I was exhausted by the time I dragged myself back to the tower. Benny picked up his supplies and met us back at the field with Jessie, and we all headed back together. I barely kept myself awake long enough to make it to my bed, and then I passed out onto my mattress. Having the skills to use my DS techniques twenty four times didn't mean doing it all in a short period of time wasn't a strain, and I made a mental note to get some practice in.

Still I officially managed to rank up to Beginner Doom Sovereign Mastery. I still wanted to get back in game to pick up a bunch of experience playing I could add to my skill, but it seemed like that was only really good for a foundation. DS Mastery had surpassed the scope of what the game could do when it passed Lesser, if I wanted to improve it I had to learn how it worked in the real world.

After I got some sleep, my Vitality took care of my fatigue and I woke up refreshed and ready to start my...evening. I also got a notification, showing me that my little fight with the golem had netted me another point of Might while I'd been out, clearly my reputation had gotten a bump from taking out that walking tank. I grinned at the progress and mentally triggered my stat screen, enjoying that familiar purple flame rolling across my vision.

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 19 Impact 12 Fantasy 14 Vitality 12 Focus 15 Perception 25 Creation 19 Skills: Beginner 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

That wasn't bad for a days work. My rank up had unlocked my second tier abilities from Doom Sovereign, including a few that I'd been looking forward to. My second level divination skill, Seek Hidden would be a great asset for finding things like the raccoons and Ascendant materials, and my armor penetration ability Kidney Blow from my rogue skillset would be massively useful against opponents like that golem.

I'd also unlocked a steam technique called Boiling Cloud from my monk abilities, which was an amazing surprise attack that let me breathe out a cloud of superheated steam, but I used my monk skills infrequently. I still hadn't even gotten around to trying the air technique for my first tier of monk skills, Cloud Stepping. I had several other abilities still to sort through, but those were the ones I'd been waiting for because of their sheer utility.

Climbing out of bed, I stepped out into the common room on the residential floor of the tower, looking around for my team. I found Callie laying on the couch reading while Jessie played one of those candy matching games on her scan ring. I felt for her. I had a minor addiction to those things, and I sometimes got lost in them when I was bored. I strolled over and plopped down next to them. "Hey you two, how was the rest of your day?" They certainly seemed relaxed enough, so I was guessing they were just taking it easy.

Callie glanced lazily up from her book. "I forgot how good doing nothing feels. I've been on my grind for so long it's hard to just kick back like this. I figured after throwing down with some golems today though I could afford some me time, so I'm catching up on my reading." She narrowed her eyes at me, her voice taking on a faux casual air. "You seem relaxed, guess you're taking some down time too. You thinking of doing something relaxing. Maybe cook something?"

I rolled my eyes at the entirely un-subtle attempt to get me to feed her but I laughed. "Fine. I'm only a bit away from Lesser Cooking Mastery anyway. probably won't hit it today, but within my next few meals I'm guessing. But you have to sit at the counter while I cook, because not having anyone to talk to is boring." Callie grinned, jostling Jessie out of the way as she jumped up and grabbed my hand, yanking me along behind her as the tiny blonde yelped in annoyance without looking up from her game.

She hauled me across the common room and pushed me into the kitchen as she hopped up on a stool, pointing imperiously into the kitchen. I laughed, walking over the threshold of the carpet into the tiled section of the common room and looking around. "Well I figure if this meal is at your behest you might as well pick what we eat. So...what will it be your majesty, I can make anything you want." I paused. "Well...no, I can't because you're a huge foodie who likes to eat expensive stat boosting food, but I can make anything with mortal ingredients."

She giggled. "The stats are irrelevant. I just like to eat. Always have. My mom used to make home cooked meals for us every day when I was a little girl. I tried learning once but..." She shrugged sheepishly. "Well, no one is good at everything. I think it's why I like your food so much. It's not as advanced as a professional chef can make but it's more...personal." She blushed. "Don't get me wrong, you're a good cook, it's just...not everything is about stats and skills, you know?"

I smiled at her."I get it. It's nice to eat food made by someone you care about." Then my own face flushed red. "I mean, like a friend. That you care about. In a friendly way." She giggled again, and we just sat there awkwardly for a minute before I cleared my throat. "Anyway, what was your favorite dish your mom used to make? When you were a kid. I can't promise it'll taste the same but I can give it a shot."

She beamed at me, her eyes lighting up. "Chicken and dumplings. It was the dish she tried to teach me the one time I gave cooking a shot. She was always really amazing at it. The dumplings were my favorite part. They were really light and fluffy, and she used this delicious cream based sauce that was just..." Her face fell. "She hasn't really been in the mood to cook for the last year or two. We mostly eat out now. I hope she's eating right without me there. I should have Stella drop in to see her. Or Ian."

I put my hand on hers. "I'm sure she's fine, but yeah, I bet Ian would be happy to look in on her. You know what a huge goody goody he is." I clapped my hands, making her jump as I jolted her out of worrying and rubbed my hands together. "Now. Chicken and dumplings. Lets see. You said the sauce was creamy, so I'll need some cream, some flour, I'll use thighs for the chicken." I started rifling through the refrigerator, pulling out ingredients.

Celery, carrots, corn, peas and some fresh herbs were all brought out, and I started deboning and slicing up the chicken into bite sized pieces. I preferred smaller chunks in stews, soups, and chowders because it meant more of them and the smaller area let is steep more thoroughly in the broth or sauce. I pulled out a dutch oven from under the counter and set it on the stove, getting ready to cook. Dutch oven's were excellent for more full bodied soups because you could slip them in to oven cook after they boiled.

I started taking out the ingredients for the creamy sauce, and while I did I contemplated dumplings. It was peaceful cooking, my hands moving on their own as I lost myself in the meditative action of chopping and measuring. As I selected and started working on my dough I ruminated on how nice it was to take a breath. Callie was right, days off were important, and we didn't take enough. Not everything was about stats and skills.

I settled on biscuit dough in the end, and making that took some time, but it was worth it, and after cutting the dough into pieces and adding it to the already boiling soup I put the lid on and slid it into the oven to bake a bit, giving the dumplings a chance to actually cook. I made conversation with Callie for the next twenty minutes or so, and we avoided talking about cultivation or abilities. We just...talked. About random things, about her childhood, and her mom, and about what kind of weather she liked.

We avoided the family drama and everything that seemed too heavy, and as the food finished and I scooped some into bowls for us I found myself laughing at her stories of building snow men with Ian and Blue Fox. Apparently her civilian name was Clarissa, and Ian had a hopeless and very much reciprocated crush on her despite neither of them being willing to actually SAY anything to the other in case they got shot down. I vaguely remembered Callie mentioning something about that the first time we talked, and when I mentioned being sad to have never officially met the woman Callie just waved me off and told me I could meet her at the wedding, since she was expecting it any year now.

In turn I told her about camping with Benny and Maria and their family when I was a kid. Benny's father, Hector, knew all the best camping spots outside Velan because of his work with the miner's union, and we would go once a year or so when we were younger. Hector had all the latest camping gear and the most comfortable tents, so we were barely even roughing it when we went out, and mostly it was just an excuse to roast marshmellows and hot dogs and tell really bad scary stories that we pretty much exclusively looked up online right before leaving.

Before I knew it the food was gone, and we were just sitting at the counter, talking and laughing and just genuinely letting ourselves relax. I realized I was sitting pretty close to her, and she gave me a happy smile. "Dinner was amazing, Shane. Thank you. You have no idea how much this meant to me." I swallowed a bit, noticing how blue her eyes looked this close up. She looked a bit uncertain for a second, before leaning up to kiss me on the cheek.

I smiled back at her as she stood up. "We should do this again, I had a really nice time." She grinned at me. "Plus free food." She nodded to herself with certainty. "Yup. It's a date." She turned and walked away, clearly thrilled with how the night had gone, and I couldn't disagree with her. I touched my cheek lightly where she kissed me, my brain needing a second to reboot before that same cheek stretched up into a huge grin. I turned to head over to check on Benny to see him sitting on the couch with Jessie on the other side of the common room, both of them smirking at me.

I rolled my eyes as I flopped down on the couch next to them. "What are you both five? Oooooh Shane likes a GIRL. Grow up." Benny just snickered at my embarrassment, and I rolled my eyes at my oldest friend. "Anyway what have you been doing that you just now showed up?" I asked with a knowing smile, because I knew exactly where he'd been. Sure enough he stood up with a grin, gesturing us to follow him.

As we walked after him he explained. "I've been working on some new inventions, and I got a few things made that I decided to integrate. I was just coming to get you guys to see if you wanted to watch me test them out." I noticed that he had a bag over one shoulder, and I couldn't help but be interested. He'd made some amazing things even with trashy materials, I couldn't wait to see what he had for us to check out now.