The rest of the visit home went by in a blur. Between finally getting Maria her ability (magnetism of all things), going out to hang out around town with Callie, spending time with Amelia, and catching up with Maria while she got to know Celine, the days just flew past. By the time we were ready to head home I had to basically force myself to leave. It had been so relaxing and peaceful since we got here that the thought of returning to Rajak to deal with the tournament nonsense almost wasn't worth it.

In the end though, I knew that none of us would be happy long term just lounging around. As nice as it was to decompress, we all really loved getting stronger and having adventures. We'd just been a bit burned out on training and this trip had certainly helped. Of course, I kept up my wishes, getting another nine clone charges from Callie and granting one last wish for Amelia to bump her to H-rank before we left (since she was I-rank and it was a single point she was able to get by paying me promises to cook us a bunch of snacks for the return trip). I still had today's wishes, but I'd deal with those later, for now we were on the road and heading back to the capital.

Callie sighed heavily as she looked through the curtains at the rapidly shrinking city. "I'm going to miss it. Being home. It was...fun. Hell, even seeing Ashley was kind of nice. Granted, mostly I just enjoyed rubbing my growth in her face. We've been at each other's throats since we were both twelve though. She's...like my nemesis. It's really kind of sad she isn't getting strong as fast as me." Her eyes snapped to mine. "Don't you dare tell anyone I said that."

I held up both hands placatingly. "Whoa, no sharing secrets, I've got it. I don't think it's that weird though. She's been on your heels for more than half a decade. That's an important relationship. Just because someone is kind of an asshole doesn't mean they aren't a big part of your life. Nobody likes leaving people they care about behind." I reached out to take her hand, squeezing it. "If it helps, we're not going anywhere. This team will be sticking together for the long haul, at least as long as everyone wants to stay."

Jessie, who was lying on a couch across from us with her feet up, cheered. "Hell yeah! You aren't getting rid of us that easy. Just watch, you'll be sick of us before long." She winked at her slightly teary friend, who chuckled at our healer's enthusiasm. "Anyway, I feel you. I'm going to miss it too. Honestly Shane I'm surprised you didn't bring Maria with us. She could totally keep up, especially with your help."

Benny cut in. "No." Jessie looked surprised at the vehemence in his voice. He just gave her an apologetic smile. "Sorry Jess, but I don't want my sixteen year old sister in the fast lane. She's only a couple years younger sure, but so much of the shit we've gone through has been insane. We could have all died multiple times over." He looked at me. "I love you like a brother, man, and I'm happy to stick it out, but I don't want Maria in this shit. She can go slow and steady and work with Amelia."

Callie sighed. "Honestly. I get it. It's kind of condescending, but based on the things we've seen and done it isn't exactly crazy. She's in a better spot than I was at sixteen for sure. Mom will help her out, and she has those F-rankers Uncle Alex is sending to look after her. She's arguably in a better position to grow than we are. She doesn't have wishes, but she'll have powerful team members to boost her up, plus none of your enemies trying to murder her."

At my hurt look she leaned up to kiss me softly. I wasn't wearing my mask on the trip, but at the moment I wished I had. She gave me a soft smile. "Hey, we all know what we're doing. I'm not saying anything that has happened was on you. I'm just saying you tend to attract trouble, and while that's great for fast cultivation, it's less than ideal for slow and steady progress."

Zeke snorted from off to one side. "She's right kid. Any shortcut to the peak will draw ire. Her current advantages are good for the moment. If it helps you can always come back and give her a hand once you get higher ranked and can more easily protect people. It should be insanely easy to help her rank up with that kind of power. Speaking of easier rank ups. How are you feeling about this tournament?"

Blowing out a breath, I let myself relax into the seat. "I feel...good. The downtime definitely helped clear my head. I'm still a bit nervous but I think relaxing helped some of it sink in. I know that Abel is going to kick our asses for the next two weeks, but still, making it this far into the training gives me a serious sense of accomplishment. Especially seeing how Callie did in her dust up at the club."

"Dust up?" Callie snorted out a laugh. "Are you six hundred years old? Though admittedly it wasn't much of a fight. But yeah, comparing myself to other G-rankers definitely helped me realize how far we've come. We're nowhere close to done obviously, but it feels good. I can't wait to win and get that bump to Impact. Imagine being just that much tougher than any other person your rank." She paused. "Actually Zeke, have you ever gotten extra Impact?"

That surprised a laugh from my uncle. "Oh sure. Not many times, but I've gotten a few points. Comes in handy at higher ranks, and it sets a foundation. You'll learn about why later. Its definitely worth doing though. And it has compounding effects. The more you demonstrate capabilities beyond your rank, even slightly, the more you stand out. People who can buff Impact early tend to build up a lot of momentum. It's not universal but it happens more often than not."

I had figured that would be the case. Having that little bit of extra durability against others of your rank would mean the weaker ones wouldn't really be able to do much of anything and even middling Ascendants would have to put in effort. Not as good as a full rank difference, but also not nearly as obvious. Though that little tidbit about Zeke brought up a question I hadn't considered. "So wait, are you watching our training? I never bothered to ask. If so I'm curious about your feedback."

Zeke grinned widely at me. "That is a fantastic question. The answer is...kind of? I keep an eye on you most of the time but its vague. Just a general sense for anyone E-ranked or higher who might be nearby. If you're in proximity to someone strong enough to need my intervention I'll focus a bit harder. I try not to intrude too much since I cant help with lower ranked enemies either way. I did check out your training when you mentioned it though."

It made me feel a ton better that he wasn't just watching me all the time. The idea had only just occurred to me but it was creepy as hell. I looked at him expectantly. "Well? What did you think? Was it impressive? Mediocre? You've seen what things are like at the top so I'm damn curious what you think of the whole thing. How does Abel measure up to the big dogs in the universe? I think he's the strongest I've seen here level by level, though I'm not exactly an expert so some of the E-rankers might be better."

"Oh." Said Zeke in mild surprise. "That's what you wanted to know. Figured you were fishing for sympathy. He's decent. He's not the first battle nut to try to perfect his own heritage. His is pretty incomplete but its better than most of what you would find on this backwater. He's not exactly the strongest for his level per se. But he's definitely powerful for his age. There are some E-rankers that could keep up if they were at the same rank because of their rich experience, though not all of them by any means. In the wider universe I'd call him mediocre probably. For a world at this level he's a top tier talent though."

That kind of scared me honestly. The idea that Abel, who was damn near invincible as far as I was concerned, was mediocre in terms of combat standards. I had the feeling that Zeke was counting those huge forces with a heritage though, and that was definitely a factor to take into consideration. I shook off that thought though. We'd deal with what came as it came. For now we just needed to focus on the tournament. I had to trust anyone coming to an event at this level would be something we could deal with at least with Mel and Abel's help.

Not wanting to get sucked back into tournament prep before we got home and were forced into it, I turned to Benny, who had seemed quiet. He and Celine had been sitting to one side and he'd been staring into space for a bit. Aside from his comment about not wanting Maria to be on the team he'd been mostly silent, and it struck me now how out of character that was. I waved a hand to try to get his attention. "Hey man, you doing alright? You seem out of it."

He started a bit. "Huh? Oh, sorry. When you guys got back onto the tournament I sort of spaced out. I'm fine. Just weird seeing my parents. I spent so much time growing up in my dad's shadow. I didn't mind it even, it was comfortable and I wasn't really ambitious. I liked being able to relax and just let my family name help me coast. Then I started doing this and you guys all outpaced me so fast. I had to buckle down and work my ass off to catch up. Now I've been doing that so long I don't even recognize myself."

I got where he was coming from, but I also knew he wasn't done, so I just waited for him to continue venting. He stopped to think for a bit before he went on. "Now though...seeing my dad, who was this larger than life person, and comparing him to some of the people I've seen...it just kind of highlights the huge differences. Part of me envies him for being able to stay the same, but I know I couldn't go back to who I used to be with what I've seen." He sighed. "I don't know. I guess I'm just having an existential crisis."

Celine smiled and put a hand on his. "Introspection is hardly a flaw. Seeing one's roots can make a person rethink their path, or affirm it. It's not a bad thing that you're choosing to mull over where you are in life. Just know that no matter what conclusion you come to, I'll be here to listen." We all turned and blinked at her in shock. That was...a lot of emotion for Celine.

The taciturn elf was intentionally closed off most of the time, a side effect of her upbringing. Hearing her express that level of fondness and support was jarring to say the least. I had to wonder though, if Benny wouldn't be a bit less down if he had something to focus on. I couldn't exactly find him a teacher, since he was kind of doing his own thing, but we could look into buying him some more inventing materials. Maybe an upgrade would help him find a bit of purpose. If not it might help him break stuff more effectively. That always made me feel better. Either way it was something to think about as we started to descend. We were finally back.