The next morning we headed down to the training room. The wish for the shadows manipulation skill had been the fifth of the night, and it had worn me out enough that I slept in, but we didn't have any hard commitments so we decided to go test things out. When we got downstairs Callie was practically vibrating in excitement. She was warming up as we got ready for some tests, shadow boxing with a big grin on her face. I felt the need to burst her bubble. "Just so you know, past Beginner Skills need to be personalized. I think you can still wish for them, but it'll cost A LOT more most likely."

She stopped and shot me a smile. "It's fine Shane. I wasn't expecting you to carry this one. I have a ridiculously solid foundation, but a Skill like this concerns my entire combat style. I'll blaze my own path moving forward. I'll have to put in some serious work on that though. There's no way I'm not synergizing that Skill into my ability. At Beginner it'll work fine for my rank up to F, but getting this one to Intermediate is going to be a bitch. Enough about that though. What about you, excited to try out your new trick?"

I looked down at my wrist, rubbing over the marked skin and reaching into myself to feel the power stored in my arm. I grinned at her. "I really am. I was a bit worried after I had the idea, I didn't want to change things up too much and ruin all the work I already put in, but thinking about it a second time all my combat experience should be applicable. My DS Mastery in particular will be useful. My Fatewalker build is mostly formed around status conditions and augmentations, which means I can apply those subskills to the attacks as I use them."

That had been the most exciting thing about Callie's suggestion. I'd have insane versatility, and it provided an advantage that other people, even other Wish users, wouldn't have. I was sure I wasn't the first Wishmaster candidate to think of storing attacks, even if it probably wasn't universal, but I WAS almost definitely the first with DS Mastery. There were other modifier Skills, but not many I'd heard of as versatile. Even if I went up against another candidate using the same strategy, I'd have a marked advantage.

Callie gave a low whistle. "Well damn, that's going to be scary when you get enough of them. I take it aside from my shadow blades you're going to stockpile some of Cark's fire blasts? I saw what your Skill did to that attack in the Rowdy Badger. Being able to solo cast that trick will be a scary trump card. Hell, Cark's ability in general is a scary trump card. Make sure you get at least a few of those if you can."

It was clear she was as excited about my own gains as hers, and I gave her a warm smile. "I plan to. So, tell me exactly what this Shadow Manipulations Skill can do. Or better yet. Show me. We ARE in the training room. No need to hold back or anything. Let me see what you've got."

She looked about ready to burst with glee when I said that. She held up a hand dramatically. "Very well. I'll demonstrate the power of my new skillset. First up. My shadow blades!" She reached out and sent a surge of shadowy cutting edges out from the ground at a nearby training dummy. As it exploded forward, I noted that the blades really were different. The blades themselves were more compact and defined. Before they had mostly just been pointy and sharp edged tentacles. Now there were actual blades and they looked much sturdier and more dangerous. They struck the dummy and tore it into sections, the edges so sharp they left smooth cuts behind.

Now it was my turn to whistle. "Ok, that was pretty cool. I can already tell those are much more effective. What exactly is different about them. Also can you do that again? I want to see what I can figure out from your attack. If I can spot something on my own it'll be a better outcome since that'll help me in the future. I can't always have you to walk me through things right?" I gave her a wink to let her know I was only teasing. I knew how much she loved being a source of information. I was always happy to ask Callie for answers, but I really would need to learn to figure this shit out myself.

She flicked a wrist, sending out another barrage of blades. I made a slight hmmm sound. "Ok, I think the biggest difference is probably the compression. Aside from being much more structured and stable, you also condensed much more shadow than you could have fit before into the blades. They were able to hold up much better under the reinforcement. Even with a higher Might, this was an exponentially better method for increasing strength It also seemed to make the weapons more fluid and easier to move, which made sense for a manipulation Skill.

Another dummy collapsed into pieces. I wondered how those got replaced, but that could wait until later. Callie looked pleased with my observations. "You got it. There are a dozen other subtler tweaks, but those are the biggest. Of course I can do more than that. I have all sorts of new tricks." She gestured and a trio of extremely lifelike black cats climbed from the shadows to prowl around the training room.

I blinked in shock at the sleek, delicate construction of the cats, which looked like actual cats to me for the most part. Aside from the eyes and the inside of the mouth both being pitch black these things could have passed for real animals. Which was absurdly impressive, I had to admit. Callie looked pleased at my awe. "See. I can do this kind of thing now. Or this" She flicked a finger again and a series of snowflakes made of shadow drifted into existence. I raised an eyebrow at that, not sure what good that was, and she flicked her finger, sending the razor sharp shapes spinning into another dummy like throwing stars.

Being so thin and delicate was apparently good for sharpness. I walked over to look at the shredded dummy, which still had at least one snowflake in it, and turned back to her. "Admittedly, that was awesome. The snowflakes all look the same general shape, and they're a bit simple design wise. That seems like a great way to refine your minute control though. Is this your new training tool?"

She beamed at me. "I knew you would get it. Yeah. Beginner is, as mentioned, only the beginning. I'm going to work on the snowflakes as a unique attack method. They're flashy and interesting, but also made of shadow so not the kind of flashy and interesting that pulls the gaze. They're pretty much perfect weapons, and if I can refine the process to a certain point I can use clouds of them. Plus the more I work on making them delicate and deadly the less shadow I have to use for each and the more of them I can conjure."

It was definitely scary. This would be a big bump to Callie's reputation too. The whole 'beautiful girl in a snowstorm of darkness' aesthetic was awesome. It would leave a big impression once she learn to apply it in combat. I stepped up next to her. "Alright. My turn. Let's see what this attack you gave me can do." As much as I didn't want to waste it, I was more than aware of the need to train new abilities, plus I needed to see exactly how my subskills could effect it. Plus this was an old attack, any new ones she traded with that new manipulation Skill would be better anyway.

I focused on the feeling of the shadow in my head, raising the hand with the mark on my wrist as I targeted one of the remaining dummies. I triggered my skills one after another. Mercy Kill, Flurry of Blows, Consecration of Flame, Touch of Tears, I even used Afterburner, since the five minutes of weakness afterward wouldn't be an issue while I was home safe here. Then I used the attack.

If the defense Callie had put up in the labyrinth was the ultimate shield, this was the ultimate spear. The flash of a dozen blades of darkness was rapid and deadly. I didn't bother aiming them more than just envisioning them hitting vital spots. As they came out, I gaped a bit at the sight. The shield had been facing away, plus I'd been a bit busy, so I hadn't realized how visually impressive this kind of attack was.

A rain of blades of darkness filled with green flaming cracks slammed into the dummy, reducing it to basically chunks as the enhanced power tore through all the materials. The black became even more obvious when contrasted against the dull green light of the poison fire, and as I watched, the pieces of the dummy dissolved. Once the attack finished I just stood there and gaped.

Callie's decent amount of Might,multiplied by Afterburner, augmented by Mercy Kill, and honed by poison fire, not to mention the speed bump from Flurry of blows, was an attack on a level I had never used before. As I watched the corroding ashes of the dummy drift to the ground, I couldn't help but grin victoriously. I was exhausted from Afterburner after it faded, but that didn't stop me from being excited. This was an absolutely perfect answer to all my problems so far.

I'd been worried about how to keep up with my friends, even with my quick progress I wasn't able to keep pace because I had to spread out my stats so much. This would let me use the power of concentrated and specialized abilities without having to damage my ability to use my Wish power to maximum effect. Not to mention the synergy with my current skillset. I'd finally found a path to making myself stronger. Hell, there was a pretty good chance I could actually punch above my rank if I could fill out a good loadout of attacks.

Turning to Callie, I grinned at my girlfriend, who was likewise gaping at the destruction. "Ok. That was crazy. I remember how strong that shield was...vaguely, but seeing an attack at that level. Those were weaker shadow blades too. My current attack would be twice as efficient in terms of penetrating power. That's just ME, could you imagine if you got some attacks from Cark? Or one of Jessie's heals to keep in reserve? How many of those things can you hold? Is it unlimited? You could just stockpile a ton and crush anyone who tried to hurt us."

She sounded pretty excited. I appreciated the vote of confidence, but I had to rain on her parade. "Probably not too many. I'll have to check. I might be able to hold a few of each, but even if I can hold an unlimited number I still have to keep up my stat gain. I can't use all my wishes on storing up attacks or I'm going to fall behind. I need to head back to the crafting hall soon, I can't keep moving around stats in the party."

I sighed, having been worried about this for a while. "While you get a commensurate number of points in another stat, when you pay with stat points you still lose points from somewhere. In order for me to grow you need to lose out. If I can get points from other people I can gain and then you all can trade attacks for your points." I wasn't sure how many of those attacks they had in them per day, at least not full power ones, but in any case, it was a solid plan. For now though we had more training to do. Might as well push myself a bit. At least after I recovered from Afterburner. I was still exhausted.