Wish Upon the Stars 4: A Cultivation LitRPG Adventure, page 1
WISH UPON THE STARS
A Superhero Cultivation LitRPG
Book 4
MALCOLM TENT
First published by Timeless Wind Publishing LLC 2024
Copyright © 2024 by Malcolm Tent.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise without written permission from the publisher. It is illegal to copy this book, post it to a website, or distribute it by any other means without permission.
This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author's imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.
Malcolm Tent asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.
First edition
Line editing by Stefanie B. (Red Adept Editing). Proofreading by Lorne Ryburn.
Beta read by Morcant.
Cover art and typography by Richard Sashigane.
Contents
Recap of Book 3
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Chapter 55
Chapter 56
Chapter 57
Chapter 58
Chapter 59
Chapter 60
Chapter 61
Chapter 62
Chapter 63
Chapter 64
Chapter 65
Chapter 66
Chapter 67
Chapter 68
Chapter 69
Chapter 70
Chapter 71
Chapter 72
Chapter 73
Chapter 74
Afterword
About Timeless Wind Publishing
Groups
Groups (cont.)
Recap of Book 3
With the Heartrippers dealt with, Shane and his team begin the scavenger hunt in earnest. They locate the items on their list, fending off competing teams and monsters along the way. One particularly challenging item requires them to raid a Lich’s castle. The Lich pursues them on a Bone Wyvern, but Shane and his team manage to defeat him, and Cark gains a powerful magic staff. As part of a wish, Callie trains Shane in Balam, a martial art developed by the dark elves, well suited for his fighting style.
Later, while trading items with another team, they are ambushed by wolf-riding goblins. After dealing with the attack, Shane decides to adopt the wolves, taming them with the help of Jessie’s Lifeweaving ability. Each member of the group gets their own wolf, and Shane names his Jin.
The scavenger hunt culminates with the final object, the Heart of the Mountain, which is located in a volcano. They come across several teams, plus Fisher, a solo cultivator-motorcycler who is ruthless and violent. Shane uses Sucking Mud to drop a stalactite in the cavern, distracting the others while Callie goes for the Heart. He sees Fisher go after Callie, and risks his own life to hold the motorcycle back. Just as Fisher is about to deliver a potentially fatal blow, the scavenger hunt officially ends, and the emergency beacons activate, protecting Shane and forcing everyone to return to the Academy.
Shane and his team win the scavenger hunt and are rewarded with stats, renown, and an increase in their Academy rank. But upon their return, Shane finds out he has a new problem to deal with—Mr. Jack-tastic has ranked up, and his gang, the Jerks, have arrived in Rajak.
Shane investigates report that the jerks are up to no good at a carnival in the Wish Curse Palace. He and Callie eventually spot Ronnie the Beef, a prominent Jerk member, and follow him to a secret meeting with a mysterious cloaked figure. When they see the cloaked figure grant a wish, Shane is shocked to discover another Wishmaster candidate in Rajak.
Chapter One
We left the circus immediately after we saw the hooded figure grant Ronnie’s wish. I called the others to tell them to get out as soon as possible. Our wolves, Jin and Rellia, had gone with Jessie and Cark so Callie and I had privacy for our date. I wasn’t sure we could spy on the other Wishmaster candidate for long if she decided to look for us, and I needed to find Zeke and ask him about this. I knew he couldn’t tell me anything specific, but I trusted my uncle to let something useful slip, geas or not, if he thought I was in any legitimate danger. He cared too much about me to let a little pain (or even a lot of pain) stop him if my life was threatened. He’d shown that multiple times, and I knew I could trust him.
In my more charitable moments, I wondered if my dad had known that when he’d left Zeke here and had been working both sides of the problem, though ascribing that kind of plotting to him made me more uncomfortable than it did reassured. I didn’t know if he was an enemy or ally, and assuming that he had that much of my life in his grasp deeply unsettled me. I supposed that was just arrogance on my part, though, after everything that had happened. I really had no say in what he could do. He was far too powerful.
Callie was looking at me with worry but didn’t question my decision to leave. She trusted me more than enough to bail on some job even if she wasn’t sure we had enough information. I didn’t think we were going to be able to turn that mission in. I didn’t want the academy knowing there were candidates around. It might draw too much attention to me. I figured Callie would get that more than anyone, since she’d never pushed me to share what I was with anyone.
When we came to a stop, she looked at me with an expression that took my by surprise. “Okay, we’re out of the way. I take it based on what we heard and your reaction that she was another potential Wishmaster?” She sounded about as worried as I was, but not completely sure how concerned she should be.
I blinked. “What? Didn’t you see the power?”
She looked at me blankly.
“The magic? Purple electricity? It’s the same as my ability when I use it.”
Nothing.
“Do you… not see my ability when I’m using it?” Looking back, I realized no one had ever commented on the visual aspect of my power. They felt it when the power hit them, but they’d never brought up the way it looked. In retrospect that made sense… but it also felt strange that I’d never actually noticed it. What else had I missed about my own power?
She seemed relieved that I had a concrete reason to recognize the ability. “No. Nothing like that. I’ve felt you use your power on me before, and I kind of felt electricity or something, but I never saw anything weird. I guess maybe it’s something only people in your family can see?” That made sense. Otherwise, our abilities might be more easily recognizable to other people.
My surprise was washed away by the icy feeling of uncertainty when she said the last part. My family. I’d known in the abstract that the other candidates were relatives of mine and even that some of them might try to kill me, but to hear about it in a more immediate sense made me feel a little sick. Given the whole thing with my parents, I was a bit sensitive about the family, and knowing that girl might be a close relative and that she might want me dead was… awful.
That misery must have been written all over my face, because Callie took one look at me and wrapped me in her arms, putting her head against my chest and squeezing me tightly. “Hey. No assumptions. Zeke never said every family member would be willing to kill you off. She might not be here for you at all. Maybe there’s another reason. Even if she is, nothing says she won’t be open to negotiating. There are lots of candidates and ones much more likely to get to the end. I’m sure team-ups happen all the time.”
The knot in my stomach loosened. She was right. While offing baby candidates before they were in the public eye did happen, I knew plenty of the more experienced and older members of the family competed openly without murdering each other. There was no reason to assume this particular Wyndham was a murderous lunatic when I obviously wasn’t. There were all kinds of people. Hell, I might even be able to meet one of my family members and have a real relationship with them.
When I mentioned that aloud, though, Callie shook
She sounded as frustrated by my uncle’s geas as I was, and I smiled softly at her as I leaned down to pull her into a kiss. When she gave me a puzzled look, I just grinned. “That was because you’re amazing. You’re right. I lost my head for a second—you’re the one who always pulls me back when I’m about to do something dumb and impulsive. We wait. Meeting whoever she is can hold off until we know more. Even if I was willing to risk myself, I’m not willing to risk you or the others either.”
The others showed back up. They all met us at the entrance, clearly unsure of what had happened but worried enough to make haste on the trip back. When they showed up, everyone looked incredibly disturbed.
Benny was the first to ask about it. “Hey, your message sounded pretty panicked. Everything okay?” I could tell he was more worried about my problems than the interruption to his date, and I felt a surge of warmth at the realization.
Unfortunately, as much as I appreciated my friend’s care, I wasn’t going to talk about the issue in front of the others, much less in public, where anyone could overhear. So I had to shake it off. Luckily, I had a more subtle way to convey things. “Nothing that concerns the group. Saw one of my relatives here, and we aren’t on good terms. I just want to get out of here before they notice me so I don’t end up fighting with them. You know, family stuff.” I tried my best to keep my tone casual as I mentioned all that, but Benny’s eyes went wide at the mention of relatives.
The others looked confused, and I was glad they’d missed the discomfort. I was able to hide the signs of my distress with a subtle application of the stealth Skill, using my Perception to pick up and erase the signs that I was bothered. It wouldn’t have worked on anyone with a higher Perception, just like any stealth without some other Skill or ability altering it, but none of my friends had that.
Jessie and Benny kept their faces blank, accepting the statement without prying. I could tell, though, that they were dying to hear about the circumstances of another candidate being here or how I’d found out. I was pretty curious about the first myself, and I desperately hoped Zeke would be able to shed some light on the issue, though I was afraid we might need to pay for the privilege and wouldn’t have close to enough.
So we headed back to the capsule to make our way up to the surface. We offered to let the others stay, but since we were leaving, Celine had no date to continue, and Sarah and Martin didn’t want to leave her on her own. Despite the suspicious choice to just leave, none of them said a word. I was pretty sure the effort of hiding my distress had been wasted since none of them questioned us about how weird it was that we were just leaving out of the blue.
The ride up to the surface was tense and quiet. I think they weren’t sure what to say, so they were just keeping quiet. I appreciated the thought, but I lamented the loss of the easy air of camaraderie from the trip down. I planned to do my best to restore that team dynamic when I was in the right head space, but right now I couldn’t shake the anxious gnawing in my stomach. I was too distracted to manage anything as complicated as basic socializing right now.
Once we got back up to the surface, Jessie, Cark, Benny, Callie, and I squeezed into the car (which wasn’t really big enough to comfortably seat so many) with all five of our wolves and headed home.
Once we were in the car Benny finally asked about what had happened. Cark knew about my ability already, and while I hadn’t explained my origin, there was really only one family with the Wish ability. “Okay, so what the hell, Shane? You saw another member of your family? Did they see you? Are we in danger?”
I growled in frustration, having wanted to avoid this discussion. “I don’t know. I don’t know anything. I don’t want to tell the story twice, so I don’t want to go into details, but we saw an obvious demonstration of her power. I’m not sure if she noticed us, not sure if she’s here for me, not sure if she knows I’m here. I have a few guesses about one or two of those questions, but we just don’t have enough information. I’m hoping Zeke can share a bit of info. Until then, you know about as much as I do.”
He sighed but didn’t ask anything else. We sat in silence for the rest of the trip back to the house, and when we finally reached the house, we all boiled out of the car. I headed inside to find my uncle. Despite the completely likely outcome of yet another stonewalling, I wracked my brain for the right tactic to take to ask about this. If I could find a way around the geas, I knew he would help me. I just needed to ask the right questions. My life might depend on it.
Chapter Two
I’d half expected Zeke to be waiting to discuss the happenings at the circus, but he wasn’t. I mentally berated myself for the thought. Zeke wasn’t all-knowing. His stats were insane, but he couldn’t be listening to everything happening all over the planet all at the same time… probably. Even if he could process all of it, that would be hellish, and it didn’t seem like his kind of thing anyway. Too much effort for no real reason.
I found him sitting on the couch with Cass, watching some cartoon about goblins or something. It was animated rather than an actual video, and I’d never seen it, but that wasn’t really important right now. I nodded to Cark, who plopped down next to his sister on the couch. The wolves followed him up and snuggled with the pyrokinetic and his sister as they watched TV together.
I gestured for Zeke to follow me out of the room, and despite raising an eyebrow in wry amusement, he stood up to follow me out of the room so we could talk. I was pretty sure with his Perception he could tell how agitated I was. I was also fairly positive it was the only reason he didn’t hassle me about calling a meeting with him out of nowhere.
When we made it into the next room. “Damn, Shane, you’re jittery as hell. You look like you’ve seen a ghost.” His tone was light, but his face was concerned. He knew I wasn’t exactly panicky, especially lately, and seeing me so shaken probably had him worried. At the very least it seemed like he wasn’t aware of the other candidate on Callus. If he had known about her, the reason for my distress would be obvious. That, or his geas prevented him from mentioning it.
I stared hard at him for a minute, until Callie entered the room and came to my side for support. I took her hand and gave it a quick squeeze. “I ran into someone… unexpected. Are you absolutely sure there’s nothing you wanted to warn me about?” I was fairly sure he had no clue, but I needed to check. Despite the geas, I’d always been sure he would warn me if something really bad happened, despite some pain. If that wasn’t true, I wouldn’t blame him, but it would change the way I would act going forward.
He gave me a blank look. While I was sure a B-ranker could lie to me if he chose, I knew Zeke pretty well. Skills or stats aside, I could tell when he meant something. He had no clue. I breathed a sigh of relief. He just squinted at me in confusion. “You know I can’t say anything specific to you kid, but I can’t think of anything specific I would need to mention. If I could mention anything. Which, as you know, I can’t.” He spoke deliberately as he said that last bit, making it clear he was answering without answering.
Now that I knew he hadn’t hid it from me, I was free to move on to my next emotion—annoyance that my B-ranked guardian hadn’t even detected one of the other candidates showing up on this supposedly safe planet. “Today, we went to the circus to scope out the Jerks and learn what they were doing. We spotted and followed them, only to find out they were meeting with a hooded figure. A figure who proceeded to grant them a wish right in front of us. Though Callie couldn’t see the sparks, apparently.”
He nodded absently. “Oh that. Those are a bloodline side effect. Only other Wish users can see it. As for the rest… I have no idea, Shane. There shouldn’t be another candidate here. They must have shown up recently. Their guardian is probably shielding them. I haven’t been actively searching or anything, so that isn’t a shock. Not that I’ll start now. But if they’re using the Jerks, it doesn’t sound like they’re actively trying to kill you.”
