Wish upon the Stars chapter 2 pt 3

The next few day saw me going over my gains. Five hundred thousand  credits, five minor skills (guitar, singing, swimming, gymnastics, and  cooking) and while that was absolutely amazing I was forced to face that  fact that Doom Sovereign wasn't going to be enough. I scowled at my  account five hundred and forty thousand credits would put a dent in the  cost for my obfuscator but it wouldn't pay it off, and the number of  customers who could pay cash was pretty low to start with. People  willing to make a wish to a mysterious character in a game were  desperate, and usually broke.

I  needed to approach clients in a more physical sense, but going out in  my current identity was dangerous. The issue was that making my cape  identity now might help me avoid getting caught but it would also draw  attention. I still wasn't sure why exactly people used cape identities,  but it seemed like all of them did, I assumed it was something they  encouraged in intake so I'd just learn more about it there. Still, I  needed some way to pass myself off as someone else...my eyes widened and  I hopped up, bolting from my game room.

I  ran down the hall to Zeke's workroom and found one of his unfinished  masks, snatching it up. When my fingers traced over the smooth white  porcelain I could feel the faint stirring of power, but it faded away  pretty quickly. I'd kind of assumed that might be the case, which was  why I picked one that wasn't finished. I didn't know what these masks  were but my Uncle's goons all wore them and they were Wish Curse Palace  enforcers so I could only assume they did something impressive.

Luckily  whatever that was this one didn't seem to do it yet, which was exactly  what I wanted. I bolted back to my room and dug through my closet to  find a suit before heading for the bathroom to get changed. Five minutes  later I stood in front of my mirror staring at someone who look a lot  like a WCP goon. It was perfect. If I went out like this I could operate  freely without impacting my cape identity or getting hassled by local  thugs. Plus anything crazy I did would just be chalked up to WCP  weirdness and wouldn't come back to bit me later.

Big  forces like the WCP had resources normal people couldn't dream of.  Doing amazing things was par for the course for them. Before I headed  out though I decided to double check my stats. I hadn't noticed another  boost like the last one but then again I wasn't always paying too much  attention. Better safe than sorry.

Wishmaster  candidate status. I-rank. Ability: Minor Wish- Three times a day grant a  minor 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. Current statistics:
Might-1
Impact-1
Fantasy-2
Vitality-1
Focus-1
Perception-1
Creation-1

Skills:  Lesser Doom Sovereign Mastery, Minor Piano Mastery, Minor Cooking  Mastery, Minor Gymnastics Mastery, Minor Swimming Mastery, Minor Guitar  Mastery, Minor Singing Mastery

No  new stat points unfortunately, but hey, that two in fantasy mean I  could grant wishes that required up to six in that stat, which was  pretty damn good. Any boost to my other stats represented a doubling at  this point so hopefully I would see some more of them go up when I was  operating in person. I still wasn't sure about the specifics of how or  what caused stats to rise but from what Zeke said it was a good thing.  Fantasy seemed like a solid place to focus for me too, given what my  powers did, so I was off to a good start.

I  debated calling Benny, but I kind of just wanted to go out now, so I  figured I'd catch him up on it later. Instead I headed down to get on  the bus and made my way to the The Night Market. The Night Market, as  most people in the city could tell you, was sort of a lesser version of  the WCP. As shown when we entered you need to have an invite or a card  to get into the WCP plus be an Ascendant. Normal humans need not apply.  The Night Market was the attempt by the local normal criminals to put  together something similar for themselves.

The  Market was endorsed by the three big crime lords in the city, the Queen  of Hearts, The Nobody Man, and Mr. Jack-tastic (yes that was his actual  name, and yes everyone knew it was stupid, but no one was willing to  speak up after what he did to the first person to mention it). Most of  their underlings were normal people, with only a few Ascendants on the  payroll, so they did most of their trading at The Market, selling off  illegal goods and fencing stolen items. Unlike the WCP The Night Market  was NOT ignored by the city, so it moved pretty often and was raided  even more.

Luckily  Zack, Benny's sister's scumbag boyfriend, was a member of the Queen of  Heart's criminal organization, and I had his number. A quick text was  enough to find The Night Market location for tonight, and to be  reassured it had just moved and that it normally took a few days for  them to bust it up again. With that confirmation I made my way downtown  to the warehouse district, taking the bus to the edge of the area and  taking to my feet to head in the direction of the abandoned meat packing  factory tonight's Market was in.

I'd  noticed as I rode the bus that I got a lot of strange looks, mostly  because WCP enforcers on public transport were an uncommon sight. I  decided to hoof it the last leg of the journey in the interest of  preserving my mystique for any clients I might meet, since someone might  have seen me getting off the bus if I got too close and taken me less  seriously. As I got closer I had to admit I was a bit nervous. The WCP  was one thing, but to an extent that was a controlled environment, they  did crazy things there, sure, but they also had rules for the most part,  and I'd been with Benny.

This  time I was alone, and The Night Market was run by some of the craziest  criminals in the city. Granted Valen was only a first grade city, one of  about a dozen on Callus. The local WCP branch would have probably been  much lower quality if Zeke didn't live here with me. Thinking about it,  it seemed obvious to me that it should have been in the capital, but I  was so use to only thinking about Valen I never bothered to question it.  Regardless my current disguise should protect me while I was here, so I  just had to focus on finding clients and getting some wishes made.

When  I finally reached the Market I looked around to try to see where I  should start. The Market was divided into three sections. On one side  the Queen of Heart's goons were dressed in mostly suits and masks like I  was, but where my mask was a painted porcelain theirs were all carved  for the most part with only a bit of paint. It occurred to me that they  might have based that look of Zeke's masks, since he was clearly a big  deal for some reason. Regardless the difference between us was still  obvious at a glance and I saw several uneasy gazes land on me as I  walked in, while they went ignored.

The  Nobody Man's Nobody Men who all wore grey hoods and drab gray clothes,  were distinctive enough, and the occupied a decent chunk of the middle  section of the Market, standing oddly still, their only movement the  turning of their hooded heads to scan the place. The last faction was  Mr. Jack-tastic's Jack-tastic Jerks. They all wore right black leather  pants and no shirts, with big eccentric letter J's hanging from garish  gold chains around their necks. Their hair was all up in mohawks like  their leader and was died a variety of bright colors. They covered their  faces with bandana's that matched their hair colors.

Without  acknowledging any of them (because no WCP enforcer would care about  petty local gangs based on what I'd seen of them) I made my way over to  an empty table nearby. It was in the Queen of Heart's sections, since I  figured maybe sharing the mask schtick would make them less likely to  fuck with me. The table, one of dozens that had been set up around the  outside of the plant, was probably here for someone who hadn't arrived  yet, but since I was playing the badass I ignored that and just turned  on the adjustable lit sign hanging from the front.

I carelessly scrawled Wishes for Sale across the touch pad connected to the sign and confirmed, sitting back  in the folding chair behind the table as my message was broadcast to the  entire Market, trying my best to look bored and confident while my eyes  roamed around behind my mask looking for threats. The porcelain was  somehow one way, so I could see despite the lack of eye holes. I wasn't  sure if that was a native feature or something Zeke did with his  painting but it clearly wasn't what these masks were actually supposed  to do since I had felt that fizzle when I put it on.

So  I sat. And waited. And waited. And kept waiting. And just when I was  almost positive the Wish Curse Palace's reputation was too fearsome and  I'd accidentally shot myself in the foot with this whole disguise  someone finally came up. Two someone's actually. One was a tall beefy  man with purple hair wearing the signature outfit of the Jack-Tastic  Jerks, and the other was a small girl with red hair and freckles wearing  a midriff baring top and a pair of low slung black jeans. They looked  nervous as they approached.

Despite  their clear discomfort the big man put on a macho attitude. "Hey, ah?  You one of those Wish Curse guys? I didn't know youse guys did the wish  thing in public. So you say for sale, what kind of price we talking  here?" His voice was fast and intense, like he was trying to avoid the  nervousness by rushing through his pitch. When I didn't respond he  swallow, clearly a bit flustered. "Well, my girl here, Maddie, she's  been sick lately. Lung rot, but she don't have the cash for the fancy  medical cabins they use to treat it. We been saving, but we can pay you  what we have if you can fix it. So...I wish her lungs were healed?"

Ascendant Wish detected. Grant wish? Compensation may be paid in stat points. I  blinked. Wait...fucking what? I swallowed hard at that. That was...kind  of a big deal. I'd only gotten one stat point so far, and from what I  could tell just from searching online raising stats was hard. Zeke had  even implied it was how you were supposed to rank up, which meant being  able to just CHARGE stat points was crazy. I focused on the wish. Stat points sufficient. Requirements: 3 Vitality, 3 Impact, 3 Creation. Compensation required. I nodded to him, my pulse racing as I thought over what to do.

I  tried to make my voice sound flat and intimidating like the guys at the  WCP had when they brought me to my Uncle. "I can help her." I kept my  voice low. "But to save a life, life must be exchanged. Not a full life,  but a portion. Will you sacrifice a portion of your life to save hers?  You will recover in time." I figured Vitality would be the best bet for  something like this, mostly since it was the only stat I actually  understood. Or thought I did. Life force right? And this huge ass guy  had to have a bunch. He swallowed again but nodded, and I felt the  electric charge begin to tingle across my skin. I loved my powers  sometimes.