Wish upon the Stars chapter 464

The sensation of falling didn't let up as the light faded. When my  vision cleared, I found that I WAS falling, plummeting really, through a  massive and expansive cavers. A huge cylindrical shaft of stone rimmed  with overgrown flora and beautiful waterfalls. They all gathered at the  bottom, so far below it was hard to see, and the splashback created an  impenetrable bank of mist.

Along the descent were  beautiful islands full of lush greenery, linked together by rainbow  bridges, and spread out like a wide staircase. My friends were nearby,  but they seemed to be falling at different speeds. Abel was shooting  downward faster than anyone else, I was falling the second fastest. As I  fell, information was shoved into my mind, telling me exactly what was  happening.

This was the trial of perseverance. I smirked  internally because the powerful souls of the faction elite weren't going  to help much with this. This trail pushed all of us to the bottom of  the chute, and we all had to climb. The stronger your soul, the heavier  the pressure weighing you down. Soul strain would press down on each of  us at all times, making the journey all the more difficult for the  strong.

For the moment, we were all just freefalling,  though it was taking a while to get to the bottom. "Whoooo!" Squealed a  familiar voice. I turned to see Bethy using a shawl she'd pulled from  nowhere to catch the wind like a flying squirrel. "This is so much fun!"  I remembered what she said about forms of items staying the same. I  grabbed at my jacket, trying to do the same.

It...sort of  worked. I looked around, trying to glide towards Callie. When I got  close enough I was able to grab her hand, and was delighted to see that  when I did the weight on me reduced. Of course, the weight on HER  increased, but between the two of us it kind of evened out.

Despite  the fact that items didn't work though, Skills still should. I reached  for my overlay, looking for possible ways out of this. I noticed a few  golden arrows, and grinned as I confirmed my Path had a way out. I  triggered State of Grace and Ripple Running. Stepping on the air, I  followed the golden arrows, and the power of my Path shielded Callie and  I from the pressure as I pushed off.

While there might be  Masters here, there was no one else with a Solid Path that I was aware  of. I had a unique advantage. Stepping off the air, I charged forward,  heading for the nearest island, determined to start further up than  everyone else. I wanted to bring my friends, but I couldn't reach them, I  just had to trust they'd be ok. We could meet up later.

To  my shock though, when my foot hit the air, I felt the weight return,  slamming me down on the Ripple Running step. I gritted my teeth and took  another, and the weight redoubled. I stared in desperation as the  island. I had ten steps, but as far as I could tell, those steps would  each double in difficulty at least. Callie had swung up onto my back,  squeezing me tight, and I felt her lift some of the burden, letting me  know she was with me.

I took a third step, then a fourth.  My soul groaned, even with the training, but I was determined. One more  step and I was halfway there. Ten steps to freedom, and I'd finished  five. I pushed forward another step, and almost collapsed from the air  with a scream. I refused though. This was training, good training too,  my soul would improve here. I stepped again, seven down.

By  the time I made the tenth step, my soul was cracking, it was about to  break, but to my shock, as soon as my foot hit the island, not only did  the pressure vanish, but a rush of cooling power flooded me, repairing  the damage and elevating my soul strength by a level.

I  slumped down on the grass, panting and shuddering, but I was still  thrilled. Callie looked a little let down. Since the majority of the  damage had been to me, I'd had more room to absorb the cleansing energy.

"Ok."  I said with a gasp as I sat up. "I get it now. The walk along the  rainbow bridges or trying to fly damages the soul. The stronger your  soul is the more damage it does. When you reach the islands the energy  there heals you, but there's a finite amount here. I can feel it  depleting. So if you take too long to climb you lose out. The system  rewards people willing to push through adversity to advance."

Callie  grinned. "It's also a net loss for the stronger elites. The ones whose  souls have already achieved perfection as the Azure Soul Body. Since  they can't advance any more, the healing will just top their souls up to  their original limits. How much did yours improve?"

"Five  percent." I laughed. "But it was a fluke. The ability I used was  something the trial didn't approve of, the damage redoubled and stacked.  It meant I was under way more pressure than I should have been. I was  pretty close to permanent damage, though I don't think I'd die if my  soul broke here. I'm pretty sure this is just a portion of our souls, so  even shattering would just kick us out."

She sat up next  to me. "Alright. Then we need to rest a bit. How high up are we  exactly?" I leaned out over the edge to look, trying to gauge the  distance.

"I'd say three or four islands up." I said with a  grimace. "Probably best I didn't try that higher up. I don't think I'd  have managed at a higher island." I squinted through the mist. "I think  someone landed on one of the lower islands though. We can take a minute,  but we don't have too much time."

She  nodded, giving me a minute to decompress and process. While we'd both  been healed by the power of the island, I'd still just been functionally  tortured for a few minutes. Mentally I needed to realign. Once my brain  was working better, we headed across the small island and made it to  the rainbow bridge. I held out my hand, but Callie shook her head.

"No.  It might help, but we should make the most of this opportunity." She  cracked her neck. "I'm way behind in terms of soul power, and I want to  catch up."

"Works  for me." I said with a smile. "Just be careful." Each of us took a  long, slow breath, then we stepped out onto the rainbow. The first step  was pretty easy, the second a bit harder. Taking the path laid out made  the strain more gradual than fudging it to reach the island. Callie  seemed to be under the same amount of strain despite out different  levels of soul refinement, which proved what we'd suspected about the  adjustable difficulty.

By  the time we reached the other side of the bridge, we were both in  agony, pouring sweat and panting. We thumped down on the island, letting  the power flow into us and heal our spirits. "So." I wheezed. "This  seems like it's aimed at weaker people, right? Or is that just me?"

She  shook her head. "Nope. But that makes sense. The Ruined Soul Temple was  created to help people refine their souls. The trials might admit  ringers, but why would they reward them?"

"I  hadn't thought of it like that." I mused. "But you're right. Hell, by  that logic, I'd imagine that the benefit for people with lower ranked  souls would be bigger too. You see any bump in yours? After those first  ten steps, not to mention that walk, you probably shot up quite a bit."

"Four percent." She said with a grin. "You?"

I  checked my soul again. "Two percent for the bridge on top of the five  from the first ten steps. I think I got most of the refinement from that  first bit because I was taking the steps."

After  a few minutes of rest, we got back to it. This was a race, and were  damned if we were going to lose. As we walked, we were able to see some  of the lower rainbow bridges, and I could make out small forms stepping  purposefully across them. The others were on the way. I felt kind of bad  I couldn't catch them too, but they would be fine. I just wanted to  make it to the top before the ringers.

When  we reached the next island though, I realized quickly that might not be  as easy as I'd expected. Someone had beat us there. Looking closely, I  realized there were multiple islands on each layer and multiple bridges  connecting them. Our view had just been bad from where we were falling.

"Hello  neighbor." Chirped the small, pale man with a black mask tied around  his head. The mask came down of his eyes and covered his hair, with two  eyeholes cut out. The rest of his outfit was light dark armor. There was  a sword on his hip, and his eyes were sharp and predatory. "You made  good time. I didn't think anyone else would be up this high yet."

Despite  his focus and clear animosity, he wasn't moving. I was assuming he'd  been pushing hard to get up here this fast and hadn't let himself fully  heal yet. The longer he waited the better shape he was going to be in,  but we were recovering too, and there were two of us, so I let him  stall.

"Same  here." I said casually. "I'm guessing you've been sprinting through the  islands, figuring you would heal on the last legs once you'd already  won. Why go through the trouble though. What does an individual win  matter. There's a bunch of these trials right?"

He  nodded. "There is. But each trial awards the winner a piece of a key.  First place is a gold key, second place is silver, and third place is  bronze. You manage to get a whole key and you can unlock one of the  treasure rooms at the end. That's what all the Azure Souls are here  for."

"I had  heard there were prizes." I admitted. "But I'm just here to improve  myself. I'd never dream of aiming for such valuable winnings."

He snorted. "And the Emperor's my dad. If you're going to lie to my face at least make it convincing. That's just insulting."

"Sorry."  I shrugged. "Thought it was worth a try. After all, you're only having  this conversation so you can heal up and try to recover before we  fight."

That  got a grin. "Yeah, but you're only letting me because you don't think it  matters. Not a great bet, by the way." His hand blurred to his hip,  rapier clearing its sheath in a fluid movement as he flashed forward to  attack.

My  staff came up and around smoothly, smacking the spot on the blade where  all the force was collecting and knocking his hand back. I stepped  forward as Callie fell into her shadow, the F-ranked replica of my  Stygian Branch whipping up and around to smash into the guy's jaw.

He  took the hit and went flying, and I felt pretty proud of myself until I  realized he'd just rolled with the blow and thrown himself out of  reach. His hands slapped the ground and he bounced up into a handspring,  avoiding the scything pair of dark blades Callie had manifested when  she emerged for the dark.

Grinning,  he swung his rapier in a quick series of cuts, limbering up most  likely. "Ok, that wasn't bad, but I'm just getting started here. Neither  of you is leaving this island alive." I just grinned and spun up my  staff. No risk of death here (for either party) meant I didn't have to  hold back. I wanted to try out the new staff art I'd been working on.