Nathan had spent the better half of an hour, walking up to various groups and asking what their wish was.
He received a wide range of responses like:
"Go away."
Or
"To become a princess of Song."
And
"One night with Kai from Nightingale."
That last one had garnered a couple nods of approval.
Based on his Aspect title, [Will Shaper], he assumed any wish that was asked of him, he could simply express his will and shape it into whatever was wished for. But that obviously wasn't the case as nothing he tried seemed to be working.
It sucked, but Nathan was now 80% sure he understood how his dormant ability worked.
He also had a better understanding of how his [Cherished] attribute worked.
When a wish was asked of him he felt compelled to fulfil it, the compulsion wasn't very severe and it didn't strip him of his free will, but he did feel a strange sense of 'care' for the wish, despite it not being a living thing or something he could even touch. When he rejected a wish it didn't pain him but he felt sorrow. He also discovered that rejecting a wish and not being able to fulfil it, were two different things and that there was a distinction between the two.
With these things in mind Nathan approached his next group of test subjects.
The group he walked up to were all dressed in the Academy uniform, and of course, all mesmerising. Being constantly surrounded by such attractive people was definitely a strange experience but not unwelcomed. Besides, Nathan himself was in no way inferior to them in terms of looks. He had turned many heads throughout the day to his pleasure.
Flashing a warm amicable smile he addressed the group, "Sorry to bother you guys but could you do me a favour?"
Each of the sleepers gave him a speculative look, but one short girl with candy blonde hair stepped forwards with a beaming grin of her own.
"Sure, What is it?"
"I'm a genie in training you see, so I'd appreciate it if you could wish for a bottle of water to help sharpen my wish-granting abilities."
The girl and the group frowned slightly, probably thinking he was some weirdo.
"Genie in training?", the girl asked, "Hold on…shouldn't you be asking us what we wish for?"
Nathan had been at this for more than half an hour now and he was starting to lose his patience.
With an exasperated sigh he said:
"Please just do me the favour."
"I'm starting to dislike your attitude, Genie. I'll be giving you a one star at this rate."
The group of sleepers behind her jeered at this but Nathan wasn't in the mood for jokes. His face remained blank and unmoving. Not a hint of humour was expressed.
She shook her head and shrugged.
"Alright fine, I wish for a bottle of water."
He pulled out a bottle of water and handed it to her - Hang on! Where did that come from?!
"Consider your wish granted."
"Oh…I was expecting something a bit more…exciting…"
At the exact moment he handed the girl her water, Nathan could feel it, a fundamental change or more accurately - addition to his soul. He entered his Soul Sea to take a closer look at the change he sensed.
Welcomed by the familiar tide of stars that hung in the sky, he looked at his Soul Core and saw a tiny, almost imperceptible grey wisp of light, hovering and orbiting it. Seeing the wisp of light, Yoru intuitively knew what to do. He began to form a tether that connected it to his Soul Core. This process took only a minute to do.
Exiting his Soul Sea, Nathan activated his Aspect. He felt it. His will, an intangible tool that remained dormant until now, ignited and a bottle of water that looked identical to the one he had just handed the girl, materialised and shimmered into existence.
Yoru stared at the bottle he had 'granted' with a wide-eyed grin.
The girl, along with her group of friends were stood there the entire time, talking away. But when they noticed the bottle of water that Nathan had seemingly materialised out of thin air, they all wore expressions of shock, their jaws hitting the floor and their eyes glued to the bottle in his hands.
In a hurried voice, as if she was scared the chance would escape her, the Sleeper girl shouted:
"I wish for a million credits!"
…
Nathan gave her one long look and shook his head.
"I commend you for the effort, but no can do unfortunately."
"What! So a bottle of water is the best you can do? What a cheapskate genie! Come on guys let's go."
As they walked away the girl wore a look of mock outrage and dissatisfaction on her face, similarly, so did the rest of the sleepers.
Nathan's ego wouldn't let a comment like that slide. Cheapskate genie? Who the Spell does she think is?!
Faced with her back, Nathan yelled after her:
"Yeah!…well…be careful what you wish for!"
What even was that?!
His comeback was incredibly lame and didn't even make sense. He would've been better off just keeping his mouth shut.
But, wether to his luck or misfortune,the group of sleepers didn't even spare him a glance as they continued to walk away.
'Bloodydamn…'
With a sigh, Nathan pushed his humiliation aside and instead looked at his runes for any changes. When he looked at them however, he couldn't help but scrutinise and curse.
"What the actual fuck."
Staring down at them, the runes read:
Name: Yoru
True Name: Wish Upon a Star
Rank: Dreamer
Miracle core: Dormant
Wishes Granted: [0.5/1000]
****
Nathan was sat within his dorm room atop his bed. His fake window seamlessly displayed a picturesque view of a city's night skyline. The neon lights belonging to the city were the only source of light within the room.
But Nathan wasn't concerned with the visibility in his room. No. He was way too busy studying his runes and aspect.
Immersed within his Soul Sea, he looked at the counter which had been haunting him throughout the night.
Wishes granted: [0.5/1000]
At first, Nathan was completely stunned and had no idea what it meant by "0.5". How could there be 0.5 of a wish? But after giving it some thought, he believed he had a rough understanding of what it meant.
Something as subjective as a wish couldn't really be looked at as a quantifiiable value, but the Spell had done so anyways. So what quantifies a wish exactly? Well…the amount of meaning behind it.
It made sense when he considered his own [Cherished] attribute. After all, some wishes were greater than others. So a relatively trivial wish, such as the wish for a water bottle, could only be quantified as the lowest value.
But what truly stunned Nathan was the implication of the counter. It put into perspective just how arduous and daunting his power progression would be. You could argue and say that he had it relatively easy, all he has to do is grant a persons' wish. But, although it was unlikely, if his hypothesis was wrong then that meant all wishes were worth the same. If that were the case then he wouldn't have even formed his first core by the end of the Forgotten Shore!
Even if he could grant the same wish more than once and have it contribute to the counter, he still wouldn't even be a Monster.
That sucked!
But other than that, he was glad that he finally managed to figure out what his aspect did. Now he could properly and thoroughly plan for the future.
With these thoughts however, his mood quickly became somber.
'The future...What to do about that…'