Wish upon the Stars : A Superhero Cultivation LitRPG

“So can you do it?” I asked excitedly as I stared down at the Moravian. The Grandmaster of Formations was sitting cross legged in an empty volcanic chamber, eyes closed as he pondered…something. Might have been the truths of the universe, might have been a recipe for Paiea. Whatever he was doing, he’d made about a dozen minute changes to the cavern and had set up some kind of formation already.

He inhaled deeply, then blew out the breath in a slow cadence before opening his eyes. “Can? What is truth but the conviction of a possibility? Is my truth enough to sway this jaded world? Perhaps. Only time will tell.”

“Oh, you’re right.” Said Callie from right next to me. “That’s super annoying. I think he said yes though?”

The old man smiled. “Impatience. Ever the folly of youth. The answer, as is almost always the case, is more complex than it might appear. I can create a formation such as the one you request, though I cannot confirm it’s effectiveness, as I said. What I CAN confirm is that it will require the use of resources I’ve saved.”

“The Impact.” I said with a nod. “I thought of that. My sister had an idea though. Could we reinvest the stored Impact into the spell THROUGH the snowglobe? Make it part of the process and then refine the triggering conditions? We’re going to not only liberate the popsicles, but also break the labyrinth and liberate the planet, and then finally break the snowglobe as a final act of liberation. Symbolism is a big thing in formations, right?”

He put on a pensive expression. “That…may work. A pivot in the investment for a larger result.” He stood, somehow managing to become one with the room as he moved, and the motion made my head spin. It was like one of those old stop motion flip books I’d made with Benny back in childcare, but somehow not. “Come along. Let’s have a look. Do we have some sort of representation of the surrounding area?”

We did, actually, it had been one of the first things we’d gotten Nat and Celine on. We were doing this with or without Moravian.

We took him up into the cavern proper, into the room where we’d been planning raids. In the center, floating above the ground, was an actual physical model of the entire tundra. The towering old man approached the model, eyes gleaming. “What a marvelous representation. Wishcrafted goods always have such a unique feel to them. Technically perfect but spiritually empty. In this case an asset, as a model is meant to represent only itself. No lingering impressions to disturb my calculations.”

He stepped up to the model, placing his hands above it and slowly running them just over the surface like he was trying to feel its body heat or something.

Benny stepped up next to me. “I know he’s a Grandmaster and this is going to be really impressive, but the actual process looks ridiculous. He’s just fondling an ice field and humming, abilities are weird sometimes.”

“Formations are an incredibly esoteric art.” Came a voice from behind us. We turned to find Melissa, the Beast Queen of the Beast Lord Palace, watching intently. “Seeing Moravian work is a revelation. Grandmaster is a height beyond what many people on this planet will ever reach. I myself have only reached Mastery in the Skill, and even that just barely.”

I blinked at her. “I didn’t know you’d broken a shackle.”

“It’s not something I advertise. But past Mastery, having the room to improve isn’t the same as being capable of doing so. Reaching Grandmaster status is a staggering undertaking.” She glanced at where my sister was studying the older man’s actions. “I think at least one of you recognizes the challenge.”

“Well, Chelsea has more context for it.” I shrugged. “Aside from being well versed in formations herself, she’s from a larger faction where she comes into contact with more Grandmasters. All the Grandmasters I’ve met are actual C-rankers, and they tend to seem…less impressive, compared to other Ascendants I’ve met.”

It was kind of funny how quickly running into B and A-rankers became the norm for me in terms of real power. I knew academically that D and C-rankers were a threat to me, but having rubbed elbows with S-rankers and spending all my time around A-rankers had given me kind of a skewed sense of normality.

Melissa raised a brow at me and chuckled. “You must have seen some seriously amazing things to have a point of view like that. I can’t say it’s one I share, but I do get what you mean in the abstract. Still, don’t forget that a Grandmaster Skill makes you nearly unrivaled at E-rank. I wouldn’t want to fight Moravian. Even if I had a whole army of E-rankers with me.”

That was an interesting point. I knew Master ranked abilities and Skills could offset some of the Impact and Path differences. I’d run into powerful enemies on the Tricorn who had been able to hurt me for just that reason. It made sense a Grandmaster would be capable of flattening me and my friends, despite our many same rank advantages.

I wondered about Moravian’s Path, and if he had one. You couldn’t rank up without a Path, but I had no idea what the requirements were for going past Master with a Skill.

The older Ascendant turned to beam at us. “A truly fascinating display. I wonder if I might get a list of our assets. Abilities, relevant Skills, materials. I can make do with a bit more or less of one of the three, but an undertaking such as this will be a true masterwork. It is integral I have a thorough understanding of the elements from which I must craft this grand construction.”

“Does anyone have a list of the people here?” I called. “I swear somebody made one for the formation training.”

My sister rolled her eyes. “I’ve got a notebook with the various powers and Skills. I thought it might come in handy. In order to properly harness those, we need to let them out into the atmosphere, right?”

Moravian nodded. “Precisely. Formations are the art of using the native magic in the environment to shape power. Some feel that direct human intervention goes against the spirit of the Skill, but that’s shortsighted. Humans are part of the environment and elements of the world just as much as rocks or trees. By placing our resources in certain positions and having them deploy their Skills and abilities in certain ways, they too become part of the formation.”

“But we don’t have enough people for some of this.” I said worriedly. I’d been thinking about it for a while, and the main structure of the snowglobe needed to be spatial power. Spatial abilities were really rare, and Abel was one of the few people I knew on Callus who had one.

He shook his head. “The formation is made up of its component parts. Part of the value of such an arrangement is that the formation can be any and all of the things that comprise it. Spatial power is rare, but as long as it’s part of the formation, it is among our resources.”

“So it’s like…one big invocation, but of all the things that make it up at the same time?” I said, impressed. “That seems pretty damned powerful. Why don’t formations get used more if they’re so effective?”

“All paths lead to the top of the mountain.” He said with a shrug. “Some must simply be walked further.”

My sister chuckled at my expression. “He just means that pretty much every Skill gets powerful at C-rank. Deep and profound Skills like Formation Mastery have an especially high learning curve, but are even more effective for it. Alchemy, invention, basically any of the major crafting Skills can accomplish terrible and awe inspiring things by the time you reach Grandmastery.”

“About that.” I asked. “Are you on a pure Formation Path? Because I know that multiple people can’t reach divinity on the same Path, and even S-rank can be challenging.”

“My Path is my own.” He said with a laugh. “One of an infinite variety of tributaries that lead to the sea of formations. Don’t worry about my advancements, I have them well in hand. Once we complete my grand work I will ascend to D-rank, and with the foundation of my higher self, reach the heights of Legend in my chosen field.”

My eyes widened. “You’re on the edge of Legendary?” I gaped. “I knew you’d been working at it for a few millennia, but I hadn’t realized you were not only a Grandmaster, but a peak Grandmaster.”

What really threw me off was that his actual ability was going to be stuck at Master rank. He wouldn’t be able to integrate a Skill that was so far ahead into his ability in a way that would make it part of his Solid Path. Maybe that was what he meant by not being worried about his Path being overcrowded. Whatever his Path was had to be geared toward his ability rather than the Formation Skill.

I shook off the mental tangent. Just because I wasn’t the one doing the formation didn’t mean I didn’t need to pay attention, I had to plan our assault, and though the whole point of this was to make sure I had time to do that, knowing how the formation worked would be key to taking best advantage of our forces for the final assault.

“So, how are we going to do this then?” I asked as he finished paging through Chelsea’s notebook.

“Well, the flows of power in the northern regions are dense and cold.” He said with deliberation. “We need to make sure to properly balance that. Luckily your spatial Ascendant’s power set is lubrication as a base. We want slowing spacial thickness, which is an inversion of his power. That pairs well with the cold aspects of the tundra. Absence of motion, inversion of activity.”

He pointed to a few key points. “We’ll be using subformations in these locations, they’ll harvest the flows of energy incoming from outside the region and can be used to conduct the Impact from my temple. An invocation that covers the area will be threaded through the entirety of the formation, supported and boosted by those of us without necessary abilities.

“As mentioned, the formation itself is both an invocation and a multi state structure, so we can broadcast the various abilities while minimizing individual strain on users. Everyone is equally supporting and conducting.” He poked a few spots. “The key is making sure that each of the broadcasters are positioned along the energy flows. Here, here, and here. The broadcast structure will flow naturally along the energy pathways, carrying the Impact and converting it as it goes as we activate each stage.”

He flipped to a clean notebook page and stared writing a series of weird graphs and formuli, asking questions about altitude, time zone, sun placement, planetary alignment, and even plugging in some numbers he clarified were continental drift and tectonic plate movement. Finally, when he finished, he started his work for real.

With several fascinating looking tools, he began carving into the ice, creating pathways, placing down small models of what looked like trees and bushes, and even placing small houses and animal enclosures throughout the tundra. Once he was done, he pointed out a series of small subformations he’d carved out.

“This should be about what we need for the final layout.” He gestured to small circles inside the formations. “Placement of our people, and we’ll have several artisans and craftsmen busy arranging the plants and buildings. Once that’s done…I’d say maybe a day. We can begin our preparations for the formation. A partial sphere of slow, surrounded by a powerful shield, with extraordinary cold magic seeping through it to maintain the temporal effects of the formation. Slowed time inside the area of the formation. One month and three days. That’s all the time you’ll have. I hope it is enough.” I nodded slowly. One month and three days. It was enough. It would have to be. In just over four weeks, we would end this.