Wish upon the Stars chapter 234

The whole 'checking on stat gains' thing, didn't really happen until  the next day. We talked a while about the Pavilion, but eventually I  caught Jessie starting to nod off and we decided to head home. She'd  been life force juicing us all for most of the battle, so I wasn't  really tired yet, but I knew I was going to be. Jessie's ability was  damn convenient, but it wasn't infinite or free. The energy could be  supplied, the life force healed you and energized you, but it didn't  really fuel the actions you took with that energy, just repaired the  damage from them.

It sounded like a meaningless  distinction, until the charge ended, and you crashed. It wasn't too  serious after just one or two boosts, but I'd been spamming those damn  heal bursts all day, and I was going to drop like a rock when we got  back. Which I did. We made it back to the house just in time for me to  collapse in bed and sleep for about eleven hours, thankfully completely  unbothered by any outside forces as I recovered from an extremely  emotionally and physically taxing day of combat.

When I  woke up I dragged myself out of my room, yawning loudly and waving to  Cark and Cass, who were in the living room watching some cartoon or  other. Cark waved back, looking as drained as I was, probably from  constant power use. Benny was curled up on the other couch, and Jessie  was sitting on the floor next to Cass, watching with her. As I headed  into the kitchen I found Callie sitting on a stool, sipping a cup of  coffee and looking haggard.

I leaned down to give her a  quick kiss, and she pulled back. "Gross." She moaned in annoyance.  "Morning breath. Brush your teeth first." I plucked her cup of coffee  from her fingers, took a sip swished it around in my mouth, and spit it  into the sink before giving her a wide grin. I handed it back to her,  but she pushed it away. "Ew, no thanks. I'll make a fresh cup." Her eyes  narrowed. "Unless you're planning to replace that one?"

"Oh  come on." I said with a laugh. "Spitting it in the sink means I didn't  backwash." She glared at me venomously and I put my hands up in  placation. "Sorry, sorry. I'll make you a new one. It was just a joke." I  probably should have felt that out first. I knew some people were weird  about drinking after anyone else, and that had maybe been a bit far  since I didn't know if Callie was one of those. I made a point of  putting extra effort into her coffee, giving her a huge mug with exactly  the sweetener and amount of cream she preferred.

I passed  it to her, and she took a long sip. "Not terrible." She intoned  gravely. "I guess I can let it slide this time, but don't do it again.  Your jokes aren't funny when they're at the expense of my coffee." She  shooed me toward the stove. "As your final act of penance make me an  omelette. Goat cheese and fennel sausage. Five eggs."

That  got a laugh from me. "Oh I see how it is. Play up your emotional trauma  so I'll be forced to be your personal chef. Fine. Since I was in the  wrong, I'll play along just this once." Which was bullshit. I was always  happy to cook for Callie and we both knew it, but we were just  bantering. I took out a full dozen eggs, deciding to make one of me as  well. "So. I didn't get to ask last night, how many points did you get  after the fight? I'm assuming you got some like I did?"

She  grinned. "Yup. Twenty points of Creation, fifteen points of Might, ten  of Perception, ten of Fantasy, and weirdly five of Vitality. I'd guess  that we weren't the only ones either. Though I suspect Abel and Mel were  the subject of more of the stories about what happened than we were. My  totals are up pretty high, I broke eight hundred points overall, which  means I'm only two hundred away from F-rank." Her voice was nearly  shaking with excitement at reaching the same height our Guild Master had  been at back home, and so much earlier than she had ever imagine.

Calliope Reynolds

Beginner  Shadow Embodiment- The ability to control and shape shadows either  molding them into constructs of imbuing them into specially prepared  objects to enable enhancement and control.

Might-198

Impact-12

Vitality-142

Fantasy-85

Focus-58

Perception-175

Creation-132

Pet-Wolf named Rellia

Skills:  Minor Tracking, Beginner Stealth, Beginner Trap Mastery, Beginner  Disguise, Lesser Balam Mastery, Beginner Shadow Manipulation Mastery.

I  whistled at the numbers. "Damn. Your Might has almost broken two  hundred. Are you sure you want to rank up like that? From what I can  tell, the result of synergizing takes into account a lot of factors, and  stats are one of them. You have that Shadow Manipulation Skill to mix  in, and if your Might is so high you're going to end up with something  physical and close combat when you do it. With Might already so high, it  might be a good idea to put the rest of your upcoming points into  Perception or Creation."

My girlfriend let out a sigh.  "I'd considered it. Might is damn useful, and it makes fights insanely  convenient, but you aren't wrong that its not the main aspect of my  combat style. Still, a more physical ability might not be as unsuited to  me as you're thinking. I'll probably push Creation and Perception like  you suggested, but don't be surprised if having high Might pays off in  an unexpected way. I have some ideas for what I may get from the mix,  and it's something I've never heard of a shadow manipulator getting, at  least not around here."

I tried to pry at that statement,  but she refused to say any more. I just rolled my eyes. If she wanted to  keep it secret until rank up that was her call. "Anyway. I got a solid  boost too. Thirty points to Vitality, probably from all the heal bursts,  twenty five to Might, twenty to Focus, and ten to Creation. I kind of  wish I'd gotten some Fantasy, but it seems like none of my tricks really  push my legend in that direction. I have other ways to pad that number  though, so it hardly matters." The stats had applied in my sleep, much  like the first time I'd gotten them. So I hadn't had some big dramatic  stat dump.

Wishmaster candidate status.  G-rank. Ability: Beginner Wish- Five times a day grant a Beginner wish  in return for proper  compensation. Wish must be feasibly  achievable by  the candidate's own  efforts within a three day period  with  current  statistics.

Might-122

Impact-12

Fantasy-21

Vitality-101

Focus-108

Perception-90

Creation-92

Stored:3  shadow attacks, 5 triple strength tranq blows, 2 triple strength  density shifted attacks. 1 spider leg attacks, 2 heal bursts

Pet- Wolf named Jin

Skills:Beginner  Doom Sovereign Mastery,Beginner Enchanting Mastery (four charges per  point of Impact), Lesser Cooking Mastery,Lesser Inventing Mastery,  Lesser Stealth, Minor Piano Mastery, Minor Gymnastics Mastery, Minor  Swimming Mastery, Minor Guitar Mastery, Minor Singing Mastery,Minor  Poker Mastery, Minor Archery Mastery, Minor Boxing Mastery,Lesser Balam  Mastery, Minor First Aid Mastery, Minor Herbalism Mastery

My  stats were looking fantastic. I'd officially made it past a hundred in  three of them, was only ten points from that milestone in two others,  and had broken the five hundred point barrier already on the way. I was  actually at a level where I wasn't much weaker than your average  G-ranker in individual stats. At least not in their unspecialized stats.  Not that it would matter for long. "So." I said with a sigh as I  started the omelette. "My cousin says this tournament is a big deal, and  that it's aimed at the peak of G-rank."

Callie made an interested  sound. "Yeah, when is it going to be? Even for us, breaking through too soon isn't going to be simple. I mean, granted, we all have some elixir  capacity left, most of us a decent chunk. But still, Jessie and Benny  are both pretty low in the G-ranks. I'm not sure if we can rank them up  in time for them to combat viable if it's too soon. Hell, I'd say we  couldn't rank ourselves up in time and still be able to put up a fight,  if not for how specialized I am and your new tricks."

I  sighed at that. "Two months, from what I can tell. You're right though. I  don't have the capacity to rank all of us up that quickly. Especially  not with three of my wishes promised to the Beast Lord Garden." I was  already kind of regretting that decision, but in the end it didn't  actually hinder me so much as force me to dedicate three of those wishes  to myself daily. Still, it left forty or so wishes for me to use to  continue boosting Benny and Jessie. Not nearly enough to get them to  F-rank in time for the tournament, but enough to get started.

I  felt a poke in my ribs and turned to see Callie smiling up at me. "Hey,  stop being such a worrier. Even if they can't participate in the  tournament we can still have them up to speed by the time we have to go  to the actual dungeon, right? It's not like a tournament that size is  going to be quick and painless. We'll need to deal with plenty of  bullshit to get through it. That just leaves us entering as a duo. Which  is fine with me. Though it's also possible Mel and Abel could be entering. Hard to say with them."

That  was a good point. Abel seemed to want to be left alone mainly, but how  much of that was just trying to avoid giving his brother a chance to  start trouble and drag him into it was hard to say. The man had a  natural inclination for battle that couldn't be common even on higher  ranked planets, and a genuine love of combat. With the Pavilion severed  from the circus and his own return to his former home, not to mention  Mel's involvement in the place. It wasn't exactly out of the question  for Apollyon and Starbreaker to return to Rajak in style.

I  was reminded of my first rank up, and how I'd had to accept it. I  couldn't remember hearing anything about suppressing your rank, but then  again, who would bother? Maybe they'd reached F-rank a long time ago and just decided to stay where they were. It certainly fit Abel's whole foundation building strategy. It would be convenient if nothing else. Assuming they even wanted to enter. It also opened up the possibility we would be facing other G-rankers who had done the same thing.

Either  way, we had plenty of training to do before the tournament, stats to  gain, combat to master, and attacks to stockpile in my case. I had forty  eight charges per day to use for my DS Mastery now, or any Enchanting I  needed to do, with the foundation to double that again sometime down  the line. I still had to upgrade all my subskills in DS Mastery to reach  Intermediate with it and unlock new ones too.

There  was more things to do than I could possibly count, and more ways to get  stronger than I could imagine. Part of me felt overwhelmed at the idea  of it, and part of me was just excited. For now I would just focus on  making breakfast for my girlfriend, and then we could check in with the  others about their own gains from the big blowout. After that, I was  thinking a trip up to the Academy was long overdue. We should check in  with Grimmengap and invite them to the Pavilion, and collect the points  from the mission we had completed. I was sure our rankings had dropped,  might as well get them back up. At the very least, I doubted we would be  bored anytime soon.