Wish upon the Stars chapter 3 pt 1

The trip home was shockingly slow to me. With so much information  forthcoming and with all the action I'd just gone through my adrenaline  was singing, and sitting on a bus like a chump waiting was basically  torture. Still, I closed my eyes and took a deep breath to center myself  as the bus pulled into traffic. I'd taken my first big step down the  path of an Ascendant, but I still didn't know what that meant.

Finally  after what felt like hours but was probably more like twenty or thirty  minutes I made it home and slipped into the apartment. I had to avoid  being seen, mostly because I doubted Zeke wanted this particular outfit  noticed by the neighbors, but luckily I knew a back way in and circling  around through the alley and going up the fire escape made getting in  unseen totally feasible.

Stripping  off my jacket I made my way down the hall from the side window to  Zeke's work room, taking the mask off before I knocked on the door.  Zeke's voice called out from inside. "Come in." I stepped inside at his  prompting and he started talking without looking up from his work. "You  made decent time. I have a teleport relay to this place but you had to  take the long way. Good hustle."

The  sight of him like that, sitting and painting casually, seemed so  familiar and at the same time so very alien. He'd done this for as long  as I could remember. Made these masks, though I always thought it was a  hobby, and knowing they were part of this huge underground world was  just surreal. I walked over and set down the one I'd taken. He took a  quick glance at it out of the corner of his eye but kept painting.

Still,  he must have seen something amusing because he smiled. "Wow. Good  instincts. None of the finished ones here would have actually hurt you,  but they might have ruined your day. Taking that one was a smart call.  You got lucky it was one of the ones with the sight enchantment  completed." He finally stopped painting and looked over at me, his eyes  taking me in. "Yup. H rank. Not bad, even for a candidate. Most don't  run into another Ascendant that early."

I  walked to the other side of the work bench and grabbed a stool,  dragging it over to the spot next to where he sat working. "Really?  Seems like it would be pretty easy for someone with my powers. I can  grant plenty of wishes that people would find useful. I bet any of the  other candidates could have managed what I have." My power seemed pretty  open and shut, honestly I wasn't sure why there was even a competition.  Wouldn't we all have the same speed?

He  chuckled at that, shaking his head. "Let me see your contract." I  didn't hesitate, Zeke was my Uncle and a total beast besides, if he  wanted to hurt me he wouldn't need to ask. I handed it over and he read  through it with a smile and handed it back. "Thought so. Now, I can't  tell you too many things because it would compromise the trial, but  since you ranked up I can give you a bit of basic information."

Finally  putting down the mask he'd been holding, he turned on the bench to face  me. "Now, your first mistake is not knowing what an Ascendant is. You  aren't an Ascendant because you have a power, you have a power because  you're an Ascendant. The prerequisite for being considered and Ascendant  is very simple, you have to have at least one point in the Impact  stat."

He  gestured to me. "As I'm sure you can feel, Impact is extremely  important. In fact it's the most important stat. Impact is a measure of  exactly how much your presence and actions affect reality. The higher  your impact, the harder you are to hurt and the more impressive your  power can be. It's one of the reasons the Wish power is considered so  scary. Being able to grant wishes that span three days worth of power  essentially triples your effective Impact."

That  was...confusing. "Then why do ranks matter at all? Wouldn't someone in H  rank with a hundred Impact be untouchable even to someone in B rank as  long as their impact was lower? Like I got a point of Impact for ranking  up sure, but if it's just one per rank that completely invalidates  things. I mean, there has to be some other way to get Impact, like I bet  I could get it by granting wishes."

Zeke  smiled widely. "I told you there's a reason the Wishmaster is such a  big deal. But regardless you're missing a few things. First of all, you  don't get one point of impact per rank. What you need to understand is  that I isn't really a rank. It's a designation for someone who has  powers but hasn't really Ascended yet. H is the first legitimate rank,  and as such ranking up past that gives you ten impact. The next rank  gives you twenty, and so on."

I  tried to cut in but he cut me off. "Second of all, you can't grant any  wishes anytime soon that will allow you to charge a point of Impact.  Your power works off fair compensation and you're nowhere near powerful  enough to do anything that would be worth that kind of price. Anything  that raises Impact is insanely valuable and hard to come by, it's why  ranks matter, like you said."

I  shook my head, this was all good info but I couldn't help but cut him  off. "Ok fine, but we're getting off topic, what does Impact have to do  with why I was able to reach H faster than other candidates? I only had  one point of it, and I only have two now, which from what you said is  pretty standard for someone at my rank. Once again I would think any of  the other candidates could do the same."

Zeke  just rolled his eyes. "As usual you don't listen to anything that comes  out of my mouth. I just told you the thing that makes someone and  Ascendant is having a point in Impact. Nothing else. Most Ascendant's  have maybe one or two stats to start, Impact included. That massively  limits the type of wishes they can grant. Without Vitality you can't  grant wishes involving life or healing or even food. Without Creation  you can't make objects. Without Focus you can't affect the mind."

My  eyes widened at that. "Wait, then why the fuck do I have a point in so  many stats." I paused. "Is this all the stats?" He nodded and I exhaled,  relieved if only so I didn't have more things to keep track of. "Ok, so  why exactly do I have so many stats? I assumed having one in everything  was just standard. Also you said that the stats you pick can change how  your power works, wouldn't only having specific stats steer people in  one direction or another."

He  gave me an approving nod. "Very good. Yes. But not too heavily. You  don't pick stats, you gain them based on great deeds, as I'm sure you've  seen. You can do a deed that will get you a point of Might without  having a Might based power, it's just harder. If you want to gain points  in a stat you don't have it can be tough but there are ways. Most  people however end up being guided by what they have. As for why you  have a point in everything..."

There  was genuine hesitation in his eyes for the first time since any of this  started, but he eventually sighed and just came out with it. "A  person's stat allocation has a lot to do with who and what their parents  are. Your father is in the A rank, which would have given you a solid  chance of getting at least a point in all his highest stats, but those  are all mental or etheral stats. Your mother however, has a physical  power, so you got your points in those stats from her."

I  just gaped at him. "Wait...Mom had powers?" I paused, thinking back.  "You used the present tense. Mom is alive? You told me she was gone. You  said she was...in a better place." I glared at him. "If you meant she  was literally in a place that's better than this one I'm going to shiv  you in the kidney. What the actual fuck Zeke? Who says something like  that to a kid about his own mother?"

My  uncle sighed, rubbing his temples, and he looked genuinely tired. "Your  mother is...complicated. Let's leave it at that. Treat this like one of  those thing's you aren't strong enough to know yet." I opened my mouth  and he cut me off sharply. "No. No arguments. This is an order from your  old man and I'm not going to gainsay him. She isn't around, she doesn't  especially want to be around. Leave it at that for now. You can find  out more later."

That  was bullshit, and I was genuinely pissed about it, but I also knew Zeke  well enough to know that he wouldn't tell me if he said he wasn't going  to. Arguing was just going to make both of us angry. I would find out  more about my Mother on my own somehow. The thought that she was alive  was just mind blowing to me. I'd made peace with her death as a kid, so  having the wound poked at now wasn't exactly pleasant.

Not  to mention she was apparently alive and didn't want to be here? I  locked that pain firmly in a box and very carefully turned my attention  to what was currently going on. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath,  exhaling slowly as I tried to shove aside abandonment issues I hadn't  even had before. Now was not the time. I opened my eyes to find Zeke  smiling sadly at me. I got back to business. "So is it safe for me to do  the intake after I get the obfuscator? Since I ranked up?"

He  seemed relieved to have something else to focus on. "Oh sure. Some  people are born with more than one point in one or more stats. Your  parents were pretty evenly distributed across the ones they used, but S  ranks who hyper focus can have kids with a starting stat of three or  four in their chosen specialization. It's not common but people who hit H  before the intake DO happen, and they usually get pretty heavily  scouted."

I  frowned at that, but he cut me off. "Before you ask no, they won't look  into who your parents are. It's something of a taboo. Talented kids are  hard to find and most high ranked people travel all over anyway. There  have been too many cases of powerful Ascendants coming back for revenge  when some local force used their kids badly, it's generally considered  an unwritten rule to treat kids like that well."

I  sighed at that. At least that was one worry off my chest. I opened my  mouth to ask another question but Zeke cut me off. "No more. This is all  I can do for you for now. I'm already pushing the limits of what I'm  allowed to say. The intake will answer several questions you have and  some you haven't even thought to ask yet. Just focus on getting the  money for your obfuscator because the longer you go without registering  the more likely you'll be noticed."

He  turned his back to me, returning to his previous task as he picked up  the mask he'd been working on and went back to painting. As he did so  though he bumped the unfinished mask with his elbow, pushing it towards  me in a way that might have almost seemed accidental if I didn't know  better. I smiled, understanding his intentions and picking the mask back  up as I turned to leave. This chat left me with more questions than  answers, but some answers were better than none. The only thing left to  do was the same thing I'd been doing. Go out and grant some wishes.