Malcolm Tent

A Novel Approach chapter 39

A talk with Yang.

Wish upon the Stars chapter 749

I woke up in a dimly lit room with a headache. This was pretty consistent with my unfortunately vast experience as an unconscious person, so it actually took me a second to remember why that wasn’t where I was supposed to be. If my people had been around, I’d have got it, Callie or Benny or even Abel might have toted my metal clad ass back to the inn to sleep off my soul trauma hangover.

But I HADN’T been with my friends. I’d been mostly alone with a bunch of randoms ...

Shout at the Devil chapter 208

nsfw, mind the tags.

Wish upon the Stars chapter 748

The first step into the lake was agonizing. My foot passed into the water and pain poured into me. It rolled up my, into the pit in my stomach, but it left trails of broken glass dragging through me as it passed. It wasn’t the same as I suspected it would be on its own though. Pain, energy, all of that poured into the pit and sat there. I triggered Abomination Engine, and the power roared through me, pulsing in time with the beat of my racing heart.

Another step, and I was ...

Shout at the Devil chapter 207

Meeting with Flamel

Wish upon the Stars chapter 747

The next morning I woke up and got my wishes converted to scrolls before heading to the meeting place where I was told to wait for Bernadette. This next trial was going to be my first with the other potential selection candidates, and I was kind of curious how they were planning to do this one.

Obviously it was competitive, but how did you compete on who could handle the most pain? See how many times each of us could handle being stabbed? I felt my gut clench at the thought a...

A Novel Approach chapter 38

Stealing some dust

Wish upon the Stars chapter 746

The next two days mostly passed without incident. I didn’t spend them crying in bed or anything, but Callie’s shadow was definitely there for me while I slept. I was able to use Zagan to help purify some of the lingering effects myself, though I still had a few mental cobwebs. I didn’t feel like working on wishes, so I just piled my extra sixteen into the ring, which brought me to fifty one total, counting the ones my friends had outside the ring.

Tomorrow was going to ...

Shout at the Devil chapter 206

Meeting Fleur's grandma and getting a meeting with Flamel. Lots of nsfw talk but nothing worth tagging.

Wish upon the Stars chapter 745

After waking up the next morning and stockpiling my wishes (ten with twenty five still in the hands of friends back home) I gathered Bella and headed out to meet Sister Bernadette. “I can’t believe I get to go with you this time!” My apprentice was squealing. “I want to see the trials you came here for. I bet you looked so cool resisting the pain like, ‘you shall not break me’!” She put on a deep pseudo demon voice that reminded me so much of Bethy it was genuinely terrifying. 2024-10-29 23:21:03 +0000 UTC View Post

A Novel Approach chapter 37

Getting ready for a heist.

Wish upon the Stars chapter 744

I groaned as I thumped down into my seat in the inn’s dining room. “Oh gods. My stomach. What the hell did she give us? I’m still in pain, even after it ‘wore off’. Also I’m so hungry, but I can’t imagine eating.” I looked at the others. “Are you guys hungry?” Dropping all the false formality was a relief, since I actually liked everyone I was working beside here.

Ray moaned pitifully. “Please don’t talk about food. I’m pretending to live in a univer...

Shout at the Devil chapter 205

Recon

Wish upon the Stars chapter 743

The next week was pretty peaceful. Train, teach Bella, talk to Callie, I just chilled and did my own thing, getting ready for my first trial for the Lady of Lamentation. I had a feeling it would be a doozy. I made another fifty six scrolls, bringing my total to one hundred twenty seven, and I had Callie and the others use a hundred of them (I didn’t tell them what FOR, just asked they hurry up).

Fifteen points per scroll netted me fifteen hundred, and I got another fifteen ...

Shout at the Devil chapter 204

New friends

Wish upon the stars chapter 742

We arrived back at the tavern after dark. It was still open, but everyone had left. I stepped inside, letting the others in behind me, then chucked my chin, letting Bella know to go around out of sight. As I approached the bar where Kirk cleaned a glass, Chested bolted the door, though how much good it really did in circumstances like ours was up for debate.

The bartender smiled at me as I approached. “Evening.” He said jovially. His smile was wide and friendly, but it di...

A Novel Approach chapter 36

First fight in Remnant

Wish upon the Stars chapter 741

The corridor was…disqueiting. Not because there was anything in there, but because there wasn’t. I was an Ascendant, which meant I had powerful senses when I chose to use them. I had all my Perception dedicated to watching out for potential traps, just in case they were too fast for my Danger Sense, and I was listening close for literally any sign of local life. There was none.

No insects, no worms, no small creatures burrowing. Even the wind seemed somehow dead, and with...

Shout at the Devil chapter 203

Chasing a lead

Wish upon the Stars 740

“So, what do we got?” I asked enthusiastically as I dropped another book on the pile of finished texts. I had all my clones out and multiple parallels going, offloading some of the strain to Callie, who was free and willing to help, which meant I was reading multiple times faster than normal. Of course, Ascendant books were stupid dense and used absurd microscript, so it was still taking a while. Especially since I could only keep a few parallels going at once.

Bella look...

A Novel Approach 35

Leaving for Remnant

Wish upon the Stars chapter 739

I was in a good mood when I got back to the bookstore later that afternoon to talk to Harley. I’d already gotten my wishes stockpiled (I had seventy one), done some more training with Bella, and just generally had a fantastic day where I’d learned a lot. Sadly, my good mood didn’t last long in the face of Harley’s…Harleyness.

“Look man, I don’t remember.” The dark haired man yawned. “It was a long time ago. That was like…seventy five thousand naps ago.”<...

Shout at the Devil chapter 202

Possible divination lessons

Wish upon the Stars chapter 738

Harley was asleep. I tried waking him up but he straight up refused to talk to me during his “legally mandated five hour lunch break”. He told me to come back in a few hours, so I left. I wasn’t really in a hurry. I had a task to do, but I also had a week to kill, and this murder happened two hundred years ago.

It was kind of nice, really. I’d been sprinting from one fire to the next since I became an Ascendant. I’d had downtime, travel and vacations and stuff, but ...

Shout at the Devil chapter 201

Training with Dumbledore again

Wish upon the Stars chapter 737

Devule was smaller than I’d expected. Ascendant cities tended to be large, but Imperial towns ignored the convention because of the Empire’s taxation system. Still, this wasn’t actually Empire territory, and most of the cities I’d seen had been decently sized, barring outliers like the town with no name.

In contrast, Devule was more of a hamlet than anything else, and it was surprisingly peaceful and picturesque…until we arrived.

“And I’m tellin...

A Novel Approach chapter 34

The death of Coil

Wish upon the Stars chapter 736

“Greetings.” Echelon rustled. “You’ve completed your task.” He glanced at Chester. “Perhaps even more thoroughly than expected. I take it from your presence here that you wish to continue the trials of Delthrys?”

Bella stepped in front of me. “Master, this guy is super suspicious.” She whispered too loudly to even pretend to be stealthy. “And I think he might be birds.”

“What does that even mean?” Chester snorted. “That’s not eve...

Shout at the Devil chapter 200

plans to beat Grindelwald

Wish upon the Stars chapter 735

The trip back to the inn I was staying at was surprisingly long. Not necessarily because of actual time spent, but because the bickering between Bell and Chester had gone from charming to unbearable fairly quickly. I’d retreated into my Focus as best as I could, but I needed SOME Perception active so I didn’t trip and roll down a hill or something. I didn’t want to trip and break my neck…at first.

When we finally arrived, I had them pay for their own rooms and went up...