Wish upon the Stars chapter 298

Being back in the Pavilion was like walking out of the heat into a  cool familiar house. I hadn't even noticed the shift in tension in  Doomtown. Even when I was enjoying myself, I'd had to be actively on the  lookout for traps or murder attempts. Up here in G-district where we  could relax I was finally able to let down my guard.

The  first thing I did when I got back was go see my best friend. Callie came  along, and to my shock, Benny was actually at the Pavilion instead of  at the Academy with. To my even bigger shock, he was currently running  the obstacle course, or at least about to finish it. I'd missed most of  the actual run. Judging by his combat standards against the golems, he  had been putting in a ton of work too. Callie and I came over to stand  next to Alden and Jessie as they watched, letting out a low whistle.  "Wow, someone made some big leaps."

Despite not have  gained many stats in the week we were gone, Benny's integration of the  abilities that his artifacts gave him had become exponentially more  polished. His density shifting, both lower and higher had been trained  diligently. He appeared to be able to extend the effects of his  enhancements to his whole body now, using them as comprehensive Skills.  He had to concentrate hard to do it, and it was clearly taxing, but it  gave him the ability to contend with much stronger opponents.

Alden,  who had noticed me but not commented, chuckled. "Aye. Been putting him  through his paces. He still sneaks of to see that lass of his now and  then, thinks I don't notice, but a bit of down time isn't doing any  harm. Still, he's been training like the devil is on his tail." He shot a  fond look at Jessie. "And this little miss hasn't been far short of  that. Though I admit I see less of it since she trains so much up at the  fancy E-ranked faction building. Us lowly G-rankers aren't good enough I  suppose."

Our perky blonde haired teammate didn't even  bother to respond to him, she got so excited when she saw us she  launched herself off the bench, catching Callie mid stomach in a tackle  hug. I suspect she picked Callie because she was closest, and because  trying to tackle both of us would be nigh impossible given the height  difference. "You're back!" She squealed so loudly I thought she might  shatter glass. "I'm so glad to see you!"

I chuckled and  reached down to ruffle her hair, since she was already engaged in a hug.  She huffed at me, blowing some of it out of her eyes so she could fix  me with an emerald glare. "Stop that. Jerk." She climbed off Callie,  gave me a light shove and then plopped back down next to Alden. "Also  shut up, I so didn't do that. Randall just doesn't like training here.  Can you blame him?"

He shrugged, conceding the point. "You  lot are back early. You finish that training so soon?" His tone was  casual but I saw a hint of shock on his face. Considering the Paired  Dueling training was passed down to Abel and Mel by Alden, he would know  how it worked. What I was curious about was where he'd learned about  it. Though obviously adapted for the local environment, this whole  training regimen had the feeling of a systematic teaching tool. Things  like that were supposed to be important assets to bigger forces.

Had  Alden been a member of some big sect or group? Had HE had a partner at  one point? I was deathly curious, but that all seemed like personal  stuff that might be painful to talk about. So instead of saying all that  I just smirked and said. "Yeah, we got the Skill a few days ago. But  we're not really done. We came to pick up some stuff. There's a big  auction down there and we're going to try to buy up some training  resources. We want to make sure the Pavilion can keep pumping out strong  elites."

This time it was his turn to whistle. "Not bad,  you two. That's damn fast. Still, fits with the two of you. Always been a  bit quick on the uptake, least since I've known you." I smiled and  nodded my thanks at the compliment. Alden had trained Abel, him being  impressed was an honor.

"So." Said Callie, flopping onto  the bench next to Jessie. "How much has he improved? I can tell he's a  lot smoother with his ability. I assume that's a result of building soul  strength? Using those abilities as Skills must be tough for him. How  did he manage to grow so fast?" That was a good point, soul strength  training was slow and incredibly difficult to manage. It was basically  just work until your head hurt then stop and recover.

Alden  grinned. "He's been working on some new Inventions after you left.  Threw everything but the kitchen sink together, and finally came across  something useful. He build a spiritual calming belt. They help the soul  recover faster. They're extremely rare, even lower tier versions. Once  he integrated that he started to increase his Skill training tenfold.  He's been progressing quite quickly. Sadly the belt is too low tier to  be effective long term. Once he catches up with Solomon I'm guessing  he'll slow down."

Still though. It was a terrifying new  ability. And I knew how much it sucked recovering from excessive soul  weight. Even a bit of recovery would help in the future, no matter what  tier it was. It really showed the absurd potential of Benny's ability.  Even items of limited use would be helpful if used like a part of you.  Benny would be able to catch up much faster with that capability, and I  was glad to hear he'd found something that could help. We'd need to help  Jessie learn to train her soul too. Based on what I'd been told it  seemed like it was almost necessary to advance past E-rank.

We  waited a bit for Benny to finish his fight before he headed over to  where we were sitting. He had originally been jogging, but when he  noticed Callie and I he bolted over. "You're back! How was the dark  district? See any cool stuff? Bring me any souvenirs? I accept tribute  in the form of food, clothes, and expensive Inventing materials." He  paused. "Though not necessarily in that order."

I snorted.  "Amateur. Why bring you souvenirs when we can bring you to the dark  district. We came back to drag you down there in person." Also I hadn't  considered buying souvenirs, which I kind of felt bad about now. Not  that I would admit that even on pain of death.

Benny  seemed momentarily derailed from our banter. "Wait...really? I thought  it was super dangerous down there and all that? Aren't you worried about  us getting killed down there? Because I was joking about needing new  stuff. I can definitely wait on Inventing materials if it means I don't  have to die."

Callie cut in. "No. I have a plan for that.  We both do actually." She bumped me with her shoulder. "Solomon has an  idea for keeping us all safe, and on top of that...well I won't talk  about my plan here. The walls have ears and all that. Suffice to say  there's a big event down there we don't want you both to miss. On the  upside Agria you can take Randall for a walk finally."

Mentally  I had to smother a laugh at the idea of the giant F-ranked bear coming  with us. Still, he would give Jessie plenty of security, especially with  the F-rankers we were going to request from Alexander.  Though that  actually gave me an idea. "Agria, do you have a beast bonding Skill? "  I'd never heard Jessie mention anything like the bond with the Ralkors,  but if there was a permanent version of that like our Paired Dueling  Skill it would make Jessie infinitely safer.

She seemed  surprised I'd even heard of it. "Not even close. Those Skills take  forever to develop. I'm pretty sure the Beast Queen has one, and a  fairly high level one too. I know you can synergize them with your  ability to make some interesting powers, though I won't be doing that."  She didn't say why, and didn't need to. Everyone here was well aware of  her long term goals in regards to her healing ability.

Still  that seemed odd to me. "It takes that long? I'd figure with how taming  works it would be pretty easy to form a bond." Even easier than for  Callie and I, though I was starting to think I'd cheated with the  overlay somehow, based on how everyone was reacting.

"The  opposite." Jessie said firmly. "Bonds require a deep understanding and  connection. Animals don't think like people, so it's harder to make that  connection to begin with. Beast Taming just teaches you how to train an  animal and teach them certain behaviors. It doesn't turn them into  partners. Bonding is also usually permanent. Tamers often find new  beasts, but a bonded companion is rarely tossed aside."

That  was an interesting thing to note. I also saw Callie blushing furiously  under her mask at that last bit, which made me grin a bit. Not that we  couldn't feel how closely we were connected, but hearing it out loud  like that was kind of intense. Benny, to my delight, seemed to get what  I'd been insinuating, and pulled Jessie aside to talk to her about  wishing for a bond with Randall. Since I hadn't told her to do it myself  my own bias wouldn't mess with the pricing so much, plus I could always  use more heals.

While  Callie caught up with Jessie I pulled Benny aside to check on him.  "Hey, you ok man? Heard you've been working yourself pretty hard.  Impressive you managed to rig up a spiritual calming belt, but don't run  yourself into the ground ok? We're planning to help you two catch up  before the end of the tournament so we can bring you with us into the  Moonsong Glade. You've got plenty of time to train."

Benny  just shook his head. "You don't get it. You and Callie are pulling  farther and farther ahead. I've been making sure to spend time with Cel  so she doesn't feel ignored, but other than that...we're in this  together man. I can't let you leave me behind. We might be able to use  wishes to get our stats filled out, but the Pavilion has shown us  there's way more to combat than that. It's not just me either, Jessie  has been training harder than she lets on."

That  was...touching? Worrying? I didn't know. But it wasn't my place to tell  them what to do. It wasn't even really Callie's, group leader or not.  "Alright, but just remember that you don't need to overdo it. You both  bring other things to the team. That spiritual calming belt proves your  Inventing must be getting better right? No way that thing is less than  G-rank. Did you get Inventing to Intermediate?"

He  grinned at me widely. "Yup. I haven't been slacking as much as you  thought the past few months. Even when I was at the Academy I was  usually working. The hardest part was keeping financially solvent while I  worked."

Which  reminded me. "Speaking of finances, we're also here to stock up on  chits. Not sure how much we have in the coffers, but I know Abel and Mel  are planning to toss their own cash into the pot. With all of us we  should be able to afford some pretty good stuff." Eager to see what  exactly we had to work with, we both headed over to talk to Abel and  Mel. After we finalized that, we'd just need to wait for the  reinforcements Alexander was sending (hopefully) and we would be ready  to head back down. Though we might be able to take the evening off too.  Would be nice to have some downtime before the big show.