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 an 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,and it gets progressively harder the higher it goes. 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 an Ascendant is having a point in Impact. Nothing else. Most Ascendants have maybe one or two stats to start, Impact included. That massively limits the type of wishes most candidates 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 ethereal 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.

Naturally the first thing I did after this storm of revelations was go and talk to Benny. I texted him to meet me at the park and hopped a bus down there, stashing my suit and mask in the bag. I would eventually need to get an actual costume once I did the intake, but establishing a brand now (so to speak) was going to link me to my current actions and might give the Unity some clues about what my powers actually were.

He stayed quiet as I told him the details of what I'd learned, nodding at appropriate times. Still, once I finished he nodded. "Well, guess that explains why giving me a power would have been so difficult. Zeke said doing things with Impact would be crazy expensive right? Plus considering Impact is so hard to raise I bet each point is harder and harder to get. Still, good to know how all of this works at least."

I didn't mention my Mom. I didn't want to talk about that, especially now when I was too weak to do anything about it. I'd fill him in once I could look into it more, until then it was just too real. I mentally shook off my reverie and focused on Benny again. "So. What the hell do I do next? The thing is, places like The Night Market and Doom Sovereign can help me get more wishes sure, but the people there are mostly desperate. They don't have the cash I need."

Benny stroked his chin in thought, a habit I thought looked ridiculous since he didn't have a beard, but one he said he would grow into because his dad had. Still, it was his thinking pose, so I just shut up and waited, and sure enough his eyes lit up after a minute of thought. "Hey, our big issue was your identity right? Well with your new mask you don't need to worry so much about that, so why not go somewhere a little more high class? How about Vengiello's?"

My eyes lit up too. That was an interesting thought. Vengiello's was...well the only way to describe it was the world's most expensive swap meet. This world I supposed, but still, it was a weird place. If The Night Market was where the criminals gathered to hock their goods, Vengiello's was where the elite went to put their wares on display. The issue was I didn't know if I could get in, much less have a chance to set up a display counter there. I mentioned as much to Benny.

Benny waved me off. "First of all, who do you think I am? Half the things on sale at that place are rare gems and minerals, I'm basically royalty there. Second of all, you're wearing the mask now remember? Nobody who does business chases out the WCP. If the Palace shows up at your trading event you shut up and let them work. Plus, same as at The Night Market I doubt it'll draw attention. While it's not common the Wishmaster DOES sell wishes, setting up a booth should be fine."

I nodded at that. It was one of the main reasons I felt safe with the table at The Night Market. Some poking around about the WCP online had turned up plenty of thing's I hadn't known before. One of those was the the Wish ability wasn't some big secret, just the opposite, half the WCP's power came from social status given by people who wanted to be in good with the Wishmaster. Because of this, he'd created a method to sell wishes in order to provide the service to interested parties without being forced to be a workhorse.

If I'd had to guess I would have assumed it worked like me granting wishes through Doom Sovereign. Using a medium or in some notable cases an emissary to create a link between that would let him grant the wishes from a distance. The point was, this created a sort of abundant scarcity of wishes in the Palace. Everyone wanted them, they could be anywhere, but no one had them, so when they showed up no one questioned it.

Reflecting on it the entire system could very well have been set up to enable candidates like me to move unhindered in the universe without drawing undue attention before we were ready. It was one of the many things I'd never heard about the WCP and the world of Ascendants before becoming one. The vast majority of the population had no clue how Ascendant things worked and mostly just knew the stories about the big names that got around via the media and urban legend. It was staggering how much information was there if you knew to look for it.

In the end I decided Vengiello's was our best bet for quick cash. I could grant four wishes a day now with Lesser Wish, and despite the actual scale of those wishes not being changed I had many more stats to work with. Since my power let me grant any wish I could accomplish in the span of three days, essentially tripling my effective stats for wish granting, even a single point could be a game changer, especially that point of Impact, which I now knew was the most important factor.

I got changed into my temporary costume and Benny pulled up a number on his scan ring, shooting out a text as we waited for a car to pick us up. Benny wasn't a fan of using the driving service his parents employed, but since Vengiello's was such a high class place we couldn't really arrive by bus. The ride was smooth and quick, and by the time we got to Vengiello's I'd already made my mental preparations and put on the mental mask I wore to go with the physical one sitting on my face.

As we climbed out of the car, that persona was the only thing that kept me from whistling at the venue where Vengiello's put on it's daily trade fair. The locations of The Night Market and Vengiello's were, of course, like night and day. Where The Night Market was a cramped secluded gathering of the scum of the city, Vengiello's was elegant and refined. It was in one of the Garden Terraces, beautiful curated parks within city limits meant to preserve some the natural beauty of Callus inside the sprawling metropolis that was Valen.

The sparkling white manor house that hosted Vengiello's was situated in a picturesque meadow located in one of the seven or so Garden Terraces. The grass was all specially designed to grow to a uniform length, with some small variation in height to make it look more natural and blended, various wildflowers were dispersed artfully through the field around the manor, with cute little woodland creatures frolicking at strategic places and gorgeous butterflies touching down on the wildflowers.

In short, it was the least fake looking fake paradise imaginable. It also provided a perfect back drop for the manor house, a sprawling edifice of white wood and gold veined white marble columns that looked like a mashup of a sort of ancient temple complex and an old style mansion. The result was elegant and refined and fit perfectly into place in the meadow, clearly having been designed with the location in mind.

Benny stepped up next to me, giving me a grudging nod. "Yeah, it's pretty nice. I used to come here with my dad as a kid. He likes to keep a presence here because of all the precious stones and rare metals that show up. Just to remind everyone that the Miner's union keeps an eye on it's assets. He would bring Mom and me and talk shop while I played with the other rich kids. Once I transferred to your childcare I lost touch with most of them and stopped coming." He had a fond smile on his face, but his eyes looked a bit sad. "I miss when I thought things like this were fun."

I winced. Benny's mother had a very specific idea of what she wanted her family to be, and pushing that idea had alienated both her children. Not that I hated Amber or anything, she was a nice lady, but she was obsessed with image and neither Maria nor Benny cared much for it. I knew when he was younger Benny didn't mind his mother's kingmaking as much, but as he got older he started feeling like a show dog. It was part of the reason he started spending time with me at the start.

I clapped him on the shoulder. "Hey, it's cool man. New adventure remember. We just need to focus on getting stronger. You already know my old man brought his best friend with him when he came up, we've got big things headed our way." He chuckled a bit closing his eyes and taking a deep breath before raising his head and giving a blinding smile. Like flicking a switch he went from being upset and nostalgic to his public persona of charming screw up. I rolled my eyes as we headed inside. Clearly he was fine if he could still put on a show.

We strolled up to the door and the tuxedo clad man standing near the entrance nodded graciously to us as we approached. He obviously recognized Benny because he didn't stop us at all. As we stepped inside Benny led us down a long elegant hallway with white painted walls and white and gold carpets. Gorgeous tables and paintings lined the hall and displayed all sorts of beautiful images and designs to the glitterati as they made their way towards the main hall where the trade fair was held.

Benny saw me looking and smirked. "They put this stuff out here to get people thinking about their values and wondering where they came from. Being so curious puts them in a prime mood to buy things or to try to sniff out deals when they get inside." I nodded, getting his logic there. It was a sneaky way to advertise, but in another sense it was pretty up front. 'These thing's are fancy. Don't you want fancy thing's to put in YOUR hallways?'.

Still, none of it tempted me at all, I just ignored it, not even tempted by the fancy bric-a-brac. I was pretty proud of myself for my immunity to the temptation, but that feeling pretty much vanished as we reached the entrance to the show room and my breath caught in my throat. I'd been around Benny long enough to be mostly inured to the presence of shiny things. Or so I had thought. The endless array of wealth on display in Vengiello's made me salivate slightly as I thought about my own money needs.

Benny chuckled when he saw me freeze and patted me on the back. "Yeah I know, it's a bit much the first time. Just breathe." His eyes raked over beautiful carved wooden display tables and elegantly engraved glass cases with a sense of dismissive boredom. Everywhere I looked were an endless array of items. Some useless and odd like a globe made of precious gems, some dangerous like a particularly menacing hooked dagger. Some were just carved statues or pieces of art that sat around looking pretty and obviously had no other function.

I walked almost dazedly towards a nearby table and ran my fingers across the glass panels that had been placed over a sectioned display of gemstones on a deep crimson velvet cushion. The place only had gems, and they were all huge and intricate and gorgeous. I saw a sapphire the size of a fist and a diamond that looked like you could hatch a bird from it. None of that however was of any special interest to me. No, my eyes were drawn to an inconspicuous ruby sitting at the corner of the case, about the size of an eye. A ruby that I could sense contained a power I was very familiar with. A ruby that gave off the sensation of Might.

I hadn't expected to see a rock with stats. I knew that other ascendants had them, but I'd kind of expected them to be human specific. I reached down to open the case, picking up the ruby to feel it's smooth surface. Vengiello's wasn't the kind of place a thief could get away from easily, so touching was allowed as long as the goods weren't too delicate. The man in the beret behind the table didn't stop me as I rolled the stone in my fingers, trying to get a sense for what it was.

The ruby was hot to the touch. Not consistently hot but pulsing, like it was alive. I stared at it for a minute straight before the man's voice broke my reverie. "Ah, an Ascendant, I should have guessed from the mask. It's a beauty isn't it? It's a Blood Emerald. Rare to find one of those with a Might attunement. They're usually attuned to Vitality. It's a bit on the small side, but the purity is top notch. Are you thinking of using it in a crafting project or alchemy?"

My head cocked in confusion. "I...don't know. Honestly I'm sort of new to all this, I didn't know there were gems with stat points in them. How does that even happen?" How could a rock perform a great deed? That was the only way I knew of to naturally gain stats. I was also curious about alchemy, but I didn't want to come across as too uneducated here, so I bit my tongue and let the man answer.

He smiled. "Ah, fresh meat. Fair enough. It isn't complicated. While humans Ascend through great deeds there are certain animals, plants, and materials that are born or form with Impact. The process of accumulating stats is usually much slower for plants and minerals, but given their timescale it does happen. These objects can be used in crafting to make amazing objects of power or in alchemy to create potions and medicines that can do a variety of things, some even give stats directly."

Which kind of explained how crafters raised their power. I doubted the old 'make a million iron daggers' standby would cut it when gaining power required renown. Very few people would become famous by being a walking assembly line. I reluctantly passed the Blood Emerald back and the man set it back in the case, looking disappointed. "Shame, selling that has been a bit of a trial. Callus doesn't have many who can utilize Ascended materials."

I raised an eyebrow, not that he could see it under my mask. "Can't you just take it to the WCP to sell?" The Valen branch of the Wish Curse Palace was way ahead of where it should be because Zeke and I lived here. I still wasn't sure what rank my Uncle actually was, but he'd mentioned smiting E ranks like I'd talk about a stroll in the park, not to mention he was a Deacon, so he had to be pretty strong.

The man actually laughed. "I'm not a fool friend. I'm no Ascended, even if I sometimes deal with them, and that place is not for mortals. The politics in the Wish Curse Palace are complicated and I value my life too much to swim in such murky waters." He cast an embarrassed glance at my mask and suit. "Not that an Ascended such as yourself would have a reason to worry, it's just not the place for me." He shrugged. "In any case feel free to stop by if you have the money to buy it, I doubt anyone here will snatch it up any time soon."

We smiled and thanked the man, but moved on. As we walked the dazzling show room I couldn't help noticing the various materials and items. I couldn't tell from a distance if any were Ascended artifacts but I also couldn't help but wonder. The concept of making objects with powers was too exciting. I resolved to do some research on crafting and alchemy when I had time. Maybe I could ask Zeke about it, since he was obviously a crafter.

We wandered back to an almost empty table, and Benny stepped up to talk quietly with a man there, passing him one of the small disposable chips people used that came preloaded with a specific amount of credits. The man nodded and stood up to leave. Benny gave me a winning smile and gestured to the table."Ok man, let's get set up.I kind of want to see the wish thing from the outside. Plus if I charge a finders fee for hooking these people up maybe I can get enough credits to wish for another steak. That ribeye haunts me."

I chuckled at that and sat down at the table, reaching into the bag I was carrying in case I needed to change to pull out a marker and a dry erase board. I wrote 'wishes for sale, credits only' and winced at the messy handwriting. Being left handed was always a pain. I really needed to get a calligraphy or handwriting skill from someone. I was a wishmaster candidate, being able to write well was just a matter of pride.

Still, it wasn't unreadable or anything, so I set it out at the front of the table, propped up by the little stand on the back so everyone could see it an waited. I was honestly pretty excited. I doubted any of the mortals near here would have any wishes I couldn't grant, except maybe wishing for an ability. Plus my power worked based on a fair exchange and they were all stupidly rich, so what they would think was fair for a wish might be pretty high.

I knew if I played my cards right I would be able to gather all five million for the obfuscator and maybe even have enough left over for that ruby. Hell I might be able to afford the ruby with the five hundred grand I had now, but I wasn't willing to spend money that might make the difference in getting my obfuscator so I'd have to wait and see. Hopefully I had enough left over.

The first person to come up to us was a middle aged man. He had dark hair with silver at the temples, dark skin, and piercing blue eyes and he sat down at the chair Benny had dragged over to the other side of the table calmly. His demeanor was aloof and proud but not arrogant or overbearing, and when he spoke, it was reserved. "My name is Dalton Weathers. Have you heard of me?" I shook my head and he smiled wryly. "I suppose that's to be expected, regardless Benicio can tell you of my reputation."

He nodded to Benny, using my friend's full name in a way not many did except his mother. Benny nodded back, confirming this guy was alright, and I almost shrugged. It was nice to know he wasn't a monster, but that wasn't why I was here. Still, the interaction seemed to put Dalton at ease. "I'm here to wish for more time. I have bone cancer. Terminal." He nodded to a man I hadn't noticed standing behind him and the second man put a case on the table.

Dalton opened the case, showing me dozens of chips all neatly set into slots in black foam. "This is the take home from my sales for the week. I usually scan them all into my accounts all at once. There's two hundred and fifty thousand credits in this case. I offer it as payment, and I wish my cancer was cured." The familiar tingle started to build in my skin, and those same purple words of flame scrawled across my vision.

Wish detected. Grant wish?

I confirmed.

Stat points sufficient. Requirement: 5 Vitality, 3 Impact, 3 Creation. Compensation insufficient.

I sighed and shook my head. "Your offering is of insufficient value. The price of your wish is much higher." I expected him to be angry at me for gouging him, but the WCP had a reputation for fairness and impartiality, as well as for being intractable. If the Wish Curse Palace said it cost more, then it cost more. Simple as that.

He did frown, but more in worry than anger. He turned to the man who had put the case on the table and started to whisper, before turning back. "I don't carry more on me, do you take direct credit transfers?" I nodded and held out my first, and he breather a sigh of relief. "Very well, that makes things easier. I'll increase my payment by a factor of ten. Two point five million credits should be enough, yes?" His blue eyes burned with hope, and I noticed the laugh lines at the corners. He smiled often, he seemed like a nice guy.

I felt my power spark and knew his offering was accepted as fair compensation. I nodded and he reached out to bump my scan ring with his, transferring the credits directly. Direct transfers worked on a local network that didn't save data so they were untraceable. I could perform the trade with no danger to myself. With that complete I nodded at Benny to take the case and confirmed the wish.

The usual light show started up, though the subtle sparks of electricity were hidden by my suit and mask. Dalton, however, wasn't so lucky. His eyes did light up as usual, but curing a terminal disease wasn't the same thing as giving a skill. This was a true Vitality altering wish, and I was about to see just what that meant. The purple light in his eyes started to flicker out in small arcs of electricity and the power started to flow through his veins in a visible way.

Every vein stood out in sharp, glowing relief against his ebony skin as his body locked up in a near seizure and he toppled sideways out of his chair to be caught by his valet. His body stayed ramrod stiff, shaking uncontrollably in tight, stiff jerks as the the power wiped away his illness and the very force of creation repaired the damage to his internal organs and bones. After about ten minutes he finally settled down, body relaxing.

His immaculate grey suit was stained with blood and sweat and some kind of muck that had come out of his pores in a similar fashion to Maddie throwing up her lung rot. He looked haggard and sore, but his face had a beaming smile on it as his assistant helped him up. He reached out to shake my hand. "Thank you, thank you so much. I thought I was dead. Thank you."

Honestly I was pretty sure his lack of Impact was the only reason I'd been able to do it, but I was glad to help. Cancer was one of those things you needed high level medical tech to treat, and there weren't any mad scientists on Callus who specialized in medical equipment. The man thanked me profusely for another few minutes, but eventually had to go. The difficulty of the process had drained him and he needed to get home.

His valet helped him out, letting the old man lean on him as he helped him out of the room. Benny gave me a nod. "Dalton really is good people. That was a solid thing you did. I know his daughter, she's a sweet girl. She'd have been devastated to lose him." I nodded, because in my mask it was impossible to see me smile, but I was pretty happy with the result. I'd been so enraptured I'd barely felt my own own exhaustion during the process.

I turned my eyes back to the table to see the show had caught the attention of several other interested parties and they had all lined up to speak to me. I only had three wishes left though. I turned to whisper to Benny and my friend listened to what I had to say before stepping up. "Ladies and gentlemen my friend only has three more wishes for sale. From this point we will commence an auction format. Highest bid makes a wish, and you get your money back if it's beyond the scope of the wishes we have in our possession." He grinned at the crowd. "So. who's going to start the bidding."

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. His only nod to personality seemed to be a brightly colored silk tie, and his voice was crisp and precise as he spoke. "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.

Jessie and I followed behind the humorless man in the suit as he led us further into the back of the first floor and then up some stairs. As we began walking up I noted that the stairs looped around and that the steps beneath us were crystal clear. I doubted they were glass, since no one seemed to be looking up at us, but still looking down on the various floors as we climbed the spiral staircase was wild.

Jessie was clinging to my arm as we walked, clearly torn between worry at the heights and awe at what we were seeing. I got where she was coming from honestly, not seeing a floor under your feet was deeply unsettling. Still it really was amazing seeing all the Ascendants gather together, talking and training and eating, as we passed training rooms and art galleries and cafes, all built into various floors of this grand imposing building. After about a half hour though I started to get suspicious and asked the humorless man. "Excuse me? Is this building bigger on the inside?"

The man turned, his angular features just as dour, but with a gleam of approval in his eyes. "Well spotted. Most don't notice that for another few floors. Yes, the inside of the building far exceeds the outside in scope. That's why in private, members of the Unity call this place the Tower. It goes up quite a ways, though we won't be heading to the top. The evaluator is on the fifteenth floor. We used to use live scanners for the tests, but once a standardized machine was created we switched, different scanning methods have different standards after all."

Seemingly having decided that was all I really needed to hear he resumed his climb without any warning or sign he was ending the conversation. Cheery guy. I looked at Jessie, who was getting less excited and more unsettled the higher we went. I bumped her with my shoulder to get her attention. "Hey, you ok? We're good you know. These stairs are solid as a rock even if they don't look it. We'd be able to feel if they had some give. Plus this is the Unity, no way their stuff just falls apart out of nowhere." I paused. "Actually hold on, hey suit guy, can you give us the crash course while we walk?"

The humorless man paused momentarily, not bothering to look at me but eventually nodding. "Yes, I suppose starting the lesson early would be beneficial to our schedule. Very well. We will begin, as they say, at the beginning, Before we perform your registration, the most commonly asked questions are regarding what the seven statistics actually are, and what effects they have."

He took on a lecturing tone, and I could tell he'd given this speech more than a few times. "The easiest place to start, of course, is Impact. Impact is the influence you have on reality, it is what makes you special, makes you unique. Everyone has Impact to some extent, but those who lack a sufficient value for their Impact to be quantified as being one point fall outside the sphere of legendary cultivation, and are not eligible to be Ascendants, barring unforeseen circumstances or intervention from a higher power."

Everyone was paying attention now, and though I knew this I was still interested in exactly how the Unity saw Impact, and in any details Zeke had left out. The humorless man continued. "Impact is a VERY difficult stat to raise, most statistics grow through the performance of Great Deeds, but Impact is a stat that almost exclusively rises during rank up. The other methods that are known can only be met with by chance, and not planned. Impact is the stat that governs how difficult you are to damage, those who are less real have a harder time harming you. This is rank suppression."

I'd known most of that, but it was a pretty succinct explanation and gave me a bit more insight than what Zeke had told me. The man moved on. "Next we will talk about Vitality. Vitality is not, as some suspect 'health'. While a high Vitality does indeed make you harder to kill, Vitality IS life force. Not just your own, but what you have at your disposal. Healers, Summoners, and certain kinds of Crafters all use Vitality to do their work. To give or restore life is to utilize Vitality."

That I actually hadn't know, and thinking about it I'd been confused about a bunch of the stats, so I paid close attention as he went on. "Creation is the manifestation of something from disparate elements or from pure power. It is not making something from nothing, which is impossible, but rather the shift of possible to factual. Conjurers, and again Summoners and certain kinds of Crafters, make frequent use of creation."

He paused in his recitation to turn and look at us. "As you might have noted these stats often overlap. All powers contain elements of several of these things if not all of them. They are the building blocks of your abilities and the forces that govern your life as an ascendant. The statistics you excel in will govern the direction and form of your ability should you choose to leave it in it's base state." He stopped that train of thought, waving it away. "That will be for later. Moving on."

He resumed his trek up the stairs and picked up his explanation again. "Focus, one of the most misunderstood of the stats that govern us. Focus is not, as some would have you believe, intelligence. It does not give you more knowledge. Focus sharpens and enhances your mind, it allows you to think faster and remember more clearly. Mad Scientists, Mentalists, and nearly every kind of complex crafter makes good use of Focus."

His enthusiasm noticeably dipped as he moved on to the next stat, clearly trying not to sneer. "Might. Might is one of the crudest and most direct statistics. Might governs the use of force, traditionally involving the body. Many direct combat Ascendants utilize might to empower their strikes, lift more weight, or generally inflict damage with their bodies. It is considered one of the easiest stats to raise, as Might is one of the most obvious stats and leaves the most overt impression."

I could tell he wanted to say more, but he swallowed it down, forcing himself to move on. "Fantasy, the most nebulous of the stats. Fantasy governs as it's name implies, the fantastic. It is often used for illusions, or to provide a framework through which Creation might work. Fantasy is an important tool for any sort of Conjurer or Summoner as well as Illusionists. It's surprisingly easier to raise because of the sense of wonder Ascendants inspire, and is the bedrock upon which many abilities are built."

The last one seemed to be the most important to him, and he spoke reverently as he informed of us of its function. "And finally, the last of the seven. Perception. Perception governs your sense of the world around you. Many finer and more detailed manipulations of power require Perception. It allows you to understand not only your own abilities but the abilities and traits of others, and is, in my humble estimation, one of the most important and underestimated statistics."

Having reached the end of the list, he gave us one last warning about stats. "As I mentioned, none of these can be overlooked. Your growth in statistics will govern the details of how your powers function, some more than others. Abilities that utilize all of the building blocks will be slower to change and be less profoundly affected. But acquiring and raising stats that don't pertain to your ability can irrevocably alter how your power functions, so be careful the impression you leave. Ascendant cultivation is one of renown and legend, the stories you inspire will change you irreversibly."

That I had known, though I wasn't aware powers like mine that used them all were more resistant to that change. I supposed it did make sense though. My pondering was cut off however, as we finally reached the top of the steps. The man, who still hadn't bothered to give us his damn name, stopped on one side of the spiral staircase at one of the crystalline, nearly invisible walls, and fished out a key, sliding it into a keyhole we couldn't even see. He gave it a turn, and with a sharp click an old fashioned banded wooden door with an old style iron lock shimmered into place before us.

The door swung inward, and he led us into a stone room that looked like the lab of every magic user from every fantasy story I'd ever read. The place was a full on wizards tower, with wooden tables covered in bubbling cauldrons and beakers, and crystal balls sitting on plush pillows showing strange scenes that cast their flickering lights on jars of unusual and disturbing ingredients. Our guide rolled his eyes as we stepped into the room. "Oh for the sake of the Revenant, Beaker! Get out here you lunatic!"

A man stepped out of a back room, carrying a glass box of what looked like free floating eyeballs suspended in gelatin. He seemed to be ignoring us, but when he caught sight of the group he stopped, blinking owlishly at us from behind a pair of half moon glasses. Beaker, it turned out, was dressed in a set of dark blue robes, with a set of scholarly spectacles as mentioned before and sparkling blue eyes. He was also probably twenty, and looked like he was trying WAY too hard to appear as a wise old wizard.

Our humorless escort was scowling at the younger man. "Beaker, we have a registration to complete today. Why the guildmaster allows you to keep this place outfitted like some medieval laboratory I'll never known, but the least you could do is clean up a bit for prospective members. Just because you have a Beginner level Enchanting Skill doesn't mean you have to live like some kind of wizard stereotype. It's embarrassing."

Beaker seemed unbothered by the man's ranting and turned to face us. "Oh, wonderful! Guests! please, come inside!" He swept an arm over a table near him, knocking over several glass vials and stands that smashed loudly on the floor, apparently outside his notice. We all looked worriedly at the pile of glass and chemicals and the liquids mixed together and began sparking and letting off weirdly shaped smoke of varying colors.

Beaker seemed to be oblivious to all of it as he set down his box of eyes and ran back into the closet, coming out with a wooden chest bound with strips of bronze. He popped the thing open and pulled out... a screen. The thing was black and futuristic looking, not going with the decor at all, and on either side of it were a pair of handles with black grips. Beaker thrust the scanner into the air triumphantly and turned to us with a grin. "There! Exactly what you needed. Mad Science and Enchanting are more closely linked than people think, so the guildmaster has been letting me study this."

He circled around the table with it, hopping agilely over the puddle of mixed chemicals and glass to stroll over and stand in front of us. He held out the scanner to the closest member of our group. I counted how many were here now that we were stuck together in this room and it turned out to be about twenty. There had seemed like less in the spacious waiting room and on the huge stairs, though admittedly that might have been because I was a bit distracted by the pretty blonde still on my arm. Beaker waved the thing at the closest person. "Well, no reason to dither! Grab on! Your destiny awaits."