The whole 'checking on stat gains' thing, didn't really happen until the next day. We talked a while about the Pavilion, but eventually I caught Jessie starting to nod off and we decided to head home. She'd been life force juicing us all for most of the battle, so I wasn't really tired yet, but I knew I was going to be. Jessie's ability was damn convenient, but it wasn't infinite or free. The energy could be supplied, the life force healed you and energized you, but it didn't really fuel the actions you took with that energy, just repaired the damage from them.

It sounded like a meaningless distinction, until the charge ended, and you crashed. It wasn't too serious after just one or two boosts, but I'd been spamming those damn heal bursts all day, and I was going to drop like a rock when we got back. Which I did. We made it back to the house just in time for me to collapse in bed and sleep for about eleven hours, thankfully completely unbothered by any outside forces as I recovered from an extremely emotionally and physically taxing day of combat.

When I woke up I dragged myself out of my room, yawning loudly and waving to Cark and Cass, who were in the living room watching some cartoon or other. Cark waved back, looking as drained as I was, probably from constant power use. Benny was curled up on the other couch, and Jessie was sitting on the floor next to Cass, watching with her. As I headed into the kitchen I found Callie sitting on a stool, sipping a cup of coffee and looking haggard.

I leaned down to give her a quick kiss, and she pulled back. "Gross." She moaned in annoyance. "Morning breath. Brush your teeth first." I plucked her cup of coffee from her fingers, took a sip swished it around in my mouth, and spit it into the sink before giving her a wide grin. I handed it back to her, but she pushed it away. "Ew, no thanks. I'll make a fresh cup." Her eyes narrowed. "Unless you're planning to replace that one?"

"Oh come on." I said with a laugh. "Spitting it in the sink means I didn't backwash." She glared at me venomously and I put my hands up in placation. "Sorry, sorry. I'll make you a new one. It was just a joke." I probably should have felt that out first. I knew some people were weird about drinking after anyone else, and that had maybe been a bit far since I didn't know if Callie was one of those. I made a point of putting extra effort into her coffee, giving her a huge mug with exactly the sweetener and amount of cream she preferred.

I passed it to her, and she took a long sip. "Not terrible." She intoned gravely. "I guess I can let it slide this time, but don't do it again. Your jokes aren't funny when they're at the expense of my coffee." She shooed me toward the stove. "As your final act of penance make me an omelette. Goat cheese and fennel sausage. Five eggs."

That got a laugh from me. "Oh I see how it is. Play up your emotional trauma so I'll be forced to be your personal chef. Fine. Since I was in the wrong, I'll play along just this once." Which was bullshit. I was always happy to cook for Callie and we both knew it, but we were just bantering. I took out a full dozen eggs, deciding to make one of me as well. "So. I didn't get to ask last night, how many points did you get after the fight? I'm assuming you got some like I did?"

She grinned. "Yup. Twenty points of Creation, fifteen points of Might, ten of Perception, ten of Fantasy, and weirdly five of Vitality. I'd guess that we weren't the only ones either. Though I suspect Abel and Mel were the subject of more of the stories about what happened than we were. My totals are up pretty high, I broke eight hundred points overall, which means I'm only two hundred away from F-rank." Her voice was nearly shaking with excitement at reaching the same height our Guild Master had been at back home, and so much earlier than she had ever imagined.

Calliope Reynolds: G-rank

Beginner Shadow Embodiment- The ability to control and shape shadows either molding them into constructs of imbuing them into specially prepared objects to enable enhancement and control. Might 198 Impact 12 Vitality 142 Fantasy 85 Focus 58 Perception 175 Creation 132 Pets: Wolf named Rellia Skills:

Minor Tracking, Beginner Stealth, Beginner Trap Mastery, Beginner Disguise, Lesser Balam Mastery, Beginner Shadow Manipulation Mastery.

I whistled at the numbers. "Damn. Your Might has almost broken two hundred. Are you sure you want to rank up like that? From what I can tell, the result of synergizing takes into account a lot of factors, and stats are one of them. You have that Shadow Manipulation Skill to mix in, and if your Might is so high you're going to end up with something physical and close combat when you do it. With Might already so high, it might be a good idea to put the rest of your upcoming points into Perception or Creation."

My girlfriend let out a sigh. "I'd considered it. Might is damn useful, and it makes fights insanely convenient, but you aren't wrong that its not the main aspect of my combat style. Still, a more physical ability might not be as unsuited to me as you're thinking. I'll probably push Creation and Perception like you suggested, but don't be surprised if having high Might pays off in an unexpected way. I have some ideas for what I may get from the mix, and it's something I've never heard of a shadow manipulator getting, at least not around here."

I tried to pry at that statement, but she refused to say any more. I just rolled my eyes. If she wanted to keep it secret until rank up that was her call. "Anyway. I got a solid boost too. Thirty points to Vitality, probably from all the heal bursts, twenty five to Might, twenty to Focus, and ten to Creation. I kind of wish I'd gotten some Fantasy, but it seems like none of my tricks really push my legend in that direction. I have other ways to pad that number though, so it hardly matters." The stats had applied in my sleep, much like the first time I'd gotten them. So I hadn't had some big dramatic stat dump.

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 122 Impact 12 Fantasy 21 Vitality 101 Focus 108 Perception 90 Creation 92

Pets:

Wolf named Jin

Stored attacks:

3 shadow attacks, 5 triple strength tranq blows, 2 triple strength density shifted attacks. 1 spider leg attacks, 2 heal bursts

Skills: Beginner Doom Sovereign Mastery,Beginner Enchanting Mastery (four charges per point of Impact), Lesser Cooking Mastery,Lesser Inventing Mastery, Lesser Stealth, Minor Piano Mastery, Minor Gymnastics Mastery, Minor Swimming Mastery, Minor Guitar Mastery, Minor Singing Mastery,Minor Poker Mastery, Minor Archery Mastery, Minor Boxing Mastery,Lesser Balam Mastery, Minor First Aid Mastery, Minor Herbalism Mastery

My stats were looking fantastic. I'd officially made it past a hundred in three of them, was only ten points from that milestone in two others, and had broken the five hundred point barrier already on the way. I was actually at a level where I wasn't much weaker than your average G-ranker in individual stats. At least not in their unspecialized stats. Not that it would matter for long. "So." I said with a sigh as I started the omelette. "My cousin says this tournament is a big deal, and that it's aimed at the peak of G-rank."

Callie made an interested sound. "Yeah, when is it going to be? Even for us, breaking through too soon isn't going to be simple. I mean, granted, we all have some elixir capacity left, most of us a decent chunk. But still, Jessie and Benny are both pretty low in the G-ranks. I'm not sure if we can rank them up in time for them to combat viable if it's too soon. Hell, I'd say we couldn't rank ourselves up in time and still be able to put up a fight, if not for how specialized I am and your new tricks."

I sighed at that. "Two months, from what I can tell. You're right though. I don't have the capacity to rank all of us up that quickly. Especially not with three of my wishes promised to the Beast Lord Garden." I was already kind of regretting that decision, but in the end it didn't actually hinder me so much as force me to dedicate three of those wishes to myself daily. Still, it left forty or so wishes for me to use to continue boosting Benny and Jessie. Not nearly enough to get them to F-rank in time for the tournament, but enough to get started.

I felt a poke in my ribs and turned to see Callie smiling up at me. "Hey, stop being such a worrier. Even if they can't participate in the tournament we can still have them up to speed by the time we have to go to the actual dungeon, right? It's not like a tournament that size is going to be quick and painless. We'll need to deal with plenty of bullshit to get through it. That just leaves us entering as a duo. Which is fine with me. Though it's also possible Mel and Abel could be entering. Hard to say with them."

That was a good point. Abel seemed to want to be left alone mainly, but how much of that was just trying to avoid giving his brother a chance to start trouble and drag him into it was hard to say. The man had a natural inclination for battle that couldn't be common even on higher ranked planets, and a genuine love of combat. With the Pavilion severed from the circus and his own return to his former home, not to mention Mel's involvement in the place. It wasn't exactly out of the question for Apollyon and Starbreaker to return to Rajak in style.

I was reminded of my first rank up, and how I'd had to accept it. I couldn't remember hearing anything about suppressing your rank, but then again, who would bother? Maybe they'd reached F-rank a long time ago and just decided to stay where they were. It certainly fit Abel's whole foundation building strategy. It would be convenient if nothing else. Assuming they even wanted to enter. It also opened up the possibility we would be facing other G-rankers who had done the same thing.

Either way, we had plenty of training to do before the tournament, stats to gain, combat to master, and attacks to stockpile in my case. I had forty eight charges per day to use for my DS Mastery now, or any Enchanting I needed to do, with the foundation to double that again sometime down the line. I still had to upgrade all my subskills in DS Mastery to reach Intermediate with it and unlock new ones too.

There was more things to do than I could possibly count, and more ways to get stronger than I could imagine. Part of me felt overwhelmed at the idea of it, and part of me was just excited. For now I would just focus on making breakfast for my girlfriend, and then we could check in with the others about their own gains from the big blowout. After that, I was thinking a trip up to the Academy was long overdue. We should check in with Grimmengap and invite them to the Pavilion, and collect the points from the mission we had completed. I was sure our rankings had dropped, might as well get them back up. At the very least, I doubted we would be bored anytime soon.