Wish upon the Stars chapter 1196 (Patreon)

The next morning, we all woke bright and early. Well. Early. It was always exactly the same level of bright in the library. The blue sky was a shining, swirling expanse above us, and there were several cleverly hidden windows to outside that managed to flood the hallways with light without there being any definable SOURCE to that light.

Last night it hadn’t been so bright though, so I suspected there was some mechanism to throttle the stuff, and we were using that to determine time of day. After stocking up on my scrolls, I headed out to find Terry, determined to get started on looking for my next phoenix template.

Callie and I were alone for this one, since everyone else had slept in. We didn’t see any need for them to follow us around for however long it would take to find something. We met Terry and Elonwy (who had stayed up discussing research directions with him long after dinner ended and we’d all gone to sleep, apparently) in the central hall of the library, and to my surprise, they seemed raring to go, with multiple options prepared for us to look over.

“So, Perception focused flames,” Terry said energetically as he led us off down one of the side halls. “There are a few of those, though they aren’t exactly common. Most of them have eye focuses. Are you willing to implant a set of eyeballs?”

I paused, considering that. “I’m not…unwilling?” I said slowly. “But it’s not exactly ideal. With Brad’s abilities implanting them into a demon wouldn’t require any surgery, most likely, but if possible, I think something a bit less biological would be best.” I didn’t like the idea of replacing my demon’s eyes. It just felt wrong.

He nodded absently. “That does narrow things down. Not eye based, presumably nothing implanted in the brain then, we have a few that are bound into the form of eyewear. Maybe a pair of goggles?”

“Much more palatable,” I agreed. “What do you have in that department? We could probably work with something stealth based too, come to think of it. Callie’s vault would be able to swap the attribute on that.” I wasn’t sure adding another inversion onto my current plan was wise, but if that was the option, I’d take it.

“We have a few,” he said with a quick nod. “Here, follow me,” he led us off down a side corridor, then turned us into a small alcove. Bell jars were, as with everywhere else, omnipresent along the walls. Unlike the earlier flames we’d seen though, not everything in the bell jars was a ball of fire. I could see several objects floating in the center of the flaming spheres, shrunken down to the size of a fist and floating amid the fire.

He tapped a few of them, pointing out the items inside. “Goggles, glasses, monocle,” he listed as he indicated each piece. “The goggles melt illusions, the glasses create a heat lens that bends sight through obstructions, and the monocle burns away confusion.”

My eyes snapped to the last one. “Burns away confusion?” I asked cautiously. “How does that work?”

He frowned. “I’m not entirely sure,” he admitted. “We haven’t exactly finished categorizing every flame, and the item bound specimens are particularly tricky to pin down. Most of them are the result of Inventing.”

“Yeah, that checks out,” I snorted. “I should have guessed.”

Elonwy scowled. “The fact that you people have created a crafting system based on nearly complete randomness and chose to call the practitioners ‘scientists’, mad or not, boggles my mind.”

I frowned at that. “Wait…inventing isn’t a thing in the higher realms?” I wracked my brain for some sort of memory of hearing it mentioned at the academy. I…couldn’t. There was a crafting department, and I had assumed that since Benny had ended up there, it would be mainly inventing based, but thinking back, I’d never seen anyone from the academy itself who specialized in it.

Even my mentor, Professor Hawkins, practiced an obviously more deliberate and refined sort of mechanical crafting. “Huh,” I said with interest. “I wonder if it’s an offshoot of the loss of our Mythcrafting knowledge.”

“Could be,” she allowed. “It would make sense. Lacking a deliberate foundation, establishing a path of randomness to try to strain out the luckiest and most creative would make some sense. Plus I know that at higher ranks you can exert a bit more control. It just rankles me that you call people with no systemic foundation ‘scientists’.”

I chuckled. I’d actually heard this rant before. Specifically, from Benny of all people. The more he progressed from his origins as an inventor, the more he disdained the random byproducts of the process. Personally, I thought that success had made him a little smug, but hey, I wasn’t a subject matter expert, what did I know about the differences between inventing and…well, inventing.

“Can you use that for your template?” Callie asked as my eyes locked onto the monocle. Dantalion was already active in my head, scanning the item, boosted to S-rank with my staff. “And will you be able to do it in time?”

“No,” I shook my head. “To the second one. But that’s fine. I don’t need to complete the bloodline and get the stat boost right away. Just need to get it started. And yes, I can use it. I can use almost anything for a template. At least after all the research I did with the Prof making Cosmic Waltz and Song of Arcadia. I’ve become something of an expert on the whole process, and creating Bennu really helped with formalizing my understanding.”

“Is that the one then?” asked Terry skeptically. “I thought we would have time to see a few more. There’s no rush.”

I shook my head. “Dantalion’s scans show some interesting results for this one. It’s what I’m looking for. Do you have a place for me to access my Domain? I don’t want to do it here in the middle of all these flames. I can go back to my room if needed.”

He shook his head. “Not necessary. We have rooms for people to examine and comprehend the flames. We call them reading rooms, for obvious reasons.”

I chuckled at that, and he reached over and tipped back the bell jar. With no hesitation, he reached bare handed into the sphere, locking his fingers around the monocle and then pulling it smoothly out. It was a bit surreal to watch, honestly, because as he reached in, the proportions of his hand changed, seeming to distort and shrink, and as he withdrew, it returned to normal, along with the formerly mini monocle, now about the size of a small plum.

He deposited it in my hand gently, and I was surprised by just how heavy it felt. I could feel radiant heat coming off it, not like it had just come out of the fire, mind, but like it had a beating heart pumping blood through it. It was honestly kind of unsettling.

“B-rank,” he commented. “Is that going to be too weak to use?”

I shook my head. “No, even if the demon I ended up picking was higher ranked it wouldn’t be too big of a problem. We’d need to do some prep work, but B-rank is actually perfect for this one. I’m going to use Eye of Revelation as the basis here. He’s tier eight anyway.”

Once the flame was integrated, Eye would need to work with Nine Phoenix for a while while I designed the timepiece he would use. I’d need it to be able to integrate with Bennu anyway, so it would be easy to help him solidify the template that way. I was so used to the process I barely had to think about it anymore, but the designs just bloomed across my mind like a storm of creation. It took me a second to realize Dantalion was still incarnated at S-rank, but I didn’t dismiss him. His help would only speed things up.

Following Terry to the ‘reading room’, I stepped past him, leaving Callie outside with the others. Without needing the Vault, I would be able to do this faster on my own. I loved working with my wife on projects, but this wasn’t going to be too drawn out.

Once the door was shut, I projected Gehenna into the surrounding space. Nine Phoenix was waiting, as was Brad. Eye of Revelation wasn’t, but that made sense because I hadn’t been sure which demon would work best. I sent Brad to get him as I discussed the process with Nine Phoenix, and by the time we were finished gaming it out, the other two were back.

Eye of Revelation was…interesting. A tall, gaunt figure with, oddly enough, no eyes at all. He could obviously see perfectly fine, but his sockets were just empty pits with sparks of golden light in their depths.

He looked nervous, probably because he wasn’t traditionally one of the demons I got a lot of face time with. I held up the monocle. “This is a conduit,” I explained. “For a form of perception based fire. It burns away confusion, and the attributes are interesting. I plan to integrate it into you and to use that as a foundation to create a phoenix template. If that doesn’t sound reasonable to you I’d understand. You won’t be forced to do anything you don’t want to do.”

Despite the lack of eyes, I could easily see his gaze pinned to the monocle. “No,” he said immediately. “I want to. I want to be stronger.”

“Then you will be,” I nodded. “Brad, go ahead and start when you’re ready.”

He took a deep breath, examined the monocle then focused on the empty pits of Eye of Revelation’s eyes. It was kind of disturbing to watch, honestly. Unlike most of the time, when he formed a put from nowhere, this time Brad manifested his power by deepening the ones that were there. Or at least, one of them. The right eye seemed to be his pick this time.

As I watched, the eye expanded, and his hand sank inside, depositing the monocle smoothly before withdrawing.

Eye of Revelation shuddered, stumbling, back and catching himself on the table as his body stiffened and shook. I could feel the changes through Gehenna, feel the way his body was integrating the monocle. It didn’t take too long, and as soon as it was done, I opened my stat page to check on his condition.

I found it easily enough. “Gaze of Certitude,” I said out loud, chewing on the name. “Apparently the flame is called the clear mind fire. What a fascinating composition. There are several attributes besides fire and mind. Some kind of spirit attribute, a bit of divination, though only for flavoring.” I glanced at Nine Phoenix. “Get started on the foundation for the template. Once it’s done I’ll build the timepiece.”

He nodded, and I turned to Brad. “Make sure you’re ready for more work,” I told him gently, noting how tired he looked. “Get some rest. In order to complete the timepiece for this, I want to make sure I have the best possible foundation, which means it’s officially time for me to get started on my watchmaking demon.”

I could see my path forward here, and I was excited. Watchmaking was a skill that could use a lot more development, and assigning it to a demon would allow me to qualitatively improve in the discipline. Beyond that, I had a strong image in my head for these peaceflame watches, and the chance to bring them into reality sounded like fun. I could tell that Brad was interested in seeing where I could go with this too, and his eyes lit with enthusiasm as he agreed to rest up.

Turning, I stepped out of Gehenna and into the reading room. I’d known it wouldn’t take long. Pulling the door open, I grinned at the others. “Ok, now you can come in,” I told my wife. “I’m about to get started on my perfected Peaceflame watch, and I could use your help.” Her answering grin made it even more clear than ever why I loved her so much.