Wish upon the Stars

Since this was a semi-show of force, we weren't wearing gaudy formal  wear, instead we got to wear our costumes, which was nice. I was more  comfortable in my gear than in most outfits, and not just because of my  badass coat. The sense of security from F-ranked armor was pretty nice. I  was also glad we'd haggled to get a set of armor the next rank up,  because it meant the gear wasn't already out of date.

We  convened outside the building where Abel had been told the party was,  and I had to admit, I was kind of impressed. Rather than a normal  building with square floors on top of each other, this place seemed to  have been made to resemble a stone whale. The thing was absolutely huge,  and the open mouth was covered by a single pane of F-rank glass.

Even  for Ascendants, a giant stone animal as a building was kind of novel,  and I spent a minute just taking it in when we arrived. I was cut off by  Callie, who stopped us all to give a warning. "Alright everyone, just  remember, these are elite combatants. The contestants in the tournament  were tough, but every one of these people WON their own tournament, or  was brought along as backup by someone who did. Be careful out there."

I  grinned at her cheekily. "Now, why do I feel like your warning is going  to be more specific than most people would expect? I take it you found  some way to be able to effectively use your spying abilities? I thought  Zeke said it was too dangerous here?"

She  returned my grin with a proud smirk. "Only that first day. There was  some paperwork I needed to do that he mentioned to me after our nap. I  filled it out on my scan ring and submitted it over the network. I was  okay'd for spying up to a certain range. Apparently long term bans on  powers like that is too much like coddling the juniors, you just aren't  allowed to do it without restriction because while any sufficiently  powerful Ascendant would sense it if they looked, there's an off chance  you might accidentally hear important elder business before they notice  you."

Which  probably meant they had some kind of countermeasure to her power on a  personal scale, and since they knew she was there they could work around  it. It ALSO implied a substantially more cohesive leadership behind the  place than I had suspected. I turned to Zeke, who was following us in a  blank porcelain mask of his own design, presumably in case someone had  caught his little show or was a candidate or empire brat who might know  him. "Who is running this anyway? I don't think I ever asked."

He  chuckled. "See, she's such a good influence on you. You didn't ask. But  it's the Lakedeep clan. They're pretty powerful in the Unity's galaxy.  The founder is a top executive in the Unity itself, Salara Lakedeep. I'm  guessing your girl has heard of her. The higher up you go the more  widely known an executive is. All of the Unity's S-rankers are pretty  famous in this galaxy."

Callie's  eyes were wide. "I...I do know her. Even in a backwater like Callus  we've heard of the Kraken. Her summon is supposed to be able to pluck  stars from the night sky and eat them. She's so in tune with it she can  manifest its traits herself and use them at will."

Zeke  nodded. "She's an S-ranker, so she can probably do both of those  things, and she can definitely manifest traits. It's one of the more  common high rank summoner ability variations. While abilities are highly  customizable, there are some basic directions that usually have more  benefit. With weapon masteries, manifestations are a common path to  take, summoners usually make up for lack of individual combat potential  by learning to harmonize with their summons. Not that a party trick like  that is the end of the line for an S-ranker. She undoubtedly has much  scarier powers than that."

I  shuddered, thinking about how terrifying the fight between the  B-rankers had been again. "So, the Lakedeep clan is running things and  you got permission to use your ability from them." I said to Callie. "I  take it you managed to find out the identities of some of the people  we're meeting tonight?"

She  grinned, pulling her focus back to the matter at hand. "Yup. Most of  the others were talking about a few particularly scary standouts."  Stopping her recitation she hurled herself forward, gripping me tightly  as she squealed. "Oh I love my new power so much! I spent most of the  day in the shadows whenever I had a spare moment. It took a bit to get  used to filtering through so much input, but with my Focus I managed it  just fine. I learned so much!"

I  laughed, squeezing her back and grateful she was controlling her  strength better. Though it might also just be the new Impact helping me  out. "I'm glad to hear it, but that was all you. Most I did was help you  get one extra Skill and focus your stats."

Laughing,  she pulled back. "Yeah, because those are such inconsequential aspects  of how I got my ability. Not worth mentioning." She rolled her eyes at  me, but her smile stayed wide and happy, just how I liked it. "Anyway,  there are five people we need to watch out for, the Vampire being one of  them. Her name is Bethany Lark. She's apparently the baby of the  family, which isn't shocking considering how low rank she is. She's  considered mostly stable and sane for a Vampire, though she's extremely  touchy about her clothes. Has quite the reputation for it."

I  winced. People with a reputation for one specific kind of behavior  tended be heavily obsessive about that particular trait. It was actually  something some people did on purpose, because weird and quirky people  were more interesting, and it helped focus recursion in one direction.  It also explained her draining those stat points out of Valk, presumably  upset because he burned her dress.

That  said, we could work with that, and I saw Callie notice how pretty  easily, picking up my emotions over the bond and following them to their  logical conclusion with a nod. "Yeah, I figure we can wish for a really  nice dress she would like and offer it as a meeting gift. If having the  idea first messes with your ability to do it we can just ask Nat, but  I'm glad you were thinking the same thing."

Having  my cousin around was damn useful, even if we couldn't engage in any  wish looping after forming our alliance because of the family rules. She  provided an easy source of wishes to work with even if she wasn't  willing to be as creative with payment structures as I was. Sadly she  charged points for points almost exclusively, so none us had really  availed her of that service, but for utility wishes like this she was a  perfect second option.

Callie  waved me off. "We can think about it after, or just offer Bethany a  wish and let her decide for herself, you still have three for today  right?" I nodded. I'd traded three for my new staff and the six rings,  one of which I'd slipped on immediately after filling it with all the  odds and ends in the back we'd been using as a makeshift storage due to  that magic box we found in the Necropolis.

"Good.  Now, the other four standouts." She said, moving on. "One of them is a  member of your family. Alistair Wyndham. His branch of the family is  different as far as I know, so I doubt you're more than distantly  related. I asked Nat but she doesn't know anything about him. Sadly most  of the gossip about him is absurd nonsense about Wishmaster Candidates  in general, about three quarters of which we know isn't true, so all I  got was a name."

That  was plenty though, it was good to know about the only other candidate  around. I doubted I'd be lucky enough to meet two friendly ones in a  row, and Nat was my literal blood cousin which I think had helped. Plus  if he was from another branch he might not be as scared of dad, so I  made a mental note to watch out for him.

"Flicker  and Blink are twins. One of them creates clones and one of them  teleports, and they seem to be able to share powers, which  gets...obnoxious. They're higher level F-rankers with a Fantasy focus,  which means their fate sense is pretty absurd." My girlfriend sounded a  bit wary of those two, and I could see why, but hopefully like Zeke said  we wouldn't need to fight every single person. We could make alliances  and try to get help."

She  sighed as she moved on. "The last one is a Crusader for the Red  Revenant church. That's the fourth Job advancement in their warrior  caste. Gabriel Brightlaw. He's more than halfway into the F-ranks, and  he's supposed to be terrifying. He's a Master Candidate with the lance,  and a summoner who can call up some kind of Celestial Charger he rides  into battle. He's also an Adamant cultivator."

Zeke  whistled. "That's...rough. Not a lot of those make it that far in a  cluster this remote." At my confused head tilt he rolled his eyes. "You  know, you should do SOME research. Your girlfriend is not a walking  encyclopedia and neither am I. An Adamant cultivator is someone with a  reputation for being unbeatable. Adamants become stronger, more skilled,  and more...in tune with combat, the longer they last."

"So..." I said slowly. "Like Abel? Abel never loses."

"No."  He said flatly. "Abel RARELY loses. Plus he's too quiet to be an  Adamant. It takes a serious reputation for that kind of thing. You have  to be in the spotlight from day one and win every fight with ease. I  suspect Abel would find the idea of being an Adamant pretty boring. He  doesn't need the help. And the idea of losing doesn't bother him." He  shot a glance at my mentor, who nodded confidently.

I  got his point, but it was worrying. "Can recursion make someone harder  to beat? I know it kind of alters reality, but it doesn't actually MAKE  him unbeatable, does it?"

Zeke  shook his head. "Adamants can and do break all the time. They become  functionally useless once it happens, which is why it's not a path  people take often. Mostly that kind of thing gets purposefully derailed  early on. The higher they go, the more precarious it is. They aren't  invincible, though they are in kind of a zone all the time. Their  recursion keeps them at peak form constantly, which combined with fast  advancement because of their impressive skills makes them a pain in the  ass to fight."

"The  point is." Cut in Callie. "We don't want him to be an enemy. It might  be worth telling him about your mother. The Star Queen is apparently a  legend in the Church, and your grandfather being the Radiant Pope will  earn you plenty of points too." She looked at my with a slightly jealous  expression. "Having S-rankers for both grandfathers is pretty damned  useful."

I  laughed bitterly. "Yes, I particularly enjoyed the constant murder  attempts because of my mother's side of the family. Nothing like having a  Cult of bloodthirsty shadowy lunatics out for your blood to make you  count your blessings." My voice was...perhaps a bit more edgy than I'd  have liked, and combined with the bond, she actually flinched a bit.  "Cal, I didn't mean-"

She  held up both hands. "No. You're right. That was insensitive. Your  family is a sore spot and bringing it up like that was shitty. You've  had a lot of problems because of them. I should have remembered that."  She leaned in for another hug, this one much gentler, and I felt the  apology through the bond, no words needed between us. I squeezed her  back so she knew I forgave her, but we were interrupted by the sound of a  throat clearing.

"This  is sweet, but can we maybe do it another time." Abel said mildly. "We  have a party to get to. And I kind of want to fight this Adamant guy."  We groaned aloud, and the rest of the trip inside was filled with the  sound of Mel berating her boyfriend for being a battle maniac and an  idiot. It really lightened the mood. It was pretty cool having such good  friends, even if sometimes they were morons.