Wish upon the Stars chapter 287 (Patreon)

We avoided Dale's place on the beach as we approached the lake,  taking the long way around the shore and circling along the edges in a  direction I hadn't even realized we could go. The whole of Riot Bay was  absolutely huge but it wasn't a perfect circle. After walking for a bit  we came to a place where the lake let out into a river about five  hundred feet across, and as we approached one very important thing  became clear.

"We're all going to fucking die." I said  matter of factly. I glared over at Abel, who was now grinning in  satisfaction. "Like, I know you've had us do some crazy things, but  that's a meat grinder. It's going to kill all of us."

He  let out a happy sigh. "There it is. Your reactions have been getting so  banal and sedate. I find the whole 'I've seen it all' demeanor tiresome.  I love the fear and anxiety." He gave a melodramatic cackle. Hands  clenching into claws into the air as he really hammed it up. "Tell me  more how scared you are for your lives worms!"

Without any  hesitation Mel reached out and smacked her lunatic boyfriend upside the  back of his head. "Enough of that you moron." She turned to us, her  tone softening. "Don't listen to him kids. It's not as bad as it looks. I  know it seems scary, but don't forget how much Impact you all have.  This is just water, sure, its being whipped around pretty crazily, but  you're more than up to it. You got hit with spray almost as strong out  on the bay when fishing. You're not going to die from getting tossed  around in the river."

"Unless they get dashed on the  rocks!" Abel crowed gleefully, clearly enjoying this entire performance  way too much. I made a mental note never to let Abel get bored. I hadn't  seen this side of him, and while some of it was probably to put some  fear into our competitors, I suspected this was at least partially just  how he dealt with boredom.

Mel, contrary to my  expectations, didn't immediately refute him this time. "Well, yes.  Unless you get dashed on the rocks. Don't do that."

We  stood, waiting for her to continue, but she just gave an apologetic  shrug. "That's it?" I yelped. "Don't do that? Gee thanks Auntie. I've  been wondering how to improve my dodging skills too. Do you think not  getting hit would work? Or maybe I can improve my accuracy by hitting  the spot I'm aiming at. Sweet revenant, you can't give us better advice  than 'don't do that?' You're supposed to be the sane one!" Then I  paused, glancing back and forth between them. "Comparatively."

She  snickered a bit. "Ok first of all, that hurts. Second of all, this  isn't really that kind of exercise. I guess I can tell you the point,  but it'll be obvious once you get out there. Each of you will be in a  two person canoe. All you have to do is manage your oars properly so you  keep upright and straight. It requires good teamwork and reaction  skills." She shrugged. "Not everything is a mysterious lesson you have  to puzzle out. Don't flip over. It's not that complicated."

"And  the rocks?" Callie asked desperately. Her voice was almost as high and  worried as mine had been. It wasn't that this was ACTUALLY any more  reckless than the other things we'd done either as a group or  individually, but it was so...scary. Standing this close I could see the  glowing blue water crashing against itself. Hear the roar of the river  even from dozens of feet away, so loud I doubt I'd have been able to  hear anyone speak if not for my Perception, and even feel the bulletlike  snap of droplets of water peppering my face as they were thrown free by  the collision.

Intellectually I realized that the water  wouldn't be a huge danger (though apparently the fucking rocks would be)  but as someone who had been mortal not too long ago this was terrifying  to me on a visceral level. Which...was probably the point. Seeming to  get my hesitation Mel decided to actually say something comforting.  "Hey, don't get so worried. It's extremely rare for people to die here.  Especially with your armor, as long as you stick together you'll be  fine. The chances of BOTH of you having your head dashed against the  rocks and being knocked out are vanishingly small."

Well...she  TRIED to say something comforting. I could see her point though. Even  on the off chance one of us got knocked out (which was incredibly  unlikely for me at least considering my armor) and if we stayed  unconscious, the other could rescue them. The buddy system was pretty  safe here. I still turned to the others. "Ok. Well, when I told you guys  we would be risking life and limb I kind of assumed I was being  alarmist. You can always wait here if you want, instead of wading  into...that."

I gestured at the water. It was moving fast  and rough enough that I was pretty sure it would at least hurt getting  battered by it, even if it couldn't actually damage me. I was deeply  uncomfortable with going out there, but I was also here to train, so I  would suck it up now that I knew we almost definitely wouldn't die. I'd  done riskier training...probably. The others had no reason to stick  around though, and were free to avoid this lunacy.

"Not a  chance in hell." Lament cackled. "This sounds like a blast. I'm just sad Falken couldn't make it yet. He's showing up later, and it's a shame I  won't have my proper partner. Lestri, you can sit in for him if you  want." I blinked, I'd thought Vector was their fourth, but it sounded like he was just along for the ride. Guessed that was my bad for assuming. Come to think of it I hadn't seen Vector in a while. I guessed he wasn't one for this kind of craziness. At least one of us was sane.

"Alright."  I said, turning to my smirking mentor. "So how do we do this?" I  glanced around, finally finding another small shack. It was harder to  see this one because it was squat and made of stone, almost lost in the  spray of the rapids. "We getting the canoes over there?" Everyone else  turned to see me pointing at the hut.

Gesturing us forward,  Abel headed for the shack. "Yup. No one sane wants to sit in that place  all day and either get pelted with rough water bullets or listen to  them drum the walls. They have it set up so that you can insert chits  into a series of locks that hold the canoes in. You add the chits, the  locks open, you take the canoe. There are a limited number per day, and  they honestly overcharge because the damn things nearly always break.  They just go with disposable ones and then refill them every day."

Remembering  hearing him mention that they could run out, I understood the  situation. Luckily if they were disposable at least they shouldn't be  too pricey. As we approached, I could understand better what he meant.  The low roar of the water and the occasional snap of water droplets had  become what was basically a permanent hurricane as we got close. I was  glad I was wearing armor and a mask, because even the constant drumming  on the skin of my wrists and neck was driving me crazy. I stepped  sideways, putting my body in front of Callie, who whether it was her  legs or most of her face, wasn't as covered as I was.

She  gave a sigh of relief and reached out to grip my hand tightly, and I  squeezed back. Most of the others seemed fine in the spray, though  Sloane and Sydney looked bedraggled as they were pelted with droplets.  When we reached the hut, Abel grabbed the door and kicked it sharply as  he twisted the knob, popping it open and leading us inside. As he'd  mentioned the droplets stopped, but we could hear them constantly  pattering on the stone outside.

The inside of the hut was  much bigger than the outside, and while it was kind of damp and I could  feel stray bits of sand under my boots, it was orderly for the most  part. A large, metallic floor led up to walls lined with a series of  sort of metal claw like devices. The claw itself was wrapped firmly  around a canoe, holding it in place securely, and next to each device  was a metal waist high pillar with a coin slot and a sign.

The  canoes cost a single H-ranked coin, and I gave a long whistle, which  got a chuckle from Abel. "Yeah, they buy these in bulk." My mentor said.  "They're flimsy as hell. They're only made to last a single day and  they start breaking down as soon as you get out there, so be careful how  much you trust them on the water." He gestured for us to put in the  coins, but I just say there and stared at him.

When he  didn't make any move to insert coins I cleared my throat. "We had a deal  old man. I'm not paying for your murder attempts. I'll do your  exercises, but after how much you made on our work last time I refuse to  foot the bill. Pay up or we bail."

Abel looked aghast at  the statement, but Mel just rolled her eyes. "Oh just cover them. They  have a point, you made some decent change at the bay, and I did pretty  well betting on them at the Bone Arena." As Abel sighed and walked  sulkily over to start depositing coins to open up the claws, Mel turned  back to us. "Oh, and just a bit of friendly advice, since jackass over  there is unlikely to mention it. Balance is key here. Not just staying  upright, but making sure to exert the right amount of force on each  side. It's too easy to flip out there, or even end up going in circles  because one of you is paddling too hard."

That actually  seemed helpful and we thanked her as we lifted the canoe up to carry it  out to the river. Abel shouted one last bit of advice to us. "By the  way! Make sure to go into the water with plenty of space between you. If  you're too close you'll smash into each other and both pairs will go  under. And remember, HAVE FUN!"

As we approached the  shore, we all split off, Callie and I carrying our canoe. Well...I was  carrying it because Callie was a foot shorter than I was and doing it at  an angle would have been annoying, still. It was easy enough  considering my Might. As we drew closer I shouted down to her. "So you  think they were doing a good cop bad cop thing to convince us to accept  the challenge?"

Callie laughed. "A really obvious one,  yeah! But still, I trust them. I doubt they would go through all this  trouble just to kill us. If they wanted us dead Abel could have beat us  to death a hundred times in training. It's not like he wouldn't be just  as culpable if we died in the river after he led us here. We have a ton  of witnesses that this was his idea. No, I think this will just be  another painful training opportunity."

Shifting the canoe  to one shoulder I scooped her up onto my other one, earning a squeal as  she was pelted with water once I wasn't acting as a blocker anymore. As  she shrieked I laughed and shouted up to her. "Well in that case we  should listen to our teacher and do the assignment correctly. Like he  said, we should have some fun!" Then I jogged off toward the nearby  shore, Callie cackling in glee as I went. I just hoped I wouldn't come  out of this one smelling like fish.