Wish upon the Stars chapter 3 pt 4

In the end, I did manage to get enough with my final three wishes to both get the obfuscator and buy the ruby, and even had some left over.  The ruby ended up being a million flat, and only that because I made a  deal with the guy who was selling it, Simon, that he could contact me  about any future Ascended materials. I figured even if I couldn't buy  them I could set him up with someone through the WCP who could.

I  made nine million on the other three wishes, bringing me up to eleven  point seven five million total counting the five hundred thousand I'd  already gotten. After blowing six of that I was at five point seven  five, which seemed like a decent nest egg. I contacted Zeke, and learned  that one of the benefits of my VIP status entitled me to delivery if it  was possible to arrange it with the seller, which since the Palace had  been holding it for me it was, so they dropped the obfuscator off.

So  here I was the next day, on my way to the intake office for the Unity. I  was sitting on the bus in my normal clothes, and I felt so damn naked  here. Without my suit and mask I felt exposed and vulnerable already,  which just went to show how big of a deal getting my own identity was.  I'd asked Zeke specifically if using a fake identity would affect my  real one, but he said early on the renown you got was mostly rumors  anyway, so it wouldn't draw away from my new cape ID when I established  one.

I  scratched at my ankle through my pants, where the obfuscator sat heavily  on me. The device turned out to be a black ankle bracelet with a smooth  black plate on it where you could adjust parameters on your stat  screen. Most people couldn't access theirs as easily as I could but  everyone could see it in some fashion so it was pretty consistent. The  obfuscator wouldn't work on any higher level scans but it would be fine  for the intake, and once I registered I could update my stats manually  as I ranked up.

Zeke  told me to mostly keep it truthful, because while abilities weren't  obvious at first glance, most Ascendant's could eyeball stats,  especially Impact, the one stat that mattered most. Things like Vitality  and Might were pretty easy to spot too, though Focus and Fantasy were  usually tougher unless you had an ability aimed at that kind of thing.  Luckily the ability itself could be hidden easily enough. In the end we  decided to just tweak my power to look crafting based because they were  less likely to expect on the spot results and I could figure out making  whatever they asked for on my own later.

Finally  the bus pulled to a stop outside the intake center and I was broken  from my reverie. It was finally time for me to register and take my  first step toward becoming truly powerful. Getting off the bus, the  first thing I noticed about the intake office was how absolutely massive  it was. The building looked like a courthouse or something, tall and  imposing and held up by columns out front, with massive stone steps  leading up to it.

There  were people everywhere, most of them in costume, and I recognized  several as being powerful local celebrity Ascendants. I saw Captain  Polaris, who I had seen on TV just a few days ago, walk by with a pair  of twin girls around my age, who were chattering animatedly at him as he  tried to break off to talk to Blue Fox, one of the local celebrity  Ascendants who was trying to politely disengage herself from an army of  male fans.

I  of course, avoided all of them and headed for the entrance, remaining  basically invisible, or at least as invisible as a six foot three  eighteen year old behemoth could, which was surprisingly pretty damn  invisible when there were capes around. I made my way into the building,  and once I was inside I headed into the back of the first floor where  they did the intake, passing through the majority of the crowds who were  either there to stare at capes or capes themselves headed upstairs to  do whatever capes did here.

The  intake area wasn't nearly so crowded, but it wasn't empty either, Valen  had tens of millions of people living in it, so there was always at  least a few people developing abilities. Still, it looked like they were  much less anxious and energetic than the people outside, like they had  been here a while. I sat down in one of the chairs next to a cute blonde  girl with short hair and sparkling green eyes and nodded to her.

She  gave me a friendly smile. "Oh, hi! Are you here for the intake too?"  She paused for a second then literally face palmed. "Duh, of course you  are, this is the intake area. Sorry, I'm just so nervous, this is a huge  deal right? I don't know if my power is even any good, do you think  I'll get in? I know not every Ascendant gets admitted. Some of us get  registered and then sent to the overflow office and assigned a job in  the private sector, construction and stuff you know? Not that there's  anything wrong with that! Oh, I'm Jessie by the way!"

I  blinked. That...had been a lot. Like, she hadn't taken a single breath  during that whole exclamation. I was winded just listening to her.  Still, she was a cutie and she seemed pretty nice so I just smiled back.  "Shane." I held out a hand and she shook it enthusiastically. "As for  whether we get in I have no clue. I don't know much about intake  honestly. I didn't even know there WAS an overflow office. Where did you  hear about it? And what's your ability if it's ok to ask? I don't  really know the protocol there."

She  lit up. "Oh, my brother told me! He's a member. Can't say which one  though, you know the rules about cape identities. As for my power that's  not a big deal, some people are weird about sharing but I think it's  fine! I make plants grow! Nothing crazy like trees or anything, just  pretty flowers and some herbs. Minor Botany. It's not really very  impressive, but my brother says it's super flexible and there's a lot of  skills you can mix it with to make cool powers. I'm hoping that gives  them a good impression you know?"

It  certainly sounded interesting, but my attention was drawn towards what  she mentioned about skills. If she had a brother who was in the Unity  she probably knew a thing or two about it. "Skills? I have a few of  those but what do you mean mix it with? What do skills do exactly, I  wasn't really sure. Most of my Skills are Minor, but I do have Lesser  Doom Sovereign Mastery. Is that common?"

Her  eyes widened comically. "Oh wow, a Lesser Skill already? That's pretty  impressive. As for Doom Sovereign...no. No that isn't common. I've never  heard of a person getting a Skill for something like that. I don't know  what Lesser Doom Sovereign Mastery would even do. Minor skills can  range from local genius level to like planetary champ levels of great,  but once you hit Lesser you start being able to use them with your  stats. Lesser skills are considered beyond the peak of normal human  ability, how did you get a video game skill to that level?"

I  just shrugged. "Lucky I guess. I play all the time with my best  friend." She seemed to have forgotten my question about mixing skills  but since I'd just asked as a cover I didn't bother to refocus her, I  just moved on. "So, botany huh? You must have had some fun with that.  You mentioned flowers and herbs, what kinds of things do you like to  grow?" I winced internally because I was kind of a shut in and had zero  idea how to talk to pretty girls, especially exceptionally well endowed  ones like Jessie.

The  girl was about five feet tall and slim with a pixie cut and a button  nose and oozed friendliness, but her close proximity and habit of  entering people's personal space was seriously flustering me. Luckily  she didn't seem to notice and was happy to fill the silence. "Oh sure,  I've been working with a local florist for a while now. My brother said  you usually have a few weeks after you first get your ability before  people notice. As long as you don't go past that it's ok to spend some  time getting your name out a bit. Since your brand is mostly rumors at  first it counts towards your identity when you get one."

Same  thing Zeke had told me, though I wished I'd known I had a few weeks.  Still, I was growing fast enough that a few weeks might have caused  problems. I didn't want to be too abnormal when I started. "That's  really cool. Hope you got a few stat points. I'm guessing you started  with Vitality and Creation?" From what I could tell you could usually  get a decent idea of a persons starting stats based on how their power  worked. Impact was universal so no one bothered to mention it.

She  nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah, plus I even got a point of Fantasy for  some of my flower arrangements so I have four points already. My brother  says being halfway to H rank after only a few weeks and before I even  get my cape identity is pretty amazing! How about you? What did you  start with? Actually what's your power I don't think I even asked." She  hadn't, but I didn't mind sharing. The whole thing was going to get  blown out of proportion in the intake anyway might as well flex a bit  and impress a pretty girl.

I  gave a smile I tried to make sure wasn't smug. "I started with all my  stats, and two points in Fantasy and Vitality. I got a point of Might on  my own so I'm already at H rank." Since it was possible to be born with  multiple points in a stat I figured pretending to have started with  nine points and getting one would ultimately seem less freakish. I'd  picked Fantasy and Vitality because they could both play into crafting,  and I didn't have a second point in Creation sadly. "My power is a  crafting ability. Minor Woodworking."

Her  eyes nearly bugged out at the statement. "No way! You had TWO double  stats and were born with everything unlocked? That's crazy rare! They're  going to scout you for sure." She pouted. "I wish I had something like  that to fall back on." Her face lit back up, changing emotions so  quickly I got whiplash. "Oh, but we have complimentary powers!  Woodworking would go great with my power if I can get the ability to  grow trees! We might end up teaming up in the future!"

I  smiled at that, because honestly if I was going to team up with someone  before I could get Benny a power a cute girl with an infectious smile  and a sunny outlook seemed like a great choice. Sadly that line of  thought was cut off by a loud throat clearing, and we all turned to see a  formal looking man with a goatee dressed in a crisp grey suit. "I  assume all of you are here for the intake?" There were various nods and  affirmations from the crowd. The man nodded sharply. "Very well, if  you'll all follow me, we can begin your orientation. Don't fall behind, I  won't repeat myself." And with that, he turned and stalked out of the  room. I looked at Jessie who just smiled encouragingly. Well, this was  going to be fun.