Wish upon the Stars chapter 1036

Extending my Domain inside the core turned out to be effortless. I’d half expected to run into trouble, given the weird interactions between Domains and the Void. The old man told me I was a moron, because I’d been opening my Domain in the Wishworld since I developed it, and I was still IN the Wishworld.

When he saw how far it expanded, he let out a low whistle. “This is decent work for a C-ranker. The projection is unusually solid. That staff of yours is a treasure. Better hold into it tight.”

“It’s my soul weapon,” I assured him. “No one is taking it from me. Not to mention it’s very persnickety about who is allowed to wield it. Basically just me and sometimes Callie. But I’m well aware how amazing it is. It’s easily one of the most important pillars of my Domain.”

He glanced around casually, following me towards the hall. “I see you didn’t use Wish in the construction. Smart boy.”

“I would have rendered myself ineligible for the Wishmaster positions,” I responded immediately. “Besides, the Wish power still has plenty of utility. Barring a big dramatic power play to break through a rank like my dad did, I wouldn’t give up the modifier so easily.”

He nodded approvingly. “The Wish power is the most effective support ability in the universe, and it isn’t close. There’s a reason I was able to build a whole clan around it, not to mention a world. The choice to alter it is not one to undertake lightly. For those in the family aiming for divinity, it’s normally inescapable. They can never achieve godhood with the bloodline. But for those like yourself and Aiden, maintaining its optimal form and taking advantage of your unique advantages is the prudent choice.”

We arrived at the palace. Without any action from me, the doors swung smoothly inward and we found Azazel standing inside, waiting with Sam and Dom on either side, my three ministers standing together to greet the Deity following me inside.

Which brought me up short. “Actually, how are you in here? You’re a god, shouldn’t I be like…exploding?”

He rolled his eyes. “First of all, only if I were astonishingly sloppy about it. Second of all, no, because I’m not really here. We’re inside my Domain. This is a manifestation of my former body inside the borders of the Wishworld. I can manifest nearly anywhere in or around my world. But this isn’t my true form. More like the version of yourself that interacted with the library when you entered your soulspace, back before you condensed your Domain.”

I nodded in understanding. There was so much to know about cultivation, and any given random bit of information from a literal deity was bound to be worth its weight in some high rank equivalent to gold.

The old man, finished his explanation, glanced around at the others. “So. These are your demons. Fascinating. Living embodiments of Skills and techniques with the growth potential of Skills and the self determination of beings. One of the biggest problems with spreading ourselves so wide as talented Skillsmiths is a like of depth. This is a unique response to the problem, even in my experience.”

“Really? You think they’re unique?” I asked somewhat smugly. I’d known that, of course, but hearing it from Azazel wasn’t the same as hearing it from the old man. With most of my anger at him retreated in the wake of finding out he’d actually HELPED (though he was vague on how much), I was back to being mostly in awe of him. I still wasn’t really happy about how things happened, but the fact that he was a genius in matters of cultivation was indisputable, and his feedback here was valuable. 

“Of course, I’ve seen other variations of the concept,” he corrected. “Skills made manifest, sometimes as animals or companions. Summons could be considered an adjacent discipline, but it’s not the same. These demons have their own discrete system of advancement and ranking. They’re independent entities. Or will be. I assume they can’t leave the Domain for long?”

I shook my head. “Not at the moment. They rely on the staff too much. The upside is they can’t die, since they’re part of the Domain, but no, they also can’t leave.” Except…maybe that wasn’t true. I frowned, glancing at Azazel, who was hesitating. “Right?”

“Well, we recently became aware that two of us might not be quite so bound,” he hedged. “Leviathan and Zagan.”

It only took me a split second to understand. “The pages,” I said with dawning realization. “Those are two Skills that I bound into pages in my tome. You think that gives them the ability to operate freely outside the Domain?”

“For a period of time,” he cautioned. “We have no way of knowing how permanent that is. Besides which, they’re both Tier 7. Based on my predictions, I suspect that were they to rank up they would require another page. The anchor point of the Ten Demons Tome allows them to operate outside the confines of the Domain, but it’s not a perfect solution.”

The old man nodded. “That sounds about right. Of course, it’ll still be important information to have. Based on the construction here, you’re playing fast and loose with soul strain. Temporary bumps to a higher rank are fine, but if too many of these demons surpass you in rank…well, I don’t think it would go well for you. This entire Domain is balanced on your soul, basically. It’s a testament to its freakish strength and resilience that you can withstand this, even with help from the staff, but there are limits.”

“But you think the pages might be a way around that?” I asked eagerly. “Like if I bind some of them and let them leave the Domain it’ll relieve the pressure?”

“I believe so,” he acknowledged. “Rather than a foundation, I believe the pages serve as a tether. Once they’ve been tethered and left the confines of your Domain, the pressure they represent will lessen dramatically. It won’t VANISH, to be clear, but as some of the stronger ones rank up, it may become necessary. Unfortunately, you’re going to have a bigger problem than that soon enough.”

I froze. “What do you mean? What problem?”

“Your body,” he clarified. “Your soul is strong. Abnormally so. Between your soul physique, all the training, and your connection to the soul tree, you might have the most powerful soul of any C-ranker I’ve ever seen. But that’ll only carry you so far. Specifically, when you reach S-rank, you’ll need to merge your Saga with your physical body. And based on what I’ve seen, yours won’t be able to hold up.”

That…hadn’t occurred to me. “So you’re saying my body won’t be able to contain my Saga? So I need to what? Pour everything into Might?”

“Not that kind of issue,” he corrected. “Impact will help, you have more than most. But it’s a factor of quality more than quantity. Your soul has been forged and polished in ways most people can’t even dream of. Your opportunities are legion in the spiritual realm. You need to focus on the physical. There’s two ways to do that. You could farm Impact, but we both know how difficult that is, especially at lower levels. Or you could forge your body another way.”

“Like a racial trait?” I asked him with interest.

He waggled a hand. “To some extent. Racial traits are more…direct. Think of it as the difference between working out and having someone rewire your muscular system. There are ways to achieve similar effects at a more measured pace, and with more control. But they’re prohibitively time consuming and difficult to make progress in. Body forging Skills are almost unheard of in the modern day for those exact reasons. Racial traits provide exponentially better results in a fraction of the time, so why bother?”

He gestured around us. “But that kind of thing is PERFECT for you. If you create a demon out of a Body Forging Skill, it can slowly increase proficiency with it while you go about your life. And make no mistake, Body Forging is MUCH more customizable. Racial Traits use special bloodlines or concepts to alter the self for dramatic effect, piggybacking on existing mythology to leverage renown into instant results. But barring something like your wife’s case where both yourself and a literal god custom refines a racial trait for someone, it’ll never be as compatible with the user as a forged body.”

“I’ve never heard of anything like that,” I said slowly. “I mean, it makes sense, I guess. Modification of the body through Skills is possible, even if short term. So Body Forging is something like a form, but permanent?”

“And slower,” he cautioned. “It’s a gradual process. But it affects the soul, so the Skills are extremely rare.”

I frowned at that. “Can you make one for me? In exchange for the chance to study my Domain? You said it’s unique, that must have value, right?” This had been an issue I’d been considering for a while. Namely, how to become something different. Racial Traits were great, but they were also kind of invasive. I’d have needed to give up my Wish power or merge whatever I picked with my Path of the Demonbinder. Neither felt like the right call. “Also, do I need to merge my Body Forging technique with my main ability like a racial trait would require?”

“No,” he answered bluntly. “That’s one of the biggest benefits. Like I said, it’s customizable and highly suited to the user. A forged body gives options that quick and dirty solutions like a racial trait can’t compete with. But there are downsides. Aside from the time it takes, Body Forging is also agonizingly painful. Even with your demon learning and improving the method, you’ll still need to USE it. The changes are gradual but they’re still changes, and they have to be applied to take effect.”

That really was pretty much perfect for me. Pain and automation, two things I was uniquely suited for. “Are you going to custom make it? Or just give me one you already have?”

His lack of answer earlier had been its own answer. If this little visit hadn’t been enough to warrant a Skill he’d have said so. He shrugged. “Either works. But personally, I’d suggest the latter. Given your own interest in tinkering, starting with something more standardized and altering it yourself as you go would produce better results. Wishes create technically perfect products, but technical perfection doesn’t always give the best results. There are plenty of wildly unbalanced methods that can be compensated for, achieving results beyond what a Wish skill can manage.”

“Alright,” I said, blowing out a breath. “What do you suggest?”

“I suggest you find a low rank Skill with some commonalities with one of my body tempering methods,” He snapped his fingers, and a bookshelf appeared next to us. I blinked at that, because I hadn’t know he could make things appear in my Domain, though since this was his world I supposed it made sense. “I’ve collected a decent number of them. I assume you’re planning to repurpose a demon for this?”

“Reincarnation,” I agreed. “That’s what it's called. But yes. So having some overlap might help.” I didn’t know exactly how reincarnating demons worked, having never done it before, but I couldn’t see a situation where commonality would be a bad thing.

He nodded. “Well then, better get looking. I don’t have all day.” He gestured to the shelf.

Almost giddy with anticipation, I walked over to the shelf, beginning to browse through the books. The titles were wordy and complicated for the most part, but each one sent a shock ofg excitement down my spine. This had so much potential, and I couldn’t wait to explore all of it. I had so much to learn.