Wish upon the Stars chapter 1182 (Patreon)

“That was the dumbest thing I’ve ever seen,” Professor Hawkins informed me cheerfully. “Truly, categorically, cosmically stupid to an extent never before witnessed by either man or beast. You should teach a class.”

I shrugged. “I’m only tangentially aware of what the hell just happened, to be honest,” I admitted. “My soul hurts, my Domain is cracked, and my head feels like someone detonated a depth charge behind my nasal cavity. But sure, if it ever comes up again I’d love to teach people how to be so stupid you save the universe.”

Dean Windermere and Dean Gibbons both touched down, the moment nowhere to be seen.  “He’s not wrong,” she said warmly. “That was a phenomenal bit of ingenuity, stupid as it was. And unlike Alden, I DO understand what you did. It was an inspired bit of improvised Mythcrafting, though I believe part of your education has been to AVOID such off the cuff solutions. In this case, I suppose you can be forgiven your impetuousness. Just this once.”

“Forgiveness is great,” Callie said archly. “Contributions points are better. I believe my husband just contributed heavily to your personal pet research project. By any measurable qualification, he’s earned a tidy sum.”

“Not just me,” I corrected in a firm tone. “Callie’s Vault was the only reason that worked at all. I wanted her to get part of the credit. In fact, I want her to get MOST of the credit. She’s just entered B-rank, and I’m almost through. I’ll hit A-rank sooner than later, but she’s a ways out. The more contribution she’s reported as having here the better. At least, I assume you have some internal mechanism for spreading impressive feats?”

Ascendant culture functioned off things like that, and academies especially were giant PR machines. Of course, they both nodded, but Callie, knowing me better than anyone, cut in again. “Also we want an automatic pass on the final exam.”

Dean Gibbons laughed. “Deal, though I have to clarify that you can’t win the prize pool that way. Are you prepared to forfeit the credits?”

“Considering the number of contribution points we should be looking at,” my wife said slyly. “I think we can let someone else try for those. We can use those points to get anything we want, right? Including all the ascension theses from the various majors?”

“You may,” he said grandly. “But remember that your contribution points are finite. Wasting them on something as pedestrian as an ascension thesis may seem like a small expenditure, given it only costs a single point, but the value of contribution points is exponentially beyond anything you may access with credit points.”

I blanched. “Wait, the credit to contribution ratio is one hundred THOUSAND to one?” I sputtered. “How much did we SPEND on that lab equipment?”

“Oh don’t worry about that,” the Overgod said in a comforting tone. “Alden pays a premium because of his involvement in crafting that particular construct. You only paid ten percent. But yes, that ten percent would have required approximately ten million credit points were you to pay out of pocket.”

“So how much are we getting this time,” Callie asked suspiciously. “I mean, we basically saved your lives. That’s got to be worth at least…ten thousand. Each.”

Dean Windermere snorted. “Nice try, dear, but most tenured Professors haven't amassed that much after millenia of working for us. You’ve done us a great service. We’d be willing to go as far as five hundred apiece.”

“Just for this?” I cut in. “Because we were also part of Professor Saunders plan to defeat Dean Temple. Without me there, you might not have even gotten to this fight in time.”

Dean Gibbons scowled at that. “Fifteen hundred total,” he countered. “You contributed to that incident, but your wife did not. Five hundred for her for her part in the Void Child’s defeat, a thousand for you, and we’ll make sure to spin the narrative to give her the lion’s share of the credit for the Overgod’s defeat.”

“And we can access the exchanges from all the majors?” I asked warily. “Professor Hawkins told us that there aren’t really provisions for students to spend contribution points directly. If we’re getting that many I need access.”

“We’ll assign Elonwy to you,” Dean Windermere said with a warm smile. “She’s an employee of the exchange in her major and can be granted access. She’ll act as your personal shopper, in a sense.”

Dean Gibbons frowned, but finally relented. “Very well. Because you contributed so heavily. Your rewards will, of course, be limited to what we discussed here today. Access to the exchanges through Elonwy, fifteen hundred contribution points, and our assistance with your renown generation. Are these terms agreeable?”

I could tell from his general demeanor that he wasn’t really asking. This was the most we were getting, and any attempts to push further would alienate the Overgods we’d just gotten on good terms with.

“Agreed,” I said quickly after a quick discussion with Callie through the bond. I turned to Elonwy. “Though we’ll need to trouble you to drive us around a bit before we get into any purchasing. We need to pick up our friends and make sure they’re ok, then figure out what everyone needs before we leave.”

If anything, the sheer windfall we’d just stumbled on was going to be DIFFICULT to turn into useful resources in the short time we had left here. I had some ideas, but talking things over with Benny and the others definitely wouldn’t hurt.

She nodded tiredly. “Of course,” she said grimly. “That was…I don’t know what that was. But I don’t think any of us are doing quite as well as we’d like right now.” She grimaced, putting a hand to her side. I frowned as I realized she’d been injured. She noticed my attention and smiled wryly. “I’m fine, just a flesh wound.”

“Speaking of wounds,” Dean Windermere said coldly. “We need to go, Simon. Theodora and Corey are still most likely locked in combat with Kell and Wendy. This isn’t quite over.”

Dean Desmond, still catching his breath beside Dean Harper, nodded tiredly. “Of course,” he said with a sigh. “Give me a moment and we’ll be off. Well done, students. Miss Wyndham, your application of spatial control is excellent, but there’s room for improvement. I suggest you look into the personal tutoring option I offer. It is expensive but well worth the cost.”

And with that, the four Deans all just…vanished. Between one blink and the next they simply ceased being where they were. Professor Hawkins rolled his eyes. “Melodramatic bastard.”

“Well, I mean he IS an Overgod,” I said wryly. “Comes with the territory. You doing ok Prof? Injured at all?” I couldn’t see any damage, but it was obvious that the injuries sustained by a god fragment in combat would be different from the ones any of us got physically.

He waved me off. “I’m fine, kid. Let’s just get out of this hellhole. Go pick up your friends.”

We all headed out of the canyon. I was shocked to find Elonwy’s car waiting outside for us. Professor Hawkins just grinned. “What, you thought they’d strand us?”

The car had been left behind on the mountain when Dean Desmond transported us, but apparently he’d brought it along without our notice or maybe gone back for it. We all piled in and Elonwy started up the car, taking a moment to adjust her seat before pulling out.

Rather than close my eyes, given all the changes to my ability to process temporal energy, I decided to actually watch as we drove through the fourth dimension. It made me a little nauseous, but beyond that it was a fascinating thing to witness. I expected to be watching for just a moment given the relative speed of rides when I closed my eyes, but to my surprise it lasted for what felt like an hour.

When we finally pulled to a stop, we were parked outside of a large, gabled manor that looked like it might have been haunted. “This is Bethy’s dorm?” I asked in disbelief. “Did she REQUEST this or did they just assign it to her?”

Callie just snorted. “I give it even odds. Come on, let’s check in on everyone. I want to make sure they’re all ok.”

We arrived at the front door of the dorms, knocking and being let in by what appeared to be an actual Gorgon, and followed the directions up to Bethy’s room. I knocked, and there was a slight wait before the door opened to reveal my sister.

Chelsea’s eyes were red, tear streaks down her pale face, and when she saw me, she let out a shriek of relief and threw her arms around me. “Shane you asshole!” she sobbed. “What the hell am I supposed to tell mom and dad if you die? Honestly, can you NOT be the center of attention for five minutes you showboating ass!”

I glanced at Bethy, who was waiting nearby looking relieved. “We just heard about your fight,” she explained.

“What?” I said in disbelief. “How? It’s been like five minutes since it happened.”

Elonwy chuckled. “The Deans are really good at PR. But I thought they were going to give Callie the credit.”

“They did,” Chelsea shrugged. “But Callie is a sensible person. She only does crazy shit when my idiot brother needs to be pulled out of the fire. If she did something dramatic, it’s only because Shane did something worse.”

“That is BLATANT favoritism!” I sputtered. “And also only partially correct. I saved the universe. Or like…this tower at least.”

My sister rolled her eyes. “You always do. But I’m relieved you’re both ok.”

“Excuse me,” Benny said wryly from behind her. “Some of us are waiting to berate and congratulate our idiots. Good work and also you're both morons, and I’m telling your parents when we get back. Both sets.”

I tried to imagine Atlas’s reaction to this, and could only imagine he’d be thrilled, but Amelia was bound to be less than enthused by the whole ordeal. Hopefully he was just bluffing, because she didn’t really need all that stress. Either way, I was glad he was taking this so well, and I pulled him into a fierce hug. “Thanks for worrying,” I told him sincerely. “Also, good luck on the finals, and you’re going to need to find a pair of new teammates.”

He sputtered as he pulled away. “What? What do you mean we need new teammates? What the hell?”

We explained what happened, all the details of the various betrayals and conflicts and how it all ended. We ALSO explained our rewards, and they all looked pretty damned offended by us being allowed to skip the finals, but I didn’t really care.

“So…you’re going to be buying everyone elixirs, right?” Crell said bluntly. “Because this is one of the few places we can get all the variants we need in this kind of bulk. It seems like way too big an opportunity to pass up.”

I nodded. “At least. And I’ll probably pick up the A-rank sets for myself and maybe Callie in advance, considering how much renown she’s going to be getting soon.”

No one seemed bothered by that, but that didn’t mean they didn’t have opinions. Soon enough, everyone was weighing in, telling me their ideas for how to spend the windfall, and I shot my wife a rueful glance. She just chuckled fondly, smiling at me and our friends in absolute adoration as everyone talked over each other, bickering incessantly.

I had a feeling this would be a long conversation, and with so many involved, even the fifteen hundred contribution points we had wasn’t going to be quite as excessive as I’d been hoping. Laughing to myself, I sat down on the nearest bed as my friends all bickered, thinking over my options. Best to have a plan before they finished talking.