Wish upon the Stars chapter 65

The next week was a blur of grinding and training. I put in some  serious work with Benny and Jessie. Callie and I had talked and given  the massive point difference between G and F rank in terms of  requirement, my wishes were better spent on the other two first. With  seven days of wishes we managed to thirty five points between the two of  them. Given how behind he was we made it twenty points for Benny and  fifteen for Jessie.

Benny didn't  have all his stats unlocked, but since the early points became easier  the higher you went just by virtue of qualitative shift we didn't bother  fleshing out his stat sheet. He would get the other stats later, we  focused on Might and Focus, to help with inventing and to let him use  the integrated inventions he made more effectively. We couldn't rank him  up too quickly, but I wanted to at least get some points in him.

Benicio  Cortez- H rank. Ability: Lesser Mechanical Embodiment- Allows the  integration of existing inventions into the users body for the purposes  of strengthening and enhancing them.

Might-13
Impact-2
Vitality-2
Focus-12
Perception-2

Skills:Lesser Inventing Mastery,Minor Cooking Mastery, Minor Haggling Mastery

I  was going to put another ten or so into his Vitality stat when I could.  Then we would let him grind Inventing for a while so he didn't draw too  much attention when he hit G rank. Jessie had already been H ranked  when she got here, and while it had still been a shorter time than  normal, a boom from hitting the scene int he capital wasn't too crazy. I  put ten of her points into Might and five into Vitality at her request.

Jessica Evans- H rank. Ability: Lesser Florokinesis- grow and control plants, as well as repairing damaged plants fibers.

Might-11

Impact-2

Fantasy-7

Vitality-25

Creation-8

Skills: Lesser Horticulture, Minor Herbalism, Minor Flower Arrangement, Minor First Aid

Jessie's  Might had been six originally and her Vitality fifteen. With the added  points she was officially past the halfway mark for an H ranker, and it  was a fantastic achievement to hit so fast. Of course, I got some  benefits of my own after all the wishes. Sadly since buffing my team was  the whole point I couldn't really take stats, but memories worked just  fine. Specifically Skill memories that helped me a lot with gaining and  upgrading new skills.

We figured  out I couldn't take memories implanted with wishes, like the original  knowledge from Benny's inventing Skill, but I could take memories of him  USING the Skill, and gain experience inventing as a Lesser inventor,  which helped me rank up my own inventing Skill much more quickly than  expected. The best part was that he didn't hurt his own progress that  way, at least not much, since he could just make new inventing memories.

From  Jessie I got a ton of memories from her Herbalism skill. Not a Lesser  Skill or anything, but it was enough for me to get a new Skill of my  own. After a few sessions I officially had the Herbalism skill myself,  and Jessie was able to make new Herbalism memories so no real damage to  her long term abilities. As long as they stuck to giving me memories of  training or specific uses of powers and not the foundational information  the skills would stay at the same level. Though they wouldn't advance  so it wasn't really perfect. Still. I'd made my own progress.

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-18
Impact-12
Fantasy-14
Vitality-12
Focus-18
Perception-25
Creation-20

Skills:Beginner Doom Sovereign Mastery,Lesser Enchanting Mastery, Lesser Inventing Mastery,  Lesser Cooking Mastery, Minor Piano Mastery, , Minor Gymnastics  Mastery, Minor Swimming Mastery, Minor Guitar Mastery, Minor Singing  Mastery, Minor Poker Mastery, Minor Archery Mastery, Minor Boxing  Mastery, Minor Herbalism Mastery

Still,  even without trading for stats I had made some gains. A point of  Creation and three of Focus from my growing reputation in the crafting  hall, though I suspected I'd have done better if I'd kept going back.  I'd also been kicked back down the rankings from six hundred and ten  thousand plus to seven hundred and twenty thousand six hundred and five.  At lower levels the rankings weren't separated by much so an entire  week of not gaining any contribution points had seen me overtaken but a  LOT of people.

I wasn't worried  about it though, easy come easy go. I could get those points back simply  enough by buckling down and granting some wishes at the Academy. Not to  mention I would be getting some serious stats as I did. I just had to  avoid calling the same people too often. If I had access to more wishes  too quickly it would fuck up my cover as a poor sub contractor just  taking advantage of a decent connection. People didn't bother rare item  dealers if them getting the items was a fluke, though I'd had more than  one call from customers hoping to get another boost.

Despite  it making it easier to find clients that way I always told them I was  sold out. I'd go back for repeat business after the whole thing had some  time to cool down. In the meanwhile I would find new people in line in  the crafting hall to top me off. After the week of training though, we  had all gathered together to discuss our next move. Jessie and Benny  both looked absolutely thrilled by their improvement, and Callie had  been working with her shadows to improve her in combat usability for  once we got her Might up to scratch.

We  all met up in my room again and I raised an eyebrow at my friends. "So.  As much fun as this has all been I think I'm about ready to quit being a  vending machine for the moment. I can still do wishes for you guys  especially on days we can't get in to the academy, but I'm starting to  get cabin fever cooped up here in the residential area. I don't think  we're ready for G district again and I don't exactly want to hit the  Academy when I'm on empty. So any ideas on what the hell we should do to  test this new and improved team dynamic?"

Jessie  raised a hand eagerly. "Oh! We could do another critter hunt!" She made  a face. "Though I would prefer we go after something big and slow that  doesn't breed fast. Those raccoon things were never ending and it was  pretty stressful just sitting there while you held them off. There were  so many it felt like one would slip past you any minute. Are there any  big strong H rank monsters we can look for? You guys could hang back and  let us take priority, only step in if you're needed."

That  wasn't a bad idea. Bit slow for me and Callie, but if it helped them  get used to their growing powers it was a solid plan in my opinion. I  turned to Benny. "What do you think? Also any new integrations over the  last week? I've been so focused on grinding up my your stats I wasn't  sure. Jessie was the one working in the later half of the week, so you I  figure you put the improved Focus to work right?" I really should have  checked in, but I spent all the time I wasn't granting wishes every day  meditating on the information in all the new memories, going over them  repeatedly to contextualize them with my skills.

He  grinned and held up a fist. "Yeah, I managed to get my hands on some  more materials. I tried a bunch of combinations but I finally got  something useful for my other fist. It's a low power slow acting  tranquilizer effect that gets driven in with a punch. To start out or  with just one hit it's basically useless, but the more the fight goes on  the more hits I land and the longer it has to work. It's perfect for  long term fighting against people I can't use a finisher on." He gave  Jessie a wry smile. "I learned that lesson the last time. I needed  something that would work on a stronger opponent."

Jessie's  eyes lit up. "That is so COOL! I totally want to spar soon so I can see  how it works. I had double the amount of Might you did last time, but  now I'm actually two points behind you. That said my Vitality took a big  jump, and with my extra Might now I should be able to use my  Florokinesis in combat even without my wand." She looked sad at the  loss. "Though that thing made using my powers super convenient. I'm  really gonna miss it now that it's gone." She shook her head, forcing  herself back on task and looked to Callie. "Anyway Cal, you're the  monster master here, what can we fight?"

Callie  rolled her eyes with a chuckle. "In now way does being the only one who  isn't too lazy to do proper research qualify me as the "monster master"  but I do have more experience than all of you anyway. Down in the WCP  it makes sense to let Shane take the lead, but I don't mind calling the  shots up here if it's cool with everyone." I think she honestly expected  us to bitch about it, but it only made sense that the veteran hero be  our shotcaller. I'd only been making calls down in the WCP because I was  the one who knew all the places we were actually going.

I  gave her a reassuring smile. "Not at all. You have way more practice  than any of us do. Plus I'll be honest, I'm already super busy, doing a  ton of critter research you've already done just because I didn't want  you bossing me around would be pretty stupid and pointless." My smile  turned a bit cheekier and she rolled her eyes at that, but I saw the  corner of her lips tug up a bit.

She  let out a loud sigh. "Fine. If I have to be the monster guidebook that  seems like a fair trade for being in charge. As for the actual  question...I might have an idea for what we could hunt."