The next month was a whirlwind of activity for me. Firstly, I spent most of it improving my timepieces. I got them all finished and adapted to the new Archdemon form, though I hadn’t had a chance to actually TEST the thing yet. I’d also expanded my Domain to 42 miles, completed my fourth phoenix reincarnation (a triple enhancement to Creation as a bonus), and through the body refinement, pushed my soul supported stat number to five thousand per scroll.
My demons had been hard at work during the last month or two, taking on tasks and at least seven or eight of them had ranked up to tier 8, giving me a much larger work force. After redeeming the ascension thesis, I’d poured all those points into advancement, redeeming them to access special locations to help me with body tempering, improving my Domain, and even got my hands on the elixirs for B-rank.
Beyond that, I’d stockpiled another three hundred and ten scrolls (six hundred and fifty total) and just today had finished getting them all redeemed, bringing me a solid three point two five million in just wish stats, not to mention the two months of income from my Wishmaster position and my still growing reputation.
All in, all, the changes had been earthshattering, and combined with the qualitative jump from the timepieces, I was closer to A-rank than ever and ready to take on the world at these damned final exams.
There had been no word on the Void vessels or Deveskane. He was keeping a low profile, apparently, and while you could buy most things at the academy, you couldn’t buy student info. Since we had no proof he’d done anything, Frozen Moment wasn’t willing to just toss him out. I was sure he had something planned for the finals, but the Professor insisted his hands were tied, so all I could do was prepare as best I could.
I took in my stats as I considered my progress, unable to fight back a swell of pride at the sheer growth I’d managed with the last of my time here.
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-19,432,112(x3)
Impact-215
Fantasy-10,325,743
Vitality-17,118,871 (x3)
Focus-14,264,853
Perception-13,471,640
Creation-17,029,143 (x3)
Progress to next rank: 91,669,577/100,000,000
Soul strength- Obsidian Soul Body
Body Forging: Nine Phoenix Reincarnation Art- 36/81 drops- First Layer (Life Nova) 9/9, Second Layer ( Cosmic Phoenix) 9/9, (Ruin Phoenix) 9/9, Arcadian Phoenix 9/9
Chronicle: Myriad Demons Manual (pages bound:25- 4 Zagan, 1 Leviathan, 9 Nine Phoenix Reincarnation Art, 1 Limbo, 1 Overlay, 1 Mephistopheles, 1 Song of Arcadia, 1 Cosmic Waltz, 1 Life Nova, 1 Angelic Bond, 1 Wisdom of Solomon, 1 Dantalion, 1 Azazel, 1 Sammael)
wish scrolls stockpiled: 0 (5 in the possession of friends to be used over time)
Domain size: 42 miles
Soul supported stat number: 5000
Bonded companion: Archimedes (Life Nova Phoenix)
Weapon: Pillar of Goetia
Stored: 10 Adherent Fire, 7 shadow attacks, 10 shadow jump (seven in reserve), 10 Stealth charges,10 triple strength tranq blows (ten in reserve), 10 spider leg attacks (ten in reserve), 3 gravity attacks, 1 shadow clone, 18 scan heals (I-rank ability so Shane can hold more)
Financial resources: 0 B-ranked, 0 C-ranked, 0 D-ranked(worth 100 E-ranked, past master rank is a watershed)
Frozen Moment Academy Credit points: 0
Frozen Moment Academy Contribution points: 0
Archdemons: Kronos- Archdemon of Time- Tier 8 (Limbo, Overlay, Mephistopheles)
Court of Gehenna:
1.Doom Sovereign- Tier 8
2.Goetia Staff Art- Tier 6
3.Cooking- Tier 8
4.Inventing- Tier 2
5.Balam- Tier 3
6.Nine Phoenix Reincarnation Art- Tier 6
7.Piano- Tier 1
8.Guitar- Tier 1
9.First Aid- Tier 1
10.Angelic Bond- Tier 8
11.Dust Construction- Tier 6
12. Stone Limb- Tier 7
13.Moonlit Night- Tier 4
14.Consecration of Flame- Tier 7
15.Ripple Running- Tier 3
16.State of Grace- Tier 4
17.Steam Arrow- Tier 4
18.Afterburner- Tier 8
19.Pit of Despair/ Brad- Tier 8- Timepiece:13 complications
20.Mountain Stance- Tier 7
21.Heart over Body- Tier 8
22.Mercy Kill- Tier 6
23.Double Trouble- Tier 7
24.Touch of Tears- Tier 5
25.Flurry of Blows- Tier 3
26.Heavy Hands- Tier 2
27.Marked for Death- Tier 4
28.False Fatality- Tier 3
29.Blood Curse- Tier 4
30.Creeping Darkness- Tier 2
31.Final Strike- Tier 7
32.Overlay- Tier 7- Timepiece- 13 complications
33.Song of the Soil- Tier 3
34.Rhythm of the Wild- Tier 2
35.Eye of Revelation- Tier 6
36.Danger Sense- Tier 6
37.Piece of Mind- Tier 6
38.Empty Spirit- Tier 6
39.Belial- Tier 8
40.Abomination Engine- Tier 7
41.Mephistopheles- Tier 8- Timepiece: 13 complications
42.Cosmic Collapse- Tier 6
43.Circle of Damnation- Tier 6
44.Cosmic Waltz- Tier 7- Timepiece: 23 complications
45.Mornax- Tier 8
46.Zagan- Tier 8
47.Life Nova- Tier 8- Timepiece: 13 complications
48.Song of Arcadia- Tier 8- Timepiece- 27 complications
49.Bael- Tier 8
50.Beelzebub- Tier 8
51.Agares- Tier 8
52.Dantalion- Tier 8
53.Sammael- Tier 8
54.Limbo- Tier 8- Timepiece: 13 complications
55.Gluttony- Tier 8
56.Wrath- Tier 8
57.Pride- Tier 8
58.Retribution- Tier 8
59.Murmur- Tier 8
60.Leviathan- Tier 8
61.Behemoth- Tier 8
62.Glory- Tier 8
63.Abaddon -Tier 8
64.Wisdom of Solomon- Tier 8
65.Promethean Fire Soul Body- Tier 6
66.Fate Sense- Tier 7
67.Scent of Truth- Tier 7
68.Damnatio Memoriae- Tier 6
69.Dark Reflection- Tier 6
70. Asmodeus- Tier 8
71. Astaroth- Tier 8
72. Azazel- Tier 8
The sheer volume of stat increase was staggering. I’d put most of my scrolls and elixirs into Creation, because improving it had a noticeable effect on my ability to make timepieces. I’d managed twenty seven complications on Song of Arcadia and twenty three on Cosmic Waltz relying on that boost.
Beyond that, the biggest improvement was definitely my Myriad Demons Manual. Over the last month I’d been binding pages using my various achievements (timepieces for most of my phoenix demons and two particularly tough tasks for Azazel and Sammael), and had now officially reached twenty five pages, a quarter of the way done with my binding before even reaching A-rank.
With only a single night left before the big exam, my teeth almost ACHED to be so close to A-rank but so far away. I’d squeezed every drop of potential and opportunity from this place in my mad dash for the finish line, but I was still almost nine million points short of my goal.
Of course, when I mentioned this to my wife and friends as we sat at dinner together preparing for the finals, I received nothing but boos and mockery (good natured as it was).
“Oh, poor me,” Benny lamented in a saccharine voice. “I’m Shane, and I’m only moving through B-rank ten or twenty times faster than everyone else instead of thirty times like I wanted. Truly, there is no one in creation as unfortunate as me.”
I rolled my eyes. “Like you have room to talk, don’t think I can’t tell you hit B-rank recently. You and Jessie both. I take it you’ve been availing yourself of the special environments around here. I haven’t seen Toast anywhere. Where did you put him anyway?” I shot him a suspicious look, unable to resist pushing.
“I sent him to boarding school,” he said blithely. “The Nunya Business academy. You’ll see where he is when it’s time. But yeah, I hit B-rank, and no I won’t tell you how or what my stats are.” He grinned. “You’re not the only one putting work in here. Now that I can contribute again I’m going to savor it. After all, we all know you’re going to hit A-rank right after we leave and I’ll be lagging behind again.”
“Granted,” I allowed. “But I can help get you through it faster than you’d expect. My point cap on wishes has been exploding with the body tempering, and it’ll go up a ton in A-rank too. Once I break through I can focus all my Wishes on pushing you guys up with me. You should focus on getting enough resources to pay for them while you’re here.”
He nodded contemplatively. “Noted. Anyway, I noticed Will and Tamsin are here, and they don’t look like they want to murder anyone. Don’t tell me you cured their crazy already?”
“He didn’t,” Bethy said cheerfully as she turned from her siblings. “At least not long term. They need regular infusions of that lame Peacefire stuff. It does help for a while though, and after we leave he wants to begin testing for a long term cure. I got a dose of the stuff myself and it was super chill, made me feel all warm and happy inside.”
I snorted. “She neglects to mention how MUCH of the flame we need to have even a small effect. And that’s at A-rank. I have to boost it with my staff to make any progress against their traits. They seem to trend back to resentment if there’s any left. Once I hit A-rank, I’m planning to try to boost myself to S and see what I can do then. But I have to be careful not to like…annhilate them.”
“It’s ok, you can annihilate them if you want,” Bethy said encouragingly. “I won’t tell.”
“Hey!” snapped Tamsin, who was currently in a reasonably good mood but still didn’t appreciate the comment. “I thought we were getting along?”
Bethy shrugged. “I’m a fickle person. Beware my whims.”
“She’s joking,” Chelsea said with a sigh. “I promise. She was just telling me the other day how happy she is that you two are doing better. She’s really enjoying her time getting to know you.”
“Don’t TELL them that!” Bethy wailed despairingly. “They’ll get ideas. They should fear me.”
My sister patted her girlfriend’s cheek. “Of course love, you’re the scariest vampire princess in the whole world. Now eat your vegetables. Don’t think I didn’t notice you hiding your broccoli under the mashed potatoes.”
“But I HATE broccoli,” Bethy moaned. “This is the worst party ever. You wouldn’t even let me bring any wine!”
“That was me, actually,” I cut in. “No more wine until you can get the grapes under control. That D-ranker almost got eaten last time. And I don’t care if he was ok with it. I draw a hard line at cannibalism at my social events.”
She sniffed loftily. “That was ONE time. And I totally fixed it.”
“Where’s Gabe anyway?” I asked, looking around for the Adamant paladin. “I figured you would have brought him to this. Actually we’re missing a bunch of people. Abel, Mel, Fade, Alanna, Crell. This is supposed to be our big sendoff.”
“They’re working on some last minute prep for the finals,” Callie said with a chuckle. “Everyone knows something big is going down, so no one is willing to let it rest. I’m shocked I got YOU to take a break. If you weren’t at a wall I would have probably had to drag you out tonight. Just let them do their thing.”
I sighed. “I get it. I’m worried too. But we can only trust the work we’ve done. I believe we can pull this off. Whatever comes, we can get through it together.” I reached out and took my wife’s hand, squeezing it reassuringly. “Just like always.” And when I saw the radiant smile she gave me in return, I knew that I was right. Because there was nothing in creation that I wouldn’t destroy to make sure I got to see that smile every morning. Void Overgod, Deveskane, whoever came I’d crush them if it would keep her safe. Honestly, at this point, I almost felt sorry for the bastards. They had no idea what was coming for them.