The trip to my Uncle's office wasn't long, but it seemed to take more time than I felt it should have because none of us spoke. I was trying to come to grips with the fact that my drunk Uncle was a Deacon of the WCP. Even out here in the boonies we knew what a Deacon was. Specifically the strongest person at a branch, and the leader of that particular Wish Curse Palace. I didn't know what rank you had to be to become a Deacon, mostly because I hadn't known much about ranks before becoming an Ascendant, but considering how powerful the WCP was I was betting it wasn't low.

I considered my text. No information. I was convinced he only sent it because he knew I would recognize the masks anyway. I'd been seeing those things in his workshop for years, painting them was basically all he did when he was home, which looking back wasn't nearly as often as he should've been. I'd always just figured he was out at a bar or something, but to know he'd been down here lording it over a small city full of super powered criminals was kind of crazy. Finally we came to a solid looking wooden door in a building much further into the city and the two goons in the masks stopped.

They gestured at the door, but when we went to walk inside they put an arm out and blocked Benny from going. The taller of the two spoke. "The Deacon only requested you. He stays." I opened my mouth to argue but was cut off. "He stays! Don't worry, he'll be safe out here with us and you can meet back up with him when you come out. The Deacon isn't someone you can see just because you feel like it. You have an invite, he doesn't." His voice was firm but not unkind, so I just nodded, looking uncertainly at Benny.

My best friend leaned against the wall and booted up his scan ring. "Don't worry so much man it's fine. Go on in. I'll just chill out here and catch up on my email, maybe play some tower defense games or something." He winked at me reassuringly and after a brief pause, I nodded and turned to open the door. I half expected them to get it for me, since the door was so nice I was reticent to even touch the thing, but the two goons just took up positions on either side of the entrance facing out, so I could only open it myself and head inside.

To my surprise, the space inside was familiar. Not in the sense that I'd been there before, but rather in the sense that it reminded me of somewhere I went often. It was like a much bigger and more lavish version of my Uncle's workshop. Plush dark red carpet with a workbench off to one side on a plastic mat that would catch wood shavings or drips of paint, with bench itself covered in hanging masks that had yet to dry or were finished and were just waiting to be used.

Off on the opposite corner was a large dark wooden desk, and behind it sat the familiar rumpled form of my Uncle.

Sitting on the desk in front of him was a single bone white mask, with no eyes or mouth, and the Wish Curse Palace logo painted across the front. When he saw me he gave a lazy nod and gestured for me to take the seat across from him. It was jarring seeing him in this setting. Zeke was not what anyone would consider a leader. He was a relatively good looking guy in his early thirties with a permanent five o'clock shadow, rumpled black hair, and bags under his blue eyes.

His clothes were pretty much constantly wrinkled and distressed, though never actually dirty, and he smelled almost constantly of whiskey and cheap pipe tobacco, despite me having literally never seen him smoke. When I sat down he gave me a pleasant smile. "Hey kid. Little late to the party, guess Eli was really dragging his ass on this one. Still, better late than never. I'm guessing you have a lot of shit to ask. Might as well get that out of the way." He gestured for me to ask my questions, but honestly I kind of froze. There were so many, but I knew the one I had to ask first.

I braced myself for the answer. "Is my Dad the Wishmaster?" Despite my own powers and the craziness that had ensued that was the thing that had always been on my mind, because it was just so...unbelievable. What were the chances of that? That my father would be an arch criminal who ruled over the entire universe (or at least a portion of it) and I'd never even noticed. Was I that dense? Even with me being a kid and never seeing him you would think I'd have picked up something. Some sign or hint.

Zeke grinned. "He said you would ask that first. Short answer is no. Long answer is also no, but he was a candidate like you are now. Elijah was one of the top contenders for the position, but his cousin Aiden was the one who ended up getting it. Aiden gets his ability from both sides, that happens sometimes, dual abilities, but it's stupidly rare. The current Wishmaster is considered kind of a monster even by the standards of the Palace. Most people think he's the strongest we've ever had."

I don't know exactly why but that dragged a sigh of relief out of me. Criminal I could handle, but I didn't think I could deal with having missed my own father being one of the Unlucky Thirteen. "So...the candidate thing, does this mean the WCP will provide me with anything I need? Like I know that black card doesn't make everything free or anything but does being in the...what? Line of succession? Give me a discount or anything?" If I could get that obfuscator for nothing I would be pretty psyched for it. Even more so if I could do the same with other things I needed.

Zeke just laughed. "That's always one of the first questions candidates ask. No. If we did that it wouldn't be a competition between candidates, it would be a competition between the branches. Being a candidate does give you access others at your level wouldn't have, but you still have to pay for everything. If you can't build your own reserves with a wish power you don't deserve to inherit the Palace. As both your Guardian and a Deacon I am entitled to intervene if your life is in danger, but only against threats more than two ranks above you, and only until you reach E rank or leave the planet."

I cursed. Yeah, that would have been too easy I supposed. But I had to ask. "What if I don't want to win? Like this whole thing is kind of presupposing that I have any desire to be the Wishmaster. What if I decide to just bow out now? Is there some sort of rule forcing me to participate? What if I lose?" Not that I was sure I wanted to quit. I'd had more fun in the last day or two than I remembered ever having had in my life. But I wasn't a fan of the idea that I was being railroaded into competing in this thing. Another thing occurred to me. "Also why aren't you competing?"

Zeke just shrugged. "If you lose you lose. I told you your old man was a strong contender, and he's fine. You can always quit if you like, there's no real downside to it if you don't want to take over the Palace, though I will say you'll lose your access level and working your way up the hard way will take ages. As for why I'm not competing? I'm not part of the Palace bloodline. Your dad and I were best friends growing up, sort of like you and Benny. He brought me up with him as he Ascended and left you in my care because he trusted me."

I suppose it should have shocked me that my Uncle wasn't a blood relative but it was honestly the least surprising or relevant thing I'd learned lately. Zeke had raised me, and not having the same bloodline didn't change that. I sighed heavily. "I...I think I want to try. It seems like it could be amazing. So what do I need to know about this competition anyway? Is there some kind of rule? Because they didn't state any on the scroll or whatever, and what was the deal with that? Did it give me powers?"

Zeke seemed pleasantly surprised by my quick acceptance. "No, it didn't give you powers, just awakened the ones you already had. People's abilities can awaken at any time really, some get them young, some when they're older. The Wishmaster contract just uses a spark of the current Wishmaster's power to jump start your abilities early. The rules are pretty simple. Basically there's nothing you aren't allowed to do except change your power enough that you can't grant a wish. Abilities can be altered a few different ways, but if you lose the power to grant wishes you lose your qualification."

He laughed at my shocked expression. "I won't get too far into it, it's not something you need to worry about at your level. Cliff notes is there are two major ways to change a power. In order to rank up you need to hit a stat cap. For I rank the stat cap is ten. However what stats you gain those stat points in can affect how your power evolves. Doing it that way though you always get a version of a wish power, just a more custom tailored one. You can also synergize skills with your power to fundamentally change it. That doesn't always make it incompatible with the wish archetype but that's another conversation."

I opened my mouth to ask more but he cut me off. "No. No more. I can't give you too many answers on how to progress. Partly because it would be an unfair advantage and partly because it'll just distract you for the moment. Worry about rank ups later. Just take my advice and don't synergize any skills in the first few ranks, give yourself time to figure out how things work before you try to reinvent the wheel. You can always do it later. Other than that just go out and work on granting wishes. Your power is your biggest asset right now. Use it."

I nodded, understanding from his tone that we were done. When Zeke sounded like that he wouldn't budge. We were finished with this conversation. I got up with a sigh, so many more questions that would need to wait until later. But as I turned to walk out Zeke called for me to stop and look back. "By the way. We can't give you the obfuscator but reserving it is no problem. It'll cost five million, and we'll hold it until you can afford it. Good instincts to come looking for one by the way, more than a few candidates have been killed or imprisoned because they didn't think to hide their power."

With that he turned his chair, effectively dismissing me again. I strode out through the door, nodding to the two goons as I passed. I walked right out onto the street and Benny caught up, clearly sensing my mood and not bothering to talk, just walking next to me in companionable silence. Sometimes having a best friend is pretty great. As I walked I felt my brain whir through everything I'd been told, everything that just happened. I had so much to learn and so much growing to do. Despite the craziness though I had a direction to go in, and I couldn't help but smile. Time to go grant some wishes.

The next step was, obviously to get a few people to make wishes. But I was somewhat worried I'd end up screwing myself over if word of my powers got out, so I had no idea how to do that. Benny, to my surprise, had an easy answer ready. "Doom Sovereign." I stared at him blankly. "Is there any reason you need to be physically standing next to a person when you grant a wish? Like is that stated in the rules?" I opened my mouth to respond but then paused to think.

It...wasn't. The wishes were stipulated to have to be within my stat allocation for three days, but there was nothing on the contract that made it seem like I had to be right next to them. I blinked. "Holy shit. Ok, that might actually work. Plus with Doom Sovereign as a medium no one would know who I was. Complete anonymity." We were on the bus headed back from the WCP and I was trying to figure out how the hell I was supposed to use my powers safely and make the money needed for my obfuscator, but this would definitely do it if it worked.

Benny grinned. "Hell yeah man. I can imagine it now. Secret rumors of a shadowy in game figure who makes deals that can give you anything you want for the right price? Very cool. We just need to figure out a character name." I gave him a blank look because he'd lost me there, I had a character. He rolled his eyes. "Your current character has been associated with you for a long time, man. Plus there's registration to your scan gear and all that stuff. No, we need to set you up with a new ID, something clean and untraceable. Luckily my sister bought a new scan box for her degenerate boyfriend with concealment protocols on it. I can convince her to give it to us."

By which he meant blackmail her using knowledge of her whereabouts tonight, but I wasn't in a position to be picky. We agreed to split up so he could go get the box. You could technically play Doom Sovereign with a scan ring, which was basically a scaled down version of a box, but the amount of the game that would rendered was much lower. A decently powerful scan box could create an AR hardlight representation that covered a whole room, a scan ring would only do a foot or so in any direction. As one might expect, playing a game where you can only see a foot isn't really appealing.

I got off the bus and headed for home to take my setup apart so we could install the new box. My scan box in my gaming room was set up in a dedicated cradle that supplied power and kept the connection stable. It didn't take long to remove the box and then it was just a waiting game while I killed time in preparation for Benny showing up. When he arrived he looked sour but handed me the box. "I had to promise to help Maria sneak out for a concert next week, so thanks for making me an accomplice."

I shrugged and set up the box. My gaming room, contrary to the image one might have, was a big empty space with a scan box in the middle. The lack of furniture made the hardlight construct of the AR interface easier to project. We fiddled with the settings for a bit before we got the new avatar set up and finally it was time to boot up. I hit the button on the box and the room shifted, becoming a hardlight representation of a small fantasy village. Doom Sovereign spanned more than a few genres, but I tended to prefer the fantasy segments, and my target audience would be here too.

The next several hours were an exercise in frustration. Aside from having to grind up a new character I also tried to interact with some other players to try to get them to make a wish. Turns out aside from anonymity Doom Sovereign being a game also made it nearly impossible to convince people I was serious about my ability to grant their desires. I was dismissed as a crackpot and a troll by basically every person I met. Benny had left a while ago, since two player rigs were rare he couldn't do anything but sit and watch and he decided to try to join up and convince people from his end.

On the upside my new skills were...impressive. Lesser skills might not sound like much but I was absolutely crushing every quest and battle I came across. If nothing else maybe once I had ground up some levels I could convince some people to wish for something. I kept putting the word out and grinding, enjoying myself as my new much higher level skills let me crush my enemies. Finally though, I got a friend request. 'Priscilla_Penguin has invited you to her friend's list. Accept?' I didn't have any reason to refuse so I confirmed the request.

A split second later a buzzing sounded from my pack. I took out the communications mirror that everyone got as a starter item in Doom Sovereign and accepted the call. It was actually a base model, and you could get much better ones but this was a new account so I hadn't bothered. My game character was as bland as I could make him and about forty physically since I figured that would help sell my gravitas. When I activated the mirror an image of a girl appeared, with my own image projected back to her.

She was tiny and pretty cute actually. Very thin and kind of gaunt but intense. When she saw me her eyes lit up. "Hi, are you the guy?" I raised an eyebrow at her and she huffed impatiently. "The guy who can grant wishes or whatever? I mean, I know you probably can't that's crazy, but I'm desperate. So, are you the guy?" I nodded and she sighed with relief. "Cool, so here's the deal, I'm up for a scholarship in my university, I won't say which one because I don't know you."She seemed somehow sheepish and dismissive at the same time, which was new.

Despite that she kept talking. "This girl keeps beating me out on all our tests and I KNOW she isn't as smart as I am. But tomorrow is the cut off date for the scholarship and if I don't ace this test I'm going to lose it. So, I wish that I knew all the answers to the test later today." She finished talking in a bored sort of resigned tone that told me she legitimately didn't believe this would amount to anything and was actually just desperate to do SOMETHING.

Wish Detected. Grant Wish?

Despite that I felt my skin tingle, and I grinned as the familiar purple flame words rolled across my vision. "Well, I can do that for you. The question is what are you willing to pay?" I tried to keep my voice from sounding too smug, because I was more than aware that I looked like a forty year old guy and this girl was in college. My vibe couldn't be too creepy or it would sound like I was hitting on her. I decided to steer things. "What kinds of things are you good at? Maybe a skill or something you don't use or care about anymore. I can trade for that."

She looked confused. "I...ok, that's a weird price to ask but I...guess? How would that even work? For skills...I used to be really good at piano I guess? I was going to pay with money, though I guess I don't really have much, so maybe that's...better?" She sounded skeptical and unsure, but honestly that was ideal. I'd decided to do a skill transfer for a few reasons. First because she seemed like she wouldn't have cash, second because it proved the "mythical" nature of my powers. Doing something impossible would spread my rep faster.

As soon as she accepted the terms I granted the wish. The tingle on my skin was as strong as ever.

Stat points sufficient. Requirements: 1 Focus, 1 Impact, 1 Perception.

I saw the girl on the other side of the mirror sway and I felt the same crash of information Benny had mentioned as a ton of information I didn't have before hit me all at once.

Skill acquired- Minor Piano mastery.

It was less intense than my Doom Sovereign skill upgrade, most likely because it was only a minor skill, but it still felt insane knowing all these things I hadn't known before.

I knew how to read sheet music and how to do my scales, I had memories of practicing a few basic songs over and over again as my fingers ached, of putting on a recital in a blurry room I couldn't see. But in the end the transfer finished without too much craziness. On the other side of the mirror Priscilla_Penguin swayed as her eyes began fade from the purple glow of my power. She looked at me in absolute awe. The sense of shock and wonder in her eyes felt pretty amazing, like I was a god or something, and I couldn't help but quirk my lips up.

Her voice was shaky as she spoke. "I...I know all the answers. Some of them were about things I was out sick for or hadn't really understood. You...what are you?" I just smiled blandly at her and she swallowed hard. "I...thank you." She bowed formally to me. "I'll tell other people about you. Recommend they come to you. Not sure how many will believe but I know some who will. This is..." Her lips split into a manic grin. "This is a dream come true. I have to go. I have to get ready, my test is soon. Thank you so much." Her voice was trembling in glee and I was glad to have a satisfied customer.

The connection closed and I exhaled as I slumped down to the floor. That had really taken it out of me. I only got three wishes per day. Hell I didn't even know how to get stronger. My thought was cut off by the purple flame words.

Tales of your exploits have begun to disseminate. You have done a great deed and whispers of your power are disseminating in the ether. Fantasy plus one.

My eyes widened as I hurriedly pulled out my wishmaster scroll. I unrolled it and looked for my stats and sure enough. One across the board except fantasy, which was now at two.

I swallowed hard. So that was how to increase stats. Reputation. It made sense actually. Doing impressive things being a way to get stronger explained a lot about the way the Unity ran things. A great deed. So I needed to do something impressive to increase my stats. Fantasy went up probably because granting a person's deepest wish had a very fantastic sort of vibe to it. Now I just had to keep that going. I also considered getting a piano, I kind of wanted to test out my new skill. Plus I had to admit, it matched the whole devilish wishmaster aesthetic.

As I mulled over my power and how to best use it I got another friend request on Doom Sovereign. I grinned as I accepted. Seemed like that girl had called a friend right away and told them to contact me. I wasn't going to complain about that. More wishes meant more skills, more money, more power. Basking in this feeling I could totally understand what led the first Wishmaster to create the WCP. This was kind of addictive, and it just pushed me even more towards winning this competition. I had so many more wishes to grant.

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 looked 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. 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 disembarking. I decided to head in the direction of the abandoned meat packing factory that hosted tonight's Market on foot.

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 they occupied a decent chunk of the middle section of the Market. Standing oddly still, their only movement was the turning of their hooded heads to scan the place. The last faction was Mr. Jack-tastic's Jack-tastic Jerks. They all wore tight 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 dyed a variety of bright colors. They covered their faces with bandanas 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 section, 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.

As I confirmed the wish and I felt myself change. Fantasy, whatever it did, didn't interact directly with my body, but Vitality did. It didn't make me stronger, or tougher, but it made me more ALIVE. I had more energy, more life force. It felt fucking awesome. I'd never experienced anything remotely like this in my life and I loved it. There were plenty of stats, but I now knew at least some of them affected my body directly, which was...interesting.

As I was having my little revelation the purple static on my body picked up to insane level and then the building energy discharged in a flash. Maddie's eyes flashed purple and she inhaled sharply before doubling over and vomiting up a torrent of black sludge. She heaved about ten times, and judging by the volume there was no possible way she'd actually had that much sludge in her lungs, but by the end the vomit had become clear bile and her breaths had become deeper and faster.

The beefy guy with the purple hair had panicked a bit when she'd started puking, but as the action went on and the sludge started to thin his eyes lit up with glee. I couldn't see his mouth because of the purple bandana around his face but I knew he'd be smiling. At the same time he was gently swaying on his feet. Apparently losing a point of Vitality sapped your energy, which made plenty of sense, but I could tell he was happy with the deal.

He turned to look at his girlfriend. "Hey Mads, how ya doin?" His voice was gentle as he questioned her, and he slipped an arm around her shoulder to help steady her as the dazed redhead recovered a bit from her ordeal. Her eyes were unfocused and she looked out of it, but some of that pallor I'd taken for her natural skin tone seemed to have been replaced with a bit of a flush, which seemed like a good sign.

She smiled up at him brilliantly, her green eyes tearing up. "I feel amazing. I can...I can breathe. Like a real deep breath without coughing at the end." She closed her eyes and took the biggest deepest breath she could, exhaling into a laugh as she gleefully demonstrated that she'd been healed. Her eyes turned to me. "Thank you. Thank you so much, I can't even tell you how terrible it's been. This feels so amazing. I don't know how to repay you for this."

I shook my head. "You already paid. All transactions are non refundable, no further compensation is required." I suspected she didn't know the value of what her boyfriend just paid to get her healed or she might not be so quick to shower me with praise, but he could make it back later from what I knew so I wasn't going to beat myself up about it. It had been fair compensation and both sides were happy.

Before she could respond though a new voice cut in. "Well, if it isn't Violent Vinnie and his little red haired whore." The sneer in the voice was obvious, and it made me flick my eyes over to take a look at the new Jack-tastic Jerk who had walked up to the table. His eyes were focused on Maddie and the beefy purple haired man I now knew was Vinnie, and from the the way they were narrowed and the hostility in his tone, his feelings were not friendly.

If Vinnie was big and beefy this asshole was a mountain. His skin was grayish pale and his body was so bulging with muscle it looked like he might split open like a grape if he flexed wrong. His hair was an angry bright red to match his mask and he was easily seven feet tall and probably four feet wide at the shoulders. He was a fucking monster, and he looked real pissed at the two.

Vinnie, who was still reeling from losing his Vitality in the deal with me, did his best to appear menacing as he stepped protectively in front of Maddie. "Hey watch your fuckin' mouth Markie. I ain't afraid of you, even if everyone else is. Maddie ain't interested in you and you gotta get over it! She ain't even sick no more, so you can take your offer and shove it up your ass!"

The red haired menace, whose name was apparently Markie, turned to look at me in a way that was decidedly not friendly. "Is that fuckin' so? I take it we have our new friend here to thank for that? That what happened big man? You stick your fuckin' nose in my business where it didn't belong?" He stepped up, grabbed the corner of the table and flipped it sideways like it was made of styrofoam. I was beginning to regret not bringing a friend with me.

Despite the menacing mountain of meat baring down on my I sat still, seemingly unconcerned as I thought desperately for a way out of this. Vinnie cried out in surprise and stepped up to grab Markie's arm. "Dear Revenant, Markie are you crazy? He's with the WCP, you can't just smack him around cuz' you feel like it! You're gonna get us all killed!" His voice was tense as he glanced worriedly at me.

Markie just laughed cruelly and back handed the still wobbling man, sending him flying. "Fuck off. I ain't afraid of some nancy boy in a suit, I don't care where he came from." He smacked his chest like an ape. "Mad Markie ain't afraid a fuckin' nobody." His glare landed back on me. "How bout you nancy boy? You afraid of anyone? You gonna tell me how your big bad boss will kick my ass later? How scary your pals are?"

His eyes were shining with a genuine madness that made his self proclaimed nickname seem pretty fucking accurate, and I knew right then and there that no matter what went down next I was about to get into a fight. Which was a problem, because I had absolutely zero fighting skills. I'd never thrown a punch in real life. I could fuck a guy up in Doom Sovereign, but that was with combos and special skills to use against everyone. Skills I didn't have here.

Still, I did have my new Vitality point, and a Minor Gymnastics skill that should help me dodge, so since I was getting my teeth kicked in here anyway might as well try to boost my rep while I did it. I stood up unhurriedly, brushing imaginary dust off my suit as I stared down the angry thug in front of me. "After I crush you I'd prefer you not be able to whine about not having room." I gestured to the empty parking lot. "Shall we take this somewhere a bit more spacious."

Markie bared his teeth in an expression that only someone with a whole lot to gain would possibly call a smile. "Well look at that Vin, looks like the little nancy boy here isn't as much of a little bitch as you are. But don't worry. I'll work you over when I'm done with him. Maybe I was too nice with my offer before, wonder how many bones I gotta break on you before your bitch gets in line. If I'd know you were this weak I'da done that from the start."

He turned and swaggered over the parking lot as Maddie rushed to help her boyfriend stand up. He had a forming bruise over one eye and I winced. If he hadn't lost that point of Vitality like that I somehow didn't think he'd have been so easy to smack around. Having part of your life force ripped out would make anyone fumble. He looked like he wanted to say something but I just shook my head and handed him my coat, following the other man out into the parking lot.

As I walked I took note of my skills. Most of them were artistic or involved some form of entertainment. I had Minor Gymnastics, which should at least help me dodge a bit, but Minor skills were basically just peak level skill for the area from what I could tell. Local guitar genius level playing and so on. But that left me with one skill I didn't really get. Specifically I didn't understand Lesser Doom Sovereign Mastery.

Based on my observations Minor skills should be damn impressive, which meant Lesser skills should be above the level of what a normal human could reach. But what the hell did that mean when you were talking about a video game. Doom Sovereign was a VR game sure, but being beyond human levels of skilled at it didn't seem to translate much to what I could do in real life, so why did the skill exist.

I wished I could use one of my Doom Sovereign combat styles, but I didn't have the skills for that. Hell even if I did I didn't have and of the combat assist overlays you got in game to help with my fighting. My normal in game style was pretty agile too, so Minor Gymnastics probably would have helped. And then I stopped thinking, because I FELT something.

Minor Gymnastics and Lesser Doom Sovereign started to resonate with each other, the resonance alone didn't seem like it would do much, but I felt the two point's of fantasy I had sort of flex, a slight strain exerting itself in a part of my soul I didn't even realize existed, and the world just...shifted. I'd walked out to the parking lot after Markie, taking up a spot right across from him.

As I looked over at the other man though I saw a shift in my vision. The combat overlay from Doom Sovereign shimmered into being around him. I didn't see any of my skills involved in the combo, but intricate paths and attack patterns were laid out in the air. Patterns I knew I could follow with my Minor Gymnastics skill. My eyes were wide behind my mask as I stared in wonder at the new ability I hadn't even known I had.

Granted it wasn't anything crazy, just some vague directions on what to do. But it was a hell of a lot better than I could have done on my own. I hadn't realized that Skills and stats could work together like this, and it made me wonder what my other Skills might be capable of. The Skill crystals back at the Wish Curse Palace had been expensive as hell, but I figured that was just because the sales people were greedy. Now I wasn't so sure.

Markie was looming over me, a smug, cruel gleam in his eyes as he glared down at me, but for the first time since he'd gotten in my face a few minutes ago I wasn't worried. In fact, I was excited. I'd done this in Doom Sovereign so many times before. Sometimes I won, sometimes I lost, but I always made the other guy work for it, and now I could see the way to do the same here. I might get my ass kicked in this fight sure, but I wouldn't humiliate myself, and that was what mattered most right now.

I started forward, hands at my sides as I walked casually towards the big man. Every step I took the combat layout shifted, showing me new routes, new methods of attack, as well as giving me predictive lines for attacks and responses the muscle bound asshole might employ. Each step shortened the number of moves in the chain, making the attack patterns simpler and less flashy, condensing them into more and more dangerous strategies for hurting the other man.

Finally when I was within about six steps I saw what I was looking for. An opening in his guard. And I attacked.

My style of combat in Doom Sovereign was quick and brutal, it was incredibly agility-centric and required lots of jumping around. It also involved lots of skill use but beggars couldn't be choosers with this kind of thing. When I got close enough to Markie I saw the overlay shift a bit and finally turn green. In Doom Sovereign a red overlay meant you couldn't hit at all, a yellow overlay meant it would be blocked, and green meant an opening.

Granted the opening didn't necessarily guarantee you would hit, just showed a gap you could exploit at that moment. Still, it was a better attack point than anything else I was going to get so I went for it. The beginning of the attack I was using required me to close the distance quickly and in a way that wouldn't be visible so when I got within range of Markie I stopped and glared at the big mook.

He grinned under his bandana. "What's the matter nancy boy. Getting cold feet?" I honestly couldn't think of a better line than that for my next move so I took it. When I'd stopped I'd twisted my foot in my shoe in a very specific way. Specifically I'd twisted my foot OUT of my shoe, so it was danging from my toes loosely and my heel was hanging out the back. When he made that cold feet comment I attacked.

By attacked of course I mean I kicked my shoe at his smug fucking face. In game I would have had some kind of smoke bomb or throwing knife to use, but the overlay was adjusted by my Minor Gymnastics skill and my Fantasy stat to fit my current situation. This attack pattern was one of very few that could function with only the objects I had on me considering my lack of any actual attacking ability.

My shoe flew right up into Markie's face and the big man flinched. Not because he considered me a threat or was afraid, but because when things fly at your face you flinch at least a little. This particular action set off a chain of events that kind of need to be explained all at once to be understood. Firstly was the obvious link in the chain, his flinch provided me with a second to act without him being able to respond.

The second link in the chain was that since my shoe was flying towards his face it was getting bigger in his vision, perspective making it grow and take up more of his eye line, creating a blind spot in front of and below him. With these conditions met I fell forward, dropping into a roll on my shoulder that carried me down and forward into that exact blind spot along a trajectory where he wouldn't be able to see me.

All of this happened in the split second it took him to reflexively bat away the shoe. When he did his eye line returned to where I'd been standing when I kicked it off, and in his point of view it looked like I'd suddenly vanished. I would have been literally incapable of this level of timing and action without the overlay and without my Minor Gymnastics ability, but luckily I had both, so when I came out of my roll I was right inside his guard.

Using all that momentum I came out of my roll, pushing all the force into my feet to fuel a massive spring into the air that probably shouldn't have been possible and did a full front flip over the seven foot man hidden by the arm he used to smack the shoe aside. I landed behind him, primarily on the foot with no shoe, and with enough silence that he had no idea I was there as I turned to face his back.

Then, all I had to do was follow the overlay. I bent my knees, wrapped my arms around his waist, and bent my back into a bridge, suplexing the motherfucker into the rock of the parking lot. Now, I'm a big guy. I'm not seven feet tall, but I am six foot three, and I'm not weak, even if I'm not exactly buff either. Combined with the seven foot bulk Markie was packing that was a lot of force coming down on a small space.

Markie was very obviously an Ascendant, and probably a physically focused one, but he was low level or he wouldn't be here, so he wasn't built for taking that kind of impact. The overlay had guided me into position exactly where I could do the most damage, and every single ounce of force came down on Markie's neck, forcing his head in toward his chest as our combined weight slammed down on the base of his skull.

I stepped away, letting him fall to the ground as I smiled smugly under my mask. That had been...insane. It shouldn't have worked, but I'd felt my Vitality giving me more energy as I went, and my one point of Might fueling my moves as I pushed off the ground. I'd employed multiple stats and skills in that one attack and executed it flawlessly. I let Markie fall to the ground as I started to saunter away, but stopped when I was a few feet away and heard a sound.

My stomach clenched with fear as I turned around and watched a very pissed off Mad Markie climb unsteadily to his feet, eyes blazing with rage as he glared at me. I noted absently that the overlay wasn't gone, which meant the fight wasn't over, and I cursed internally as I stared at the enraged behemoth in front of me. He glared down at me hatefully, eyes promising his wrath.

Which was about the time Vinne hit him like a mac truck. The slightly smaller but still huge member of the Jack-tastic jerks had regained his senses a while ago, and when he saw me neck smash the other thug and stagger him he figured it was close enough to his own unsteadiness to make things even. Vinne hit him low, taking his legs out from under him, and once he was on the ground he just went to town on the bigger man.

I could see why they called him Violent Vinnie. It was hard to equate the howling lunatic raining punches into Markie's face with the nervous guy who just wanted to help his girlfriend, but there was no mistaking that hair or build. Markie, who was clearly caught completely off guard, didn't get a defense up in time and Vinnie's blows caught him square in the face and temple the first few times they landed, dazing him badly.

The combat overlay faded. I was...a bit shocked. I'd been kind of hoping to put him down myself, but honestly Vinnie deserved it more from what I'd seen.That crazy acrobatic neck slam had most likely made me seem more mysterious and powerful than a fifteen minute fight where I barely won by tiring him out using the overlay anyway. I called this a win in terms of reputation.

The universe apparently agreed, because those familiar purple flame words scrawled across my vision.

Tales of your exploits have begun to disseminate. You have done a great deed and murmurs of your prowess are on the lips of your enemies. Might plus one. A threshold has been reached. Begin rank up?

I blinked, staring at the message in front of me.

I slipped off to the side, not confirming the rank up but getting out of line of sight of the watching crowd a bit while I considered what had happened. Ten points. I'd hit ten in my stats with that last point of might. That had been faster than expected. Still, I wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth. Granted I was far from done. I still needed to get the money for my obfuscator and register with the Unity so I could start official cape work.

Still, ten points wasn't crazy. I decided discretion was the better part of valor and spun up a call to Zeke on my scan ring. He picked up pretty quickly. "Hey kid what's up?" He sounded the same as always, lazy and generally in a good mood. I was standing back out of the way of everyone and no one was within ear shot, but I still decided to wander off to somewhere a bit more private.

I kept my voice low but not at whisper levels as I spoke. "Hey Zeke, I had a question about that...homework you gave me last time we talked. I finished it early, should I turn it in now or wait until I get everything done." I figured that was the closest I'd get to asking without saying anything too incriminating. Zeke would know what I meant since our last conversation had been about me ranking up.

He paused briefly. "You can turn it in now, we can have a discussion about it when I get home. You got it done sooner than I expected." I thanked him and said goodbye, confirming the rank up. I was expecting some kind of grand explosion of light and sound, but instead I just felt a similar sensation to what I'd felt earlier with Vitality. Probably Might too but I'd been distracted by my other notifications and hadn't noticed the feeling. Once I finished I fished out my scroll.

Wishmaster candidate status.

H-rank.

Ability: Lesser Wish- Four times a day, grant a lesser 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 2 Impact 2 Fantasy 2 Vitality 2 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

I blinked at the feedback. That...that was it? My rank up had just been a point of Impact? Though in the same vein, I'd never seen that stat rise before. Granted I still had three stats that had never risen, but Impact felt...different. With another point in the stat I felt more solid, more real. Might made you strong and Vitality made you alive, but Impact made you...more.

I also felt tougher, but it was beside the point really. The more I focused on the feeling that had come with my rank up the weirder it felt. It was like I was denser, but not. Conceptually heavier instead of physically. I suspected based on what I was feeling that Impact rose on rank ups and was one of the main reasons higher ranked Ascendants were regarded with such awe and fear.

I shook off the daze I was in and headed back over to where Vinnie was sitting next to a very fucked up Markie. The red haired Jerk had been basically destroyed by this point, his face a bloody ruin that was visible even through the red bandanna and his eyes swollen shut. His nose looked broken and deformed and I could see bruises across his upper body, but he was still breathing at least.

Vinnie saw me and gave me a nod. "Thanks man. I owe you one. That asshole had been trying to put the moves on Maddie for a while. When he found out she was sick he tried to use her medicine as leverage, but she wasn't having any of that shit. Honestly I think he wasn't sure he could take me, so he waited until he saw I was weak from whatever that wish did. I mean, I'm sure he was pissed at you too, he's nuts, but it wouldn't have gone there if I wasn't fucked up."

He sighed and climbed to his feet holding out a fist. In the old days that was a gesture of brotherhood or solidarity, but in modern times it had a double meaning. I bumped my scan ring against his, transferring the data and he nodded again. "I owe you one man. Give me a call if you ever need anything." I nodded back and he turned to see a smiling Maddy, putting his arm around her shoulders. I glanced down at Markie and kicked him once for good measure. Gotta love a happy ending. Now, it was time to head home and talk to my Uncle.