Wish upon the Stars : A Superhero Cultivation LitRPG

Time. Something I'd had plenty of in the last few rounds, but not enough of to accomplish a goal I was now planning to accomplish in just a few days. I needed to finish my last two upgrades, then synergize DS Mastery with Enchanting permanently to hopefully eliminate the whole charges thing completely. It would be nice not to have to count my attacks during combat.

But to do that, I needed to figure out a possible synergy for Earthseeking and Sucking Mud. Which gave me an idea. Well, I had an idea for Sucking Mud. I decided to go track down Callie, to ask her for some advice on something I thought might help out.

I found her lying on the couch, watching the scan box with Cass, looking bored and amused in equal measures as the younger girl cheered at the cartoon currently displayed on the screen. The wolves were inside, the four of them sprawled about the living room, with Jin acting as a pillow for my girlfriend while Rellia played the same role for Cass.

Slumping down next to her, I smirked at her boredom. "So, not much to do? I figured you would have work today."

She just shook her head with a sigh. "Nope. With so many visitors in town jobs have been getting thin. I can pick up a decent bit of work every few days, but since I don't have any crafting skills or anything jobs are hard to come by. Benny's been getting a ton of jobs as a crafter, even if Inventing is far less useful and precise. So, what brings you down here so close to the next fight?"

I'd been excited to share my idea, and when she asked I jumped on the chance to mention it. "I want to talk about traps." I announced grandly. I had a bad habit of waiting for my turn to talk when I was excited, rather than really listening, and I had definitely been doing that, but this idea would solve a lot of my problems.

She gave me an amused smirk. "Is this your way of telling me that I'm smothering you? Because I thought things were going pretty well."

I rolled my eyes. "Only in the literal sense that you sometimes choke the life out of me in your sleep, but that's why I'm the big spoon. No, I mean I want you to teach me about traps. Like...the Minor Trap Mastery Skill. I've seen enough of how it works to be close, I just need some basic lessons. Even though you wished for it you can still teach me manually, and I've been around for a LOT of your trap making."

Mulling it over, she nodded. "I could see how you might have an easy time picking it up. It is just a Minor Skill, and with your Focus you wouldn't have any trouble with the knowledge. I'm guessing this plays into your prep for next round somehow?"

The whole non interference thing was kind of out the window since the last two people in the tournament besides me were Mel and Abel, who didn't care. Still, I wanted to play things close to the vest, so I just nodded. Callie slumped back in annoyance, groaning loudly, only to be shushed by Cass. "Sorry sweetie." She told the younger girl with a wince, before turning her gaze to me. "This is going to be annoying, but fine, meet me in the training room, I need to get a few things."

She hopped to her feet, strolling off, and Jin sat up, glaring at me for taking away the warm person he was cuddling with. I raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, I've been there. But I have training to do. SOME of us don't just get to become house dogs after a little while. Watch your show." He snorted dismissively at me before refocusing on the cartoon projected from the scan box.

When I reached the training room, I had to wait a few minutes for Callie to show up carrying a large black bag with a strap that hung over one shoulder. Slipping it off, she let the bag fall to the ground and unzipped it, starting to take out various odds and ends. Wire, spikes, springs, rope. The bag was quickly emptied as she gestured proudly at her collection. "Boom. Beginner trap maker kit."

"Ok." I drawled. "Glossing over the fact that you have a bag full of restraints that I didn't know about, which is weird since we basically share a room at this point, shouldn't you set up the traps...first? Then show me how to disarm them?" I knew a bit about traps, but not much, Callie's Skill did most of the heavy lifting in the labyrinth.

She shook her head firmly. "No. You've seen plenty of traps disarmed, and made. Now you need to make some yourself. If you can't construct them, all the theoretical knowledge in the world is pointless."

"Alright." I said with a shrug. "You're the expert. I should be able to do this, like you said, I've seen plenty of traps. Here, turn around for a minute." She gave me an amused look, but with a quiet snort, she turned her back to me. I grabbed a few supplies, some rope, a small pulley, and a net, and walked over to where the obstacle course was situated.

Cracking my knuckles confidently I started to rig up an expertly arranged trap...then stopped. I knew the basics, but that was mostly just reactions. Cause and effect stuff. I didn't know HOW a lot of them worked. I held up the rope, mulling over my options, before looping it between two posts. I tied one side down, then looped the other up around the pole and over the top, tying it loosely around the net.

Nodding happily, I stepped over my makeshift trip wire and whistled to Callie. "Alright, all done." It wasn't pretty, but it should work.

Turning around, she looked right at me, then scanned over the trap, and subsequently burst into gales of laughter. I glared at her, which made her laugh harder, and I spent the next few minutes seething as she almost fell over in fits of hysterical giggles.

When she finally got a hold of herself she wiped her eyes mirthfully. "Oh. Wow. Sorry. It's just...you were solid when we started training in Balam, and you have so many varied skillsets you seem to pick up everything fast, so I was expecting you to be...at least competent."

"You're not making this better." I complained. "What exactly is wrong with it?" I gestured to the trap. "Sure, it's simple, but at least it's functional right? When you trip the line it tugs the rope off the net and it falls on you."

She giggled again, getting it under control faster this time. "No, Shane. That's a slipknot. The jerk on the line will tighten the knot and then fling the whole thing off the side of the structure." She paused. "What is this anyway? Just a pair of posts next to a climbing wall with a protruding arm?"

I shrugged. "Salmon ladder, at least the posts are. The protruding arm is for hanging a harness when climbing I think, but who knows."

Honestly the training room was weird. Half of this stuff wasn't really that useful, and I was almost positive some of it wasn't always here. Zeke said it was a side effect of the last owner's reputation, and since he wasn't worried about it I just ignored the whole issue.

Callie chuckled, and started actually teaching. While I'd watched her process directly, there were lots of small details I didn't note just from observing. Types of knots, angles, tensile strength of certain materials and a dozen other little tricks of the trade. We worked for hours, with her filling me in on little bits of knowledge I didn't have that put things I did know into context better.

By the time we finished, she had taught me enough to make my own traps, albeit not great ones, and with my Focus and Perception, not to mention the time I'd put in, I officially got enough information figured out to officially have a Minor Trap Mastery Skill.

I slumped back against the wall with a groan. I wasn't physically tired, obviously, but doing the same menial task for hours was boring and annoying. Callie just smirked at me. "Well, seems like my work here is done, I'm going to go watch mindless cartoons and leave you to your training." She leaned down and gave me a quick peck on the lips. "Good luck on your match. I'll be there watching this time, so you'd better kick ass." She pouted at me. "If you beat me and then lose to some nobody I'm not speaking to you for a week."

She was bluffing, and we both knew it, courtesy of the bond, but it was her way of cheering me on, and I smiled softly at her as she turned and strolled away. With her gone, I was officially done with prep work, and sat up to cross my legs. An unnecessary step but one that would at least help clear my head.

This next upgrade had a solid amount of synergy. Not as much as the herbalism skill had, but enough that I thought I'd get something pretty good if I focused on the right method of combination. I'd already seen proof that there was some better and some worse ways to combine things.

I used Sucking Mud, focusing on the space in front of me as I did my best to synergize it with Minor Trap Mastery. I'd only just gotten the Skill, but I'd spent hours practicing so I was in a good headspace. I considered the possible methods of combining them and decided to focus on increasing the trap capability of Sucking Mud, instead of something like time delay that might lean more toward the trapping aspect.

Imagining my Sucking Mud, I focused on the mental image of a pitfall trap. Instead of something slow and plodding, the pitfall trap was a single sharp drop, but I didn't want to lose the earth aspect that made the skill what it was. Instead, I focused on making the sand thinner and decreasing friction, creating more of a silt material from the skill use.

With the strong mental image and the recent practice, not to mention my experience tweaking Sucking Mud, it clicked into place pretty quickly, and I felt Minor Trap Mastery vanish just as soon as it arrived. Focusing on my DS Mastery and feeling out subskills, I confirmed the new addition with a smile as I made sure Sucking Mud was gone.

Pit of Despair, a control skill that creates a pit of silt that swallows up anyone standing on top of it nearly instantly. Fast, deadly, and a distinct upgrade to Sucking Mud. I grinned happily to myself as I checked to confirm my last subskill. Earthseeking was all I needed to finish it, Intermediate DS Mastery was so close I could taste it. I couldn't wait to use it on whoever I was fighting for the last round.

I was so excited I wished I could upgrade the last Skill now, but I knew that wasn't on the table. The soul weight of the one upgrade after learning a new Skill was already hard on me.

Standing up to stretch, I decided to take a small break before going to find Benny for his wishes. This was good progress, and I knew that I was well on my way to reaching the finals, but everyone needs a break now and then. I headed for the kitchen, pondering what I should make for dinner. I was hungry, and I was in the mood for something complicated. Maybe chicken and dumplings as a thank you to Callie for helping. Whatever I made, I was sure it would be delicious.