Wish upon the Stars chapter 1125 (Patreon)

The next morning I went through my usual ritual. Wake up, make scrolls, make breakfast, check in with Callie. Once I was done with that I was surprised to hear a knock at my door, and opened it to find Sorwen waiting with a bright smile and a cup of…”Is that coffee?” I asked with interest as I took it from her.

“There’s a cafe not far from here,” she chirped excitedly. “It’s amazing! Their coffee is amazing! This city is amazing!”

I squinted at her, deciding that was too much pep for just a morning person. “How many cups of this have you had?” I asked warily as I noted her hands shaking so fast that they were almost vibrating.

“Psh, not many, just one, plus nine, so ten, but not counting this one, or the other twelve.” She babbled excitedly. “They opened so early and they had so many flavors and I tried them all and some of them twice an- hey!”

I snatched the cup from her remaining hand as I turned around to keep it out of her reach. “Nope. You don’t need any more, and you would be of no use to me if you spontaneously combusted yourself from twitching too fast. Hold still.” I triggered Zagan, setting down the coffee and putting a hand on her shoulder and flooding her body with green flame. Not too much, just enough to cleanse her system and put a bit of extra pep in her step.

“Oh WOW,” she gasped in surprise. “That’s…wow, that’s way better. That’s fantastic. You should bottle that.” She paused, eyes cutting to my hand. “Speaking of things that go in bottles, would you mind…”

I rolled my eyes, passing the cup back. “Fine, but last one. You’re clean now, so another shouldn’t hurt anything, but this stuff is clearly strong. How did you pay or these, anyway? Did they charge credits?” I hadn’t really considered how the payment system would work in the city, since not everything would be inside the credit exchange.

She nodded as she took the cup and sipped it happily. “Yeah, but just the one. Most of the businesses in town take credits from what I can tell. Also, I met some of the locals the Dean mentioned.”

“I assume you didn’t provoke them?” I asked wryly. 

“They’re S-ranker fragments,” she said with a grimace. “I’m tough for a B-ranker, but even a shard of mirror soul isn’t something I want to mess with.”

I whistled at that. I had considered that possibility, but the sheer scale of it was kind of intimidating. Having access to enough S-rankers to fill thirty seven ENTIRE cities was…staggering. That was more S-rankers than we had in the entire plane, and by a large margin.

I supposed that given wherever these people came from could support Overgods in multitude, reaching S-rank or even god rank wasn’t too impressive. Still, given there were twelve different majors and multiple teachers in each one, I wouldn’t be surprised if this place had a few dozen gods. It was sobering to see the difference between my own realm and the place the academy had originated, wherever that was.

“So, you interested in checking out the credit exchange?” I asked as I sipped my own coffee. She’d been right, it was excellent. Coffee wasn’t my favorite drink, but I liked it well enough with cream and sugar, and this was fantastic.

We headed out into the city at a brisk walk, taking in the sights and sounds. Moment City was…idyllic. The ceiling above us reflected the sky outside, which wasn’t a real sky because this whole thing was in a giant tower but I didn’t want to think about that right now. Still, it was pleasant. Dappled sunlight, tinkling fountains, wind through the unnaturally green trees. I could even smell fresh bread on the air as we passed the picturesque buildings.

That impression lasted right up until we reached the steps of the exchange, where it immediately cut off like someone was flipping a switch. Between one step and the next, the air chilled, the dappled sunlight faded to a cold blue glare, and the wind became biting and carried only the scent of dead leaves/.

I raised a brow, looking around. “Really?’ I asked sourly. “Is that necessary?”

A man appeared beside us, tall and gaunt with a stovepipe hat and a monocle, and smiled at me winningly. “Quite so, I’m afraid. We’ve found that students have a tendency to loiter around the exchange. As such we’ve imbued the area with a bit of a trial. It’s nothing serious, simply an aura of temporal ennui that drains motivation. You’ll wander off after a while, bored and confused as to what you were doing. A bit of focus on your task can offset the effect easily enough, it simply prevents unnecessary lingering.”

I considered that for a moment, then focused on one of my demons, calling out for aid as I triggered Leviathan. A surge of warm protection rolled through me, chasing off the cold easily. I just grinned at the man as he raised a brow at me. “Fascinating,” he said dryly. “Not many have spiritual protections for such specific effects. Remarkable foresight, young man.”

“I take it you’re one of the teachers?” I asked the fragment of a god I had never met.

He doffed his stovepipe hat, fluttering it cheekily as he bowed over it. “Chester T. Pettigrew, at your most humble and efficacious service, master and madam. I am the instructor of record in matters of temporal fold resonance.” At my blank stare he chuckled. “Stacking time echoes, my boy. It’s a somewhat esoteric field, but a surprisingly popular method of empowerment within the major.”

I blinked at that. It took me a second to puzzle out what he meant. “Wait…you mean like overlaying potential futures into yourself to empower you?”

“Precisely,” he beamed. “A difficult and complex application of temporal dynamics, but a central bit of Mythcrafting for any temporal enhancement technique. You sound like you have some experience?”

“Nothing like that,” I said with a headshake. “I have a similar skill that isn’t involved in with my time attribute, and one that does basically the opposite. Destroys potential futures to force my opponent to do certain things.”

His already mobile eyebrows climbed up into his hairline. “Timeline pruning,” he said in an impressed voice. “The Dean instructs that course, and it’s usually an advanced lecture series. You’ve never had formal instruction in temporal mechanics?” I shook my head and he let out a huff of laughter. “A natural then. Pruning timelines is technically an aspect of temporal divination, but there’s some overlap with combat mechanics. I would be careful, however, pruning is an exceptionally dangerous principle.”

I wasn’t sure what he meant by that, I’d never had any problems with it, but I was sure he knew what he was talking about. I hadn’t even known it had a name before now, so clearly I was out of my depth.

“Anyway,” Sorwen cut in cheerfully. “It was nice to meet you, Professor Pettigrew. We need to head inside before all our motivation is wicked away. Or mine at least. Solomon may be protected from the aura around here but I’m not so lucky.”

“Of course,” he nodded cordially. “I hope to see you in one of my courses. Perhaps we might find a way to combine your disparate techniques into a powerful temporal resonance ability.”

I nodded along, not really convinced I needed that given my current skillset, and then we headed into the large empty hall where the merit exchange was situated. As we entered, I took in the empty expanse of cold marble surrounding a large circular counter. Behind the counter stood several employees, and above them hung signs covered with words written in lightly pulsing red light.

Meadow of Lost Moments- 1hr -62,000 credits

Timekeeper Treasure Tome- 1st chapter- 40,000 credits

Horus Hourglass- 25,000 credits

Scythe of Aeons- 21,000 credits

Temporal Lockdown Lecture- 10,000 credits

I gaped at the values. They were all so expensive. Considering the payout for an advanced student designation was a thousand credits, that meant taking on presumably a MILLION robots was the equivalent of that ONE lecture. If there was even a trial past advanced.

“That’s just…ridiculous,” I said in an appalled tone.

“You’re on the wrong screen,” Sorwen said dryly. “Try the next one over, maybe? It’s a bit more our speed.”

I shifted my gaze as she suggested, and I felt my climbing blood pressure even out a bit.

Timeslip Identification and Preparedness Lecture- 20 credits

Lost Moment Lantern -single use- 10 credits

Overlapping Temporal Fluctuation Tracker- 5 credits

Second Sand- one gram- 1 credit

That was definitely better. Below that, to my surprise, I caught sight of another sign, this one glowing with green light.

Mobius Mechanisms Lecture- rewards 10 credits

Minute Sparrow Migration tracking- rewards 50 credits

1 year of time-  rewards 100 credits

“Wait…is that last one literal?” I asked. “People just…buy a year of your time? Like you work for them or they actually TAKE time from you?”

I addressed the question to the calm looking girl with aquamarine eyes behind the counter. She smiled placidly. “The latter. Time transplants is a service offered by the faculty. You can have the transplanted time directly added to your lifespan or stored in a dedicated device that can be used to accrue and pass on temporal stockpiles. It’s the most valuable mission available to new students.”

That was both interesting and unsettling. I knew my wishes could extend lifespan, though it was an inefficient use of the ability. Still, this seemed like a much larger scale operation. Clearing my throat, I glanced back up at the boards. “I was hoping to exchange for the Dean meeting? I was told it was an option for me.”

“Your identification number?” she asked politely. I rattled it off and she started tapping on a smooth pane of glass that I hadn’t noticed set into the counter in front of her. “Ah, here we are. Shane Wyndham. I see that you ARE eligible, though it will wipe out your entire credit stockpile. Are you sure you want to commit to such a course of action?”

“I do,” I assured her. “And thank you for the help by the way miss…” after talking to Callie I’d decided that I should try to make some friends of my own here. It didn’t hurt to be nice to the staff either.

She gave a small but surprised smile. “Elonwy,” she informed me with a graceful bow. “One of the proud and noble clerks of the temporal sciences department. You have to say the whole thing every time, or else we consider it a deadly insult.” Her face was solemn, but her eyes were twinkling. 

Since I was a good sport, I played along. “Really?” I asked her innocently.

“No, but it’s sweet that you considered it,” she chuckled. After tapping her screen a few times, she reached under the desk and removed a long, thin strip of red silk with a golden hourglass stitched into it. “Now, this marker will lead you to your meeting with the Dean. Please be aware that it functions in time as well as space, and as such the journey will not begin until the appointed time.”

I took it and tucked it into the belt of my armor. “Noted, and appreciated. It was nice to meet you Elonwy, I’ll be sure to check in when I come back in here. I plan to post a few things on the boards myself. Sadly, I’m flat broke now, so that’ll have to wait until next time. Sorwen, want me to stay while you pick?” She did, and so I settled back to watch her scan the lists, interested in what she would pick. Once we finished, we headed out to find some food before my appointment with the Dean. I had a feeling I’d want to go in well fed.