Wish upon the Stars chapter 1118 (Patreon)

I didn’t bother with subtlety or asking permission. I projected my Domain immediately once I felt the alterations begin. In the blink of an eye we found ourselves standing in my throne room, at the base of the steps, staring up at my staff and the tree that represented it.

It looked…weird. The trunk was warping and bowing in odd ways, seemingly trying to tear itself open, and in the few places it succeeded I saw strange snapping mouths full of fangs. I was briefly concerned that vampirism had carried through the wine somehow, but between one moment and the next the mouths snapped shut, blinking back open as eyes that stared out around the room.

Seventy two eyes. I studied them intently, clearly picking out familiar irises, like the glowing green of Zagan and the black of Mephistopheles. I was briefly confused as to what was happening, but after thinking it through, I finally figured it out.

My soul. My Domain was part of me, as was the tree. As my soul weapon the tree grew as I grew, and that was how it had created Gehenna for me, but as I was changed by the tree so too must the tree have been changed by me. It had spent the last year or two internalizing my mythology, but moreso, internalizing the demons. Simulating their lives, living them. Becoming them.

All that growth was important. It was vital nutrients the plant had used to get stronger. Bethy’s wine could help accelerate that growth, but it couldn’t REPLACE it. The tree needed something to burn to fuel its growth, and what it had was the lives and experiences of seventy two powerful demons.

Azazel appeared at my side, looking tense. “My lord, I bid you welcome to your court. A small question, was this, perhaps, your doing?”

“Of course,” I nodded confidently. “No need to worry, everything is fine.”

“That’s lovely,” he said dryly. “But perhaps in the future it might behoove you to WARN us when you’re planning multiple fundamental shifts in the foundation of the realm from which we draw our very existence?”

I paused. “Ok, so I would have done that…” I said slowly. “But I didn’t think of it.”

He chuckled. “I assumed as much. But it would be nice of you to remember that we are PEOPLE as well as demons. I realize this is your Domain, and I have no right to instruct you in its care, but it is also our home. We need no consideration beyond acknowledgement, my lord, and I hesitate-”

“No,” I cut him off. “Don’t hesitate. You’re right. This involved you and I took that for granted. I needed to do this, but I could have spaced it out, let you in on things. Instead I just ran amok without letting you in the loop. I get so used to us acting as a single unit I forget that some measure of communication is necessary. It won’t happen again.”

He nodded, relieved. “Now, as you have no doubt surmised, the ten demons tree has begun a qualitative evolution. Beyond what would be represented by a rank up, I mean. It is becoming an entirely different tree. This is important because of exactly where the tree is ROOTED.” He gestured at the writhing tree image, the roots of which squirmed deeper and deeper into…the ten demons TOME. My chronicle and the tree were deeply intertwined, hence their shared name.

My eyes widened. “Is that…will that be safe? I’ve never heard that Chronicles can do that.”

“They can,” Bethy chirped from nearby. I turned to find her sitting up on one of the stands, legs swinging in a carefree back and forth rhythm. “I mean, Chronicles are condensed from Solid Skills and Solid Skills can upgrade on a rank up, so why wouldn’t a Chronicle. I mean I’ve never heard of it happening either, but it makes sense huh?” 

Put that way it actually did. I mean, Path of the Demonbinder was intricately connected to my Chronicle and my ability, and it was going to rank up when I did. I was honestly kind of curious. I’d seen skills before and after rank up, and I’d FELT skills rank up, but I’d never SEEN it happen before. I wasn’t sure anyone had, at least not in this specific way. I turned to stare at the changing tree. It would rank up, and change my Chronicle when it did. Obviously it wouldn’t drag ME to A-rank, but I was fascinated to see what my ten demons tome would become, not to mention the staff itself.

A pulse rocked the room. I frowned up at the tree. That was…not ideal. Azazel noticed my face. “What’s wrong?” he asked immediately.

“It’s not enough,” I grimaced. “It needs more. The tree is too far from A-rank, the wine didn’t bridge the gap. It’s been growing, but it’s still a little short. The advancement is going to fail.” And something was going to happen to my staff when it did. The tree COULD communicate with me. Had done so before. But not like this. This was sharp and urgent, very much not its style. It was afraid.

The only reason things weren’t worse was because of the armor. I could feel it like a lodestone, anchoring the whole Domain with the sheer weight of its presence. This armor was a genuine A-ranked artifact and it was designed to hold this place together, which was taking a ton of pressure off the tree so it could work.

Closing my eyes, I ran through my options. I needed power. Immediately. Wine wouldn’t work, it had started things off but it wouldn’t carry us over. I needed something more substantial something weighty…something like stats.

I blinked up at the tree, sending it a question. The response was a jumble of enthusiasm and acceptance. I nodded. “Alright, I have a plan. It’s been a few weeks since my last influx of stats, not to mention there was that whole big scene with me greeting the higher dimensional visitors in the middle of the war front. The tree needs to grow, which means it needs power, and the easiest way for me to get that is to process my stat points.”

Benny nodded along. “Right, the mythology should act as nutrients right? I mean the thing is growing out of your Chronicle, which is a condensation of one of your abilities.”

“That’s the hope,” I said wryly. “Not sure if it’ll work but it’s all we’ve got. Might as well give it a shot. Here’s hoping it’s enough to bridge the gap.” I wasn’t sure how many points I had coming. It hadn’t been that long since my last update, and while I HAD done some impressive shit, I wasn’t sure how well word had gotten out yet.

Either way, Benny was right. It was a viable plan. The tree had grown to this point on my mythology and used it to form Gehenna. So I closed my eyes and accepted the influx of stats.

I had never actually DONE this inside of my Domain before. Every time I processed stats I did it in a private out of the way place where I wouldn’t be disturbed. As soon as I relaxed my soul, I felt the stats descend into me, washing over the domain. A foiling curtain of energy. Green, red, blue, gold, black, a myriad of shades each representing something different. I hadn’t ever seen raw stats like this before. Not…physically? They didn’t stick around, and honestly I couldn’t tell if the colors were real or just my mind trying to process something unintelligible.

As each one hit, the tree shook, shedding the old leaves, and new ones grew in its place. Leaves of rainbow and shadow and fog. Seventy two branches of leaves, each one dedicated to a different demon. Some only had a single leaf, some had eight. But the leaves were all important, I could tell.

The ground shook as the power flooded in, and I felt it settle over me. It wasn’t painful. It was a few million points, but it wasn’t even thirty percent of the total. As it was absorbed by the tree, the flames and fog and all the forces represented roiled down through the roots and into my Chronicle, and the book…caught fire. I felt a flash of incredible force surge through me that drove me to my knees. Benny and Bethy caught me, helping me keep from falling over.

And then it was done, and I was looking at my stat screen. I ignored the majority of it, not needing to check on my demons, and focused specifically on my stats and the entries for my soul weapon.

Wishmaster status. B-rank. Ability: Legendary Wish- Ten times a day grant a Legendary wish in return for proper compensation. Wish must be feasibly  achievable by the candidate's own  efforts within a three day period  with  current statistics.

Legendary Path of the Demonbinder- The Domain of a Great King.

Might-3,125,421

Impact-215

Fantasy-2,433,568

Vitality-2,221,871 (x3)

Focus-2,124,853

Perception-1,641,640

Creation-1,981,143

Progress to next rank:13,528,711/100,000,000

Soul strength- Obsidian Soul Body

Body Forging: Nine Phoenix Reincarnation Art- 17/81 drops- First Layer (Life Nova) 9/9, Second Layer ( Cosmic Phoenix) 8/9

Chronicle: Myriad Demons Manual (pages bound:13- 4 Zagan, 1 Leviathan, 8 Nine Phoenix Reincarnation Art)

wish scrolls stockpiled: 30 (5 in the possession of friends to be used over time)

Bonded companion: Archimedes (Life Nova Phoenix)

Weapon: Pillar of Goetia 

The shuddering stopped, and I felt a flood of Impact pour through the tree and into the Domain, strengthening it further in a way I’d only experienced one other time. Apparently the shared connection meant that the tree’s rank up enhanced my Domain the same way mine did. I thought back to the Dryad homeworld, where I’d first found it, and the prediction that it could carry me to godhood. It was looking more likely by the day.

I checked my stats, happy to see the enhancement was decent. I wasn’t even close to the end of B-rank, obviously, but a few million regularly dropping in was going to make the process faster than I had hoped. Sure enough, becoming the Wishmaster had its perks.

“Thirteen million points,” murmured Azazel when I told him about my status. “What an auspicious number. What are the effects on your Chronicle?”

“Unknown,” I admitted. “It feels…different. Not sure how different. My pages are intact and it’s a stable core for this place again. The armor and the tree are working in perfect sync now, with only my lower rank dragging them down. Combined with the enhancement from its rank up, this place can support far more power being utilized in realspace. Not to mention it’ll be MUCH less vulnerable during projection. I don’t think anything short of an S-ranker is going to damage it the way Roland did.”

Combined with all my recent training, my combat style was going to be just as flexible and even more precise. I wouldn’t need to hamstring myself in fights like so many others did for fear of soul injury.

Finally, it was time for the last step. I reached out a hand and called to my staff. I thumped solidly into my palm, almost vibrating with power. Life and strength flooded into my from where I gripped it, and I could see seventy two sigils twisting themselves along the wood as I watched the grain. Like an optical illusion, there one moment, gone the next.

With a grin, I allowed my Domain to recede, and I was standing in the winery with Benny, Bethy, and Azazel. “I can’t wait to find out what I can do now,” I said with an eager smile. “And I know just how to do it, too. What better way to assess progress than a test. Put the word out. Tomorrow night, we enter the Legacy Trial. I want to see what kind of assessment that old Overgod left in his house.” Because I didn't believe anything my level could stop me now.