Wish upon the Stars chapter 64

The next morning found me sitting in my room with Callie. She was  here to talk about possible wishes to get her Might up. We'd decided to  wait until later today to head back to the academy, and when I told  Callie that wishes required payment she had asked for this conversation.

She  seemed excited to get started, and as we settled in to talk she opened  with a question that kind of caught me flat footed. "What exactly can I  use to pay for a wish? Like does it have to be something as concrete as a  stat or Skill? Can I pay with my good luck for the day? Or a happy  memory? Or some of my courage? Wish does some crazy stuff, so it  wouldn't shock me if it could effect some esoteric aspects of a person  in terms of payment."

I blinked. That...was a really good  question. "I don't know. It just always seemed like a valid trade.  Points for wishes. Skills or stats. I squinted at her. "I'm not sure  exactly what you can use for payment, but I can give you five points of  Might today. What are your stats at anyway? We've never really discussed  it, I just know that yours are much higher than mine because you've  been a G ranker for way longer and put some serious time and elixirs in.  Ten percent of G rank would be a hundred points of elixirs right? How  close are you to F?"

She laughed at that. "Close to F? I'm  just past five hundred points total, I'm barely halfway there. F is a  long grind." She raised an eyebrow at me. "For most people. My stats are  fairly focused into my areas of expertise.A hundred forty four  Perception for dodging and reflexes, a hundred and fifty Vitality to  animate my shadows and the objects I imbue them into, and a hundred and  twelve Creation, which while lower than the others increases my ability  to quickly make shadows and to make large amounts of them."

I  whistled at the numbers. She was literally ten times my values in those  stats, or close enough. Still, I noted the obvious. "That doesn't leave  much room for the rest of your five hundred plus, what are your number  in your other stats. I'm guessing Might is pretty low. Mine is eighteen,  and even offsetting the difference with subterfuge and speed boosting  tricks like Flurry of Blows I doubt you're more than two and a half  times that tops. If you were no way I'd have managed to hold you as long  as I did."

She looked impressed. "Forty five Might  exactly. Thirty Focus and fifty Fantasy. Something about manipulating  large shadow constructs makes people question reality I guess. Impact is  the same as yours. Puts me at five hundred forty three total. You can  see how lopsided that build is though. The big issue is that Might  making people stronger is a side effect. Might is the physicality of  abilities, their ability to generate force and interact with the world.  Vitality lets me animate shadows, Creation lets me make constructs, but  Might is what gives both of those form and substance."

I  nodded. I already knew about her problems here. "It's why you can make  utility items like a key, but cant wield raw shadow constructs in  combat. You're suck using them to reinforce your gear and hair and  stuff. You don't need to convince me here. I understand why you would  wish for Might, and I'm all for it. The question isn't whether I'll give  it to you, it's whether you can pay for it. I take it you have some  ideas, or you wouldn't have come here. You mentioned luck, that one  seems dangerous, and courage you might need. What other ideas did you  have."

She shrugged. "How about height." I blinked at her  and she just shrugged again. "What? I'm a bit taller than I originally  would have liked. It's not exactly a viable long term solution but an  extra inch on your height won't hurt and an inch off mine won't either.  Might take a bit of sparring to get used to depending on how we word the  wish, but still, it's a damn good test to see exactly what you can  accept as payment." I didn't hate the idea. I'd always wanted to be six  four, being taller than Benny would be hilarious, and I relied on my  size in combat pretty heavily, this would be an advantage if it worked.

She  grinned at me. "Alright, I wish for a point of Might, and I offer an  inch of height." She giggled. "Hey, I'm a poet and I didn't know it." I  snickered that the terrible joke because I was as nervous being in here  alone with her as she was being here in the first place, and adding in  all the crazy wish stuff just made it more nerve wracking. As usual, the  purple flames I saw so often rolled across my vision. Wish detected. Grant wish? I confirmed mentally. Stat points sufficient. Requirements: 30 Might, 5 Impact, 25 Creation.

It  didn't say compensation required. I grinned at her feeling my powers  build, my normal static charge climbing high as it always did when I  made bigger wishes. I put my hands out and she took them, I figured it  would make the most sense to have contact given the physical nature of  the payment. The wish built, the power filling me, and then an electric  shock lanced up her arms, locking her body up, and doing the exact same  to me. I wasn't used to my power effecting my physically and I felt  myself lock up hard at the electric current running through us both.

My  teeth snapped shut, my muscles contracted, my bones fucking MOVED,  which was not pleasant or positive to experience at all, and I just sat  there, unable to move, or twitch, or even scream. Callie's eyes were  wide and unblinking as she stared into mine, clearly experiencing the  same exactly thing, and as I felt myself....expand. I saw her contract.  The electricity covered her from head to toe, but once it obscured her  on and off it started to condense and she went with it. She literally  lost an inch of her height.

Finally  the process ended and we both slumped onto the floor, twitching and  groaning in horrible pain. Her voice was hoarse as she spoke up. "Sweet  Revenant that was awful. I felt like I was in a trash compactor." She  stood up on shaky legs, staggering over to a mirror on one side of the  room. "I feel like I got shorter at least. Lucky my costume is so  absurdly tight or I might need it fitted. I guess I'm five foot six now.  That's going to take some getting used to. How about you? How did it  feel to get taller?"

I  groaned in agony. "Growing pains. Like a year of them all at once. Gods  that was unpleasant. Still, that was amazing. I'm...taller. Like I get  we do stuff like that all the time, but still, that was amazing. Fantasy  making illusions and Creation making objects are both nuts, but I'm  TALLER now. My body was been physically and permanently altered. You got  your point of Might right? I mean I assume, I granted the wish and took  the payment, so you should have gotten what you wished for."

She  grinned over at me excitedly. "Forty six Might now. Just as promised.  And I can get to fifty today if we can find other things to use as  compensation. What should we try next? There has to be something  temporary. You were right that luck is probably a bad idea, but what  about a memory? Something that could help with your cooking maybe? I can  give you memories of delicious high ranked dishes I've eaten! I have a  ton of them!" That...that was brilliant actually. I might even be able  to observe the preparation and use that to get myself a rank up in  cooking finally.

I  confirmed that I was in and she grinned excitedly. "I wish for a point  of Might, and I want to pay with my memory of eating an F ranked Dragon  steak.." I blinked in shock at her and she grinned. "Stella got one as a  gift last year from somewhere, she never would say where. She let the  chefs prepare it and shared it with the executives, because Dragons are  BIG. It was delicious, but I don't mind losing it. Just means I get to  try it again for the first time someday." I laughed at that and noted  the words come up as usual. Wish detected. Grant wish? After confirming I got the same price for this one. Stat points sufficient. Requirements: 30 Might, 5 Impact, 25 Creation.

This  particular surge of power wasn't as dramatic or physically taxing. I  didn't lock up or feel like I was dying. Rather, I felt like my head was  being rifled through. Not in an invasive way, but like someone was  blowing gently across the top of the filing cabinet of my thoughts.  Suddenly, there was a new thought slotted into my head, and I jerked as I  felt...something new. I was reliving the memory. Experiencing it.

I felt the sensation of the meat on my tongue, the burn of the spices,  this was hands down one of the best things I'd ever tasted, and even as I  dissected the preparation method I felt a click as my cooking skill  FINALLY hit Lesser. I felt myself pass the hurdle just from the  knowledge I'd gained from that meal. From the understanding of how the  meat had been perfectly seared for flavor, from the way the seasonings  had been selected to flawlessly enhance the flavor profile present in  the steak. The person who cooked it had been a cooking genius, and even  experiencing their food was a revelation. At the feeling of advancement I  grinned and pulled up my stat sheet.

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-15
Perception-25
Creation-19

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

I  turned to Callie, who looked a bit woozy but still giddy at the obvious  success. I grinned and swept her up in a big hug as she squeaked in  surprise. She seemed so much smaller than before, given that she was an  inch shorter and I was an inch taller. Still it was a nice feeling. I  laughed and spun her around. "Thank you. So much. You've helped me learn  new ways to use my power that will seriously help me improve. Being  able to pay with memories is going to make ranking up Benny SO much  easier, and I can improve my own inventing along the way!"

I  realized I was still holding her and put her down with a flush. She  giggled a bit at the embarrassment but moved on quickly. "I should be  thanking you. Not only do I now have forty seven Might, we know how to  improve it even more and for things I can actually pay! Granted the  memory transfer thing probably won't be viable with strangers, but  still, it's definitely going to help us get the team in shape pretty  quick. We might not even have to make that trip to the Academy."

She  was right, and I voiced my agreement wholeheartedly. "Oh, we won't. In  fact I'm glad we won't. We can use this next week or so to train before  heading back and then sweep some of the tests for the points. Move up  the rankings and collect some renown to improve our speed of growth even  more." I cracked my neck, getting ready for more wishes. "In the  meantime though I believe we have three more points of Might to get you,  so pick some memories of meals you don't mind giving up and let's get  this show on the road." She clearly couldn't have agreed more.