NOVEL NEXT Chapter Three Hundred Forty Seven
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 also 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 severe 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 a 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.