Malcolm Tent

A Novel Approach chapter 57

A storm is brewing

Wish upon the Stars chapter 794

Touching down on the mother tree was an experience. The design of the whole place was very holistic and natural, and they’d clearly paid attention to the scenery. As we emerged from between a pair of giant leaves, golden sunlight from the undersides shone down onto a huge plains area dotted with cities and buildings. 

The grass was so green it almost hurt to look at it for too long, beautiful idyllic flowers dotted the landscape, and the rolling fields of grass we interspersed wi...

Shout at the Devil chapter 235

Only a few chapters left, another one or two in the final battle, and then a few chapters of wind down

Wish upon the Stars chapter 793

The rest of the week was more of the same. I stockpiled another fifty six wishes, but decided against using them. I’d had a MASSIVE shift in stats, more than my current total, and while I wasn’t exactly out of control in the Acheron, where I was able to spar with an S-ranker in an S-rank environment I couldn’t break, my precision wasn’t exactly what I was comfortable with.

Of course, that was functionally irrelevant to my grandfather. It was the final day of approach toward the ...

Shout at the Devil chapter 234

The beginning of the end

Wish upon the Stars chapter 792

After meeting with the formerly frozen residents of the ancient Cold Storage we’d found on Callus during the siege, I’d made agreements with them to gain introductions to all their factions for potential allies. With the war of succession (which sounded better to me than ‘wishmaster competition) coming up, I’d need all the help I could get, even if the contest was limited at the high end to ten B-rankers and five A-rankers.

While I had my mom, Zeke, and possibly my dad onboard, ...

A Novel Approach chapter 56

Dinner with New Wave

Wish upon the Stars chapter 791

Obviously, my grandfather didn’t bring ALL the popsicles along. He didn’t even bring that many. Five of them, specifically. Velliana, the Pixie, Darium the Minotaur, Garth the Crystal Dancer, and the two Imperial scions from families that were still extant, Alkem and Kesh. They were all waiting for me when I arrived in the training room, where I found Bella getting the stuffing beaten out of her by Keiko.

“Oooh, so close!” hissed the sadistic blue streaked. “You almost had me ...

Shout at the Devil chapter 233

Godslayer weapons complete. The end is nigh

Wish upon the Stars chapter 790

My grandfather and I caught up as we headed back to the Acheron, and when we arrived, we retired to the dining room for a meal. “I’m impressed with your progress,” he told me as we sat down to dig into a steak. The other crew members apparently didn’t feel comfortable eating with a Pope, because it was just the two of us at the table, Bella having wandered off to who knew where.

“I’m not sure how much of it was really me,” I admitted sourly. “Black Sorrow and mom both cl...

A Novel Approach chapter 55

invitation to dinner.

Wish upon the Stars chapter 789

After getting our stories straight inside the temple where we couldn’t be observed (mostly just agreeing with Sable and Dom how they would tell everyone about what I’d done when they got back), and looting Echelon’s corpse, we headed out to do our exploring, trying to maximize the impact of our time in the Fields of Strakkenthar.

Firstly, we scoured the marshes for Mournehollow Toads like the ones Bernadette had mentioned. I was shocked to see that Dom and Sable were both basicall...

Shout at the Devil chapter 232

Another big powerup

Wish upon the Stars chapter 788

When my eyes opened, I quickly realized nothing was different. That whole experience had happened between one blink and the next, too fast for even a C-ranker to notice. It was a little jarring, readjusting to the world so quickly, but I managed it in just a second or two, and was able to catch up as Echelon spat “Your pathetic poison won’t keep me from killing you and taking those items, boy.”

Remembering that I had been mocking him about his damaged eye, I picked the conversatio...

Shout at the Devil chapter 231

Descending into the caves

Wish upon the Stars chapter 787

I read through the volume of insights into the ‘Great Book Heavenly Library’ a bunch of times. It was…messy. Collecting information on a technique was difficult without having it directly described. My dad had cobbled together a dozen sources, but there were all kinds of footnotes on memories he’d traded for, impressions he’d gotten, and even secondhand accounts that were at least a little suspect.

According to the text, the Great Book Heavenly Library (hereafter referred to a...

A Novel Approach chapter 54

Patrol with Kim and a friend

Wish upon the Stars chapter 786

Now, I’d gotten used to the crazy bullshit of my current world. Ascendants do weird nonsense, and I’d accepted it. But even for me, this was extremely odd. I just stared at the representation of my dad, red skin, horns and all, sitting in a chair and looking at me apathetically.

“What do you mean it took me long enough?” I demanded. “What took me long enough? And where the hell are we? I can’t be sitting around chatting I’m about to get murdered.”

“You soul,” h...

Shout at the Devil chapter 230

Contacting Iscariot

Wish upon the Stars chapter 785

The first thing I needed to do was to establish the degree of threat. My Danger Sense was screaming at me, and I felt all my instincts insisting this guy was dangerous. Dantalion couldn’t tell anything about the temple, but it could read a D-ranker easily enough. Except when I focused on him…

“You’re at C-rank,” I said flatly. “Were you hiding that too?”

That meant Solid Path, at least, and way more Impact than I had. No wonder he seemed so confident. I wasn’t sure...

A Novel Approach 53

Meeting Faultline

Wish upon the Stars chapter 784

“So…I heard there was supposed to be some kind of energy poison or something?” I said, gesturing to the islands in front of us. “You guys see anything?” I’d triggered Dantalion, but there was no trace of defenses, or at least not ones I could actually detect. This whole place was pretty much a dead zone to me though, so it would be stupid to ignore any potential hidden traps.

Sable nodded. “Of course. I wouldn’t have come here without something that could help.” Reachi...

Shout at the Devil chapter 229

Vampire meeting

Wish upon the Stars chapter 783

“I have a few tricks that might help,” Sable admitted as we stood at the edge of the grid. “I practice nature witchcraft. I’m sure you’re familiar with the concept?” Her tone was businesslike and she didn’t even bother glancing our way, as if she was sure we would be up to speed. Which…I kind of wasn’t.

I glanced over at Dominic, who shrugged back, and then tentatively informed her. “I mean, not really. I know Witchcraft is an ability that lets you affect things thro...

Shout at the Devil chapter 228

Plans are made. The end approaches.

Wish upon the Stars chapter 782

Surprisingly, the other two were able to cross to my side of the floor pretty easily. The…formation? I didn’t know what it was, but the trap floor seemed to sense directions, and it didn’t take us long to notice that crossing AWAY from the exterior door was perfectly fine, and the other two decided to take me up on my offer.

I made one of the Abyss Wyvern steaks, making sure I still had plenty for Callie and I, and cut it into strips, grilling it in a slightly sweet sauce and serv...

A Novel Approach chapter 52

Returning home and arming up

Wish upon the Stars chapter 781

I was pretty annoyed. I was officially on my own. No bond, no Dantalion, and I sucked at puzzles. Annoyed, I triggered Beelzebub and had my clones spread out around the room, taking up positions near all the visible levers they could easily reach. I even triggered Piece of Mind a few times so the clones would have other parallels in them for me to talk over my options with.

“Alright,” I shouted to myself. “I’m going to flip this lever, we’re going to watch what happens, and th...

Shout at the Devil chapter 227

Darquesse arises...then unarises.

Wish upon the Stars chapter 780

The shark people were not friendly. This was clear pretty quickly when they started stabbing me with their spears, which thankfully were very shoddily made and broke pretty much on contact with Mornax. They were all D-rank (I was reasonably sure these were some kind of subspecies of master rank shark that had taken on partially human form on breakthrough) but the materials were shoddy for the rank, and they were inexpertly put together.

Since I was already more Impact heavy than usual a...