used for it's various mining and  resource gathering needs.

This  particular building was basically falling apart, completely run down,  though obviously not an actual danger to the citizens or they would have  torn it down. We nodded to each other and headed inside, expecting to  find some sort of guard or indication of an entrance. The inside of the  building was empty. Not empty as in the place didn't have any people in  it. Empty as in there was no furniture or object of any kind. There was  just a sprawling atrium with nothing in it except empty marble floor.

Benny  bumped me with an elbow, pointing to the opposite end of the room. "I  think that's where we're headed." It wasn't a hard call. The only thing  in this place was a set of brass double doors that obviously led to an  elevator. The symbol of the Wish Curse Palace was engraved across the  brass. I raised an eyebrow. "Subtle." Benny snickered and we set off  across the atrium, each step seeming to take an eternity as we drew  closer and closer to the doors, until finally we were standing right in  front of the elevator.

Next  to the door was the usual panel. The panel had two buttons, despite  this being the first floor, but the lower button had a card reader  beneath it, the button showing only the WCP logo. I pressed it. Nothing  happened. I reached into my pocket and took out the black metal card,  sliding it into the reader and pressing the button again. The button lit  up, and I pulled the card out, stowing it again as a loud ding made me  about jump out of my skin. Benny snickered at me again and I rolled my  eyes at my friend as we climbed into the elevator.

Strangely  the elevator had no buttons on the inside, as if pressing the WCP  button had gotten us a special elevator just for this purpose, which  admittedly was more than possible given the WCP's resources. I played  with the card in my pocket. What the hell was it? Some kind of  membership? Why did I get the feeling it was supposed to be a big deal?  Benny bumped my shoulder with his. "Credit for your thoughts? You're  spacing out man. Gotta keep your head on a swivel. Things are bound to  get crazy."

I  gave him a small smile. "Sorry. Just...a lot going on. I'm good though.  One hundred percent focused" The door closed and the elevator began to  move. Not up into the building as expected but backwards, literally  moving away from the doors for what felt like twenty or so feet before  coming to a stop. I heard some slight shifting, though I barely felt a  tremor, and then we began to descend. It felt like we'd been moved to a  different elevator shaft before descending, which was...weird.

I  was guessing the main shaft didn't actually go to the WCP and they  probably had the the thing protected up the wazoo. As we descended I  braced myself for what I was going to see. This was my first real step  into a new world, the first time I would be interacting with a powerful  force that might be able to help me make some sense of what was going  on. I felt a kind of energy run through me, not the electric tingle of  my wish power, but a sense of excitement, of adventure. This had all  been crazy but I couldn't deny I was enjoying myself.

As  the elevator slowed I exhaled deeply. We'd been traveling down for a  while, and at a decent clip from what I could tell. We were obviously  pretty deep underground. It didn't surprise me the Wish Curse Palace  could manage something like this but still, it made me kind of excited  for what we were going to see when we got down there. As we came to a  stop I stepped forward, brimming with anticipation as the doors slowly  opened. Regardless of whether I found what I was looking for down here, I  knew nothing would ever be the same. This was going to be a whole new  world.