In the end, Benny DID hit H rank from the raccoon job. He ended up netting a point in Vitality, a point in Focus, two points in Might, and two in Perception (one of those his first). Combined with his existing stats and his Impact he officially reached H rank, netting him his second point of Impact. He also synergized his Lesser Inventing with his Iron Hide ability, netting himself a new power, and shared his stat screen with us personally, writing it out for us.

Benicio Cortez- H rank. Ability: Lesser Mechanical Embodiment- Allows the integration of existing inventions into the users body for the purposes of strengthening and enhancing them. Might 3 Impact 2 Vitality 2 Focus 2 Perception 2 Skills: Minor Cooking Mastery, Lesser Inventing Mastery, Minor Haggling Mastery

The embodiment thing was interesting actually, because it was similar to what Callie could do. Her power was Beginner Shadow Embodiment, and let her integrate shadows into her body where they would work, mostly her hair and clothes, though apparently her fingernails were shadow as well, something I didn't know because she rarely used them overtly. Still Benny was ecstatic and we arranged for his induction through Annie, as well as his registry at the Academy without much trouble.

Say what you would about Annie, but having the guild master's wife and an F ranker so high up in the pecking order helping with things was convenient as hell. Which was how we found ourselves back at the Academy, registering Benny for his coin, and getting him set up with his insignia, a half gear in the shape of a C. Once we finished that, we took what remained of the H rank chits from the mission after buying lunch for the whole garage (one hundred and sixty chits) and added in my ninety for whopping two hundred and fifty, before heading for the crafting hall again.

We decided to get Benny some materials for Inventing, hoping that he would be able to make a few powerful artifacts to integrate into his body. Lesser Mechanical Embodiment was a huge advantage, because it let him use powerful Inventions as part of himself, which would make a huge impression in combat, and help him rank up much more quickly. Granted, it was also a money sink, but the cost would be worth it in the long run. Inventions could do almost anything, which meant Benny could use a ton of unique abilities in battle, even without a ton of skills.

So Benny headed off to do some shopping in the market section of the crafting hall (which I hadn't realized was a thing but really should have) and I headed to the Vitality section to look for someone to make my offer to. I talked to about five people, gauging what they wanted and how viable it would be for me to either make it or just give them the stats, before I found someone who fit the bill. I got the contract signed and managed to get five more points. Two Might, two Perception, and one Creation.

Wishmaster candidate status. G-rank. Ability: Beginner Wish- Five times a day grant a Beginner 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 18 Impact 12 Fantasy 14 Vitality 12 Focus 15 Perception 25 Creation 19 Skills: Lesser Doom Sovereign Mastery, Lesser Enchanting Mastery, Minor Piano Mastery, Minor Cooking Mastery, Minor Gymnastics Mastery, Minor Swimming Mastery, Minor Guitar Mastery, Minor Singing Mastery , Minor Inventing Mastery, Minor Poker Mastery, Minor Archery Mastery, Minor Boxing Mastery

I found, oddly, that people were much more willing to trade points for points than for skills or even regrowing limbs. The ability to grant points to others was absurdly convenient for gathering strength, and the extra daily wish would of course be helpful to me in ranking up long term. I also had the contractor update my ranking seven hundred twenty thousand five hundred and six. The two contracts I'd done were fulfilled and they both netted me contribution points for the Academy rankings.

Once I was finished I met back up with Benny and the girls, who had headed to the side hall I hadn't known about until today to look for supplies. When I entered I was momentarily stunned. The hall was smaller than I'd expected, I had no clue what the rules were for space warping but I'd seen tons of it since coming here, the room that shouldn't fit wasn't the issue, the thing that was shocking me here was that insane amount of random STUFF on the tables.

I could almost feel the stats coming off some of the items, but where I'd expected specific neatly categorized boxes like in Vengiellos I was mostly just seeing scattered piles of assorted junk. I did see gems, but also rocks, branches, scraps of metal, pieces of paper, and any other number of random things that you wouldn't expect to have Impact, much less additional stats.

I looked around for a bit, taking in the randomness and moving from table to table. I could see animal parts at some of them, hearts and teeth and claws and hide. Callie had mentioned the possibility of bringing animal remains here to sell to crafters, and it turned out some people DID do that. I knew from her first explanation of it that sometimes people didn't sell to the guild, and just registered the kills, so it made sense that there would be other places.

When I finally found my friends there were all standing at a large table of metal scrap. Callie and Jessie were standing back while Benny, still in his generic costume since we hadn't gotten him one yet, sifted through the loose metal, trying to find something he could use. His Lesser Inventing Mastery was showing it's use, because he clearly recognized the metals. I knew that the skill required a broad knowledge base I'd barely scratched the surface of, so it wasn't shocking he could tell what materials did what.

It was shocking how many kinds of different Ascendant materials were here. I assumed that they had some kind of supply line to a higher branch, or that they just bought the stuff from all the cities on the planet, because the sheer amount of them was staggering. Granted being a city of a hundred billion probably helped with that, concentrating renown on objects would happen almost naturally in a place this size. It suddenly made more sense why the capital was so unreasonably large.

Benny was rifling through samples of bronze, iron, tin, aluminum, brass, copper, and a dozen other metals I didn't even recognize with glee. Aside from the variety of metals different types of the same metal had different natures. I wasn't sure why one type of copper would have Might and another would have Vitality, but I assumed it was something about origin or the specific type of metal. Maybe local legends or something, it was interesting to see though. I stepped up next to Benny. "So what are you looking for here?"

He barely looked up as he searched. "Basically anything at this point. I just need power. I'm thinking something with Might focus to begin with. Chances of that being offensive are higher. never really know of course but Might is pretty direct in terms of expression so the stuff you make with it will usually either cause damage or make you stronger." He sounded absent minded as he spoke, barely paying attention to anything but his work.

Seeing him so enraptured made me look through the stuff on display too. Not at the scrap table, my inventing wasn't nearly high enough level for that. I had no clue what the stuff there was. Instead I approached a nearby table full of woods. Tree branches from massive trees, driftwood and even neatly chopped logs, the wood was lined up in organized rows with actual labels, highlighting how much more care the green haired girl behind the table put into her display than the bored redheaded man behind the scrap metal pile.

I looked at the green haired girl with a friendly smile. "Hi there, I'm looking for some enchanting materials for a set of tonfas that can output force." I like my tonfas, and I decided that wood was best for them, not only because of my fake power, but because I had absolutely no experience shaping or working with metal, and learning it seemed like a bunch of extra time I didn't really have to spare.

She smiled sedately, and spoke in a very calm, soft voice. "Hi there, I'm Holly. I'd be happy to help with that. We have a few varieties of wood that would work excellently for that. For a reasonable price you could go with something basic, like Arcadian Oak, which has a strong Might attribute, or something a bit more specific like Force Pine. It uses a mix of Might and Creation that's considered excellent for force based enchantments. A bit more expensive, but much better suited to your needs."

I checked the prices and whistled. Fifteen chits for the Arcadian Oak, and fifty five for the Force Pine. I winced but bought a big chunk of the Force Pine, a solid log of it about a foot in diameter and three feet long. Holly smiled broadly at me when I chose. "An excellent selection sir. I hope you'll come back to us for your carpentry needs in the future!" I got the distinct impression I'd just been ripped off based on how happy she was, but then again I always had that impression after shopping.

She slipped the wood into a bag and I made a note to try to get Benny to teach me the Minor Haggling Skill. I became even more certain of the necessity of that when I turned and saw him arguing with the redheaded man over the price of metal. I was pretty sure the haggling and the information from inventing were the perfect storm of trouble for the man trying to argue with my friend, and I enjoyed watching him slowly lose his mind as Benny chipped away at his bottom line.

Once he finished buying what he needed we headed for the workroom. I was going to let Benny use some of my time in there to work on some inventions while I headed back to the golem battledome, I wanted to show the place to Jessie and Callie. Jessie wasn't really interested, but Callie was fascinated by the description, so we dropped off our friends to use the workroom and headed out of the building, back to that huge old shed in the rear of the place.

I let Callie go first, since I'd already done it before but I considered my options as I got ready for battle. With a full twelve Impact and two uses per point, I had a lot more options for battle, and I decided today was going to be the day I boosted my Lesser DS Mastery to beginner. I was close enough to be able to break through with experience, and once it went up I could dip into my second level spells and abilities from the game.

I stepped up to the counter to talk to the golem battledome receptionist and started asking questions about the veteran golems. Ten or more battles would still be potentially dangerous but at least manageable. We went through lists of information, it was no guarantee which golem I would get, but the receptionist was able to at least share some information about the golems in general. I finally decided to give veteran a try and I was put into the queue, hopefully I'd get some points off my fights too. It was my first week at the school and I was about to spend all day brawling with golems. I wasn't leaving until my strength advanced.