The next few days were...busy. I finished Jessie's wand, though I hadn't had a chance to give it to her yet, and all my other enchanting attempts I used working with attacks from my Lesser Doom Sovereign Mastery. Between my tries to do that, I also used up all my wishes, focusing exclusively on stats and netting myself another twelve points total. The boost to my stats was substantial, and I couldn't help but be excited looking at my stat sheet.

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 5 Impact 2 Fantasy 5 Vitality 4 Focus 5 Perception 3 Creation 5 Skills: Lesser Doom Sovereign Mastery, Minor Piano Mastery, Minor Cooking Mastery, Minor Gymnastics Mastery, Minor Swimming Mastery, Minor Guitar Mastery, Minor Singing Mastery, Minor Enchanting Mastery

My total gains over a three day wish binge through the guild were staggering. Four points of Creation, three of Fantasy, two of Vitality, and one of Might. I was sitting at nearly thirty points of stats, almost an entire third of the way to G rank. Granted I was weaker than most people my level in terms of individual stats, simply because my points were so well distributed, but I more than made up for that in versatility. I was absolutely ecstatic with my progress, and I had specifically saved both of my enchanting attempts for today to test how it effected my DS Mastery Skill.

Before I headed out I called in to check with Callie. I hadn't heard from her in a while, and Ian hadn't called me either. Her face looked haggard when she picked up the call on my scan ring, but she still had a warm smile for me. "Hey there stranger, was beginning to wonder if you fell in a hole or something. You been alright?" The dark circles under her eyes made it clear that she'd been busy the last few days, but it warmed my heart that she still decided to ask about me.

I raised an eyebrow. "Shouldn't I be asking you that? You look absolutely terrible. What did they do to you for going rogue like that? Also I haven't heard from you or Ian in a few days, wanted to check if everything is ok.Jessie has been busy with stuff around the guild but I figured you guys would call me in for training or something. Though I guess with how busy you've been it was more likely to be Ian." I kept meaning to get in touch with my mentors, but between wishes and training I hadn't had the time.

Callie laughed, a tired but genuinely happy sound. "What a sweet talker, but I'm fine. They've had me processing damage compensation requests from the owners of buildings that play host to cape battles." She looked over her shoulder where I could see Stricture sitting at a desk, raising her voice so he could hear her. "Which is hell by the way!" The suit wearing man simply waved a casual hand as he peeled an apple with a small paring knife. Callie just rolled her eyes and turned back to me.

Her smile widened as she continued. "Anyway, we haven't called because Dolly down at the crafting hall actually reports those missions you take. You've been working yourself to the bone. We may not know the details of the jobs because of confidentiality, but the clients still report the job as completed after you take them. The people upstairs have been pretty impressed." My eyes widened because I hadn't even considered that, but she rolled hers. "No need to freak, trade secrets are sacred among crafters, no one will pry into how you do your thing." She paused. "Though everyone is wondering why you haven't collected any of your pay yet."

I blinked. Then opened my mouth. Then closed it. Then I groaned and pinched the bridge of my nose in annoyance. I'd been so excited about getting all these points from wishes, I'd forgotten I was doing JOBS. For which I got PAID. Callie was cracking up at my expression. "Oh gods, your face. Did you seriously forget you got paid for crafting jobs? We aren't slave drivers, Shane. " She shook her head exasperatedly. "It's fine though, accounting has just been holding onto your pay. Stricture has been bugging me to have you pick it up soon though."

The man's droll voice rang out over the call from behind her. "No need to rush, Solomon. I've taken the liberty of having all earned credits converted into H rank chits for you. The balance will be waiting when you find the time to come in. Nightstrike simply enjoys stirring the pot." I could practically SEE the disapproval radiating from behind her in a palpable wave, but Callie just rolled her eyes. She had her face uncovered since she wasn't on active duty and appeared to be wearing a t-shirt, with her hair up in a ponytail.

Her voice was relaxed when she spoke though. "Ignore Stricture. He's been here the longest of any of the H ranks, and generally treats us all like kids." She shouted back over her shoulder again. "Even though some of us are higher ranked than him!" Her eyes focused back on me. "No one would put up with him if he wasn't an organizational genius. But he knows where everyone is all the time and it makes keeping up with all the guild members crazy convenient. Sadly he has yet to figure out that organization isn't an actual personality."

She waited a beat to see if the man would respond again, and when he didn't she just smirked triumphantly. "Anyway, I got reamed out good for taking an untrained rookie into a dangerous gangland fight club to chase down a murderous lunatic. They decided to inflict the unspeakable torment of paperwork on me as punishment. I'll be at this for a while probably, so you just take the next few days and relax ok? Don't burn yourself out." She gave me a soft smile. "I really appreciate how hard you've been working, I know what happened must have been pretty nuts for your first job and I'm really sorry."

I realized Callie thought I was overworking myself to deal with finding her friend. I shook my head quickly, giving her a cheerful smile. "Hey, no need. It was...rough." My smile dimmed. "If you ever need to talk about it I'm here. You were the one who lost someone close to her." Her face clouded a bit at the memory and I decided to change the subject. "Hey, how about the ring? Did you guys crack it yet?" She'd been pretty excited about that discovery so I figured it was a safe bet to cheer her up.

She scowled, so apparently I'd been wrong. "No. They took it from me when they stuck me on desk duty. Stella and Annie are looking into finding an Inventor with the Perception stat, or a Perception based invention at least, to get into it, but we're not exactly living in a metropolis of Ascendant skill and culture. They're pretty sure they might need to send it up to the capital to have someone at the main branch take a whack at it." She shook off her annoyance. "Anyway, I'm glad to hear from you, keep in touch ok? We'll be back on the case soon enough I'm sure, until then I have to get back to work. Be safe." She gave me a wan smile and then hung up.

I sighed at my own stupidity. I wished I hadn't brought the damn thing up. Slipping on my jacket I headed for the storm drain. I wanted to work out some of my frustrations on that pillar. I'd been careful to look into the thing, and it wasn't load bearing, even if I somehow broke it, nothing would come down on me. Zeke had been in stitches when I called to ask him to check into it, and hadn't stopped teasing me about it every time we talked since.

Now though, it was time to test out some of my other moves. I'd beefed up my stats more than a bit, which should let me use at least one of my other monk skills. I'd decided on an earth skill called stone limb as my first attack of the day. With the extra points in Creation, Might, and Fantasy, all working together, I was betting I could do some real damage. Especially since the Might point would also increase my actual physical striking force. Standing in front of the pillar though, I was a bit nervous.

Punching a giant chunk of rock is kind of intimidating, and I had to psych myself up a bit before I was ready to attack. Closing my eyes I activated Lesser Doom Sovereign Mastery, as well as Minor Enchanting Mastery. On top of that I resonated my Might, Fantasy, Vitality and Creation stats. I focused hard on my right arm, and then knelt to place my fist against the ground. The feeling of absorbing...something, from the stone was odd, and I felt the power pump into my arm as I waited for something to happen.

I felt my limb become heavier and stiffer, though still mobile, and while I wasn't at the level of the in game stone limb, I knew that my arm was much sturdier than it had been before. Most of the effect was wrapped around the outside, enhancing my skin, which I knew was to prevent the brittle limb from shattering. At higher levels I could turn my body to actual rock, and even metal, but for now even this much was a huge multiplier of the force my arm could bring to bear against an enemy.

With a deep breath I stepped forward, wound up, and threw a haymaker right at the pillar, in an open and undamaged spot above the crack from my bat. There was a massive crash as my fist hit the rock, five points of Might propelling a stone arm at speeds that would put a catapult to shame. My fist was much more concentrated than the bat, so the crater was deeper, but also less spread out. I pulled back my unharmed first to stare in awe at a hole a few inches deep in the solid stone support pillar.

My hand was completely unharmed, though the impact had cracked the stone shell, and even as I watched it flaked off. I winced at that. Stone limb was supposed to be a buff that lasted a while, but my stats weren't up to holding the thing together yet which was fine. I grinned to myself in triumph. I was getting stronger. I decided to head back home for now, since I only got two enchanting attempts per day, and using enchanting for my attacks counted. I didn't want to burn that point of Impact too soon after the first since I remembered what had happened last time.

After I got home and showered I considered my options. I had used up my wishes for today, I only had a single use of DS Mastery left. I needed to do something. I would go stir crazy at home, and I didn't feel like playing Doom Sovereign for the moment. Benny had been holed up working on his Inventing, he was basically addicted to it, and I didn't have the heart to interrupt him. I went into my room to look around when I suddenly caught sight of my gear in the back.

I bit my lip. I tapped my scan ring and a call went out. It only took a minute before Ian's face popped up on the call. I gave him a wry grin. "Hey boss. So, I know you guys wanted me to take a break, but I'm wired. Any chance you would be up for a spur of the moment patrol?" Wishes weren't the only way to gain power, I could still do it the old fashioned way, and I had plenty of new tricks to show off to get those sweet, sweet stat points. Time to go fight some crime.