"Dear gods." I said through a mouthful of rice and cheese and sauce. "These enchiladas are amazing. Like, top five of all time in terms of sheer deliciousness. These are only H-rank?" I shoveled in another bite happily, ignoring the blistering glare Owen was shooting all of us as we scarfed down free enchiladas for almost twenty people. I was planning to eat here every meal for the week we got these free. They weren't that expensive honestly, it just kind of added up because I couldn't stop eating them.

Abel, who was polishing off his fiftieth somehow, nodded without looking up. "Yeah. The original recipe was created by some D-rank chef Taggert met ages ago. He pulled some kind of high ranking nonsense and figured out how to make the ingredients harmonize perfectly to boost the flavor profile. Still only H-rank materials and results, but the taste is G-ranked in quality somehow. Gods I forgot how good these are. I didn't see the chef, who is cooking these things anyway? They must hate me." He laughed after he said that like it was a joke, but I was pretty sure he was right about that.

Owen actually smirked a bit at that. "Cherry took over as chef ages ago. And yes, she hates you, but to be fair, she's hated you for years. My sister always could hold a grudge, and she never forgave you for winning her motorcycle in that poker game and then crashing it. I think she might have tried to have you killed if anyone would have been willing to take the bounty." He was smiling fondly as he stared off into the distance, but at that last word shook his head to clear it. "Ah, right, bounties. You wanted to hear about all the contestants I've met so far."

I fixed my eyes on him, waiting expectantly as I continued eating enchiladas. There was a pair of big platters in the center of the table, and Rudy kept bringing out a fresh one to swap for whichever emptied first. Apparently deciding he might as well enjoy the expense, Owen grabbed a plate and started piling on enchiladas himself, starting to eat as he decided where to begin.

"Well." He said between bites. "I think the first thing to mention is that while I was only planning to collect the information bounty, most of the local factions are taking out legitimate contracts on the known contestants. Once you're all noticed you'll undoubtedly have a few taken out on you too. There's a whole pre tournament war game type thing going on down here, and the biggest names are all paying the most. The outsider factions don't have as much in the way of connections, but most of them are making offers where they can, so just being down here is dangerous as hell."

Abel swallowed a bite and actually stopped eating. "Really? That sounds fun. Anyone we would know participating? We can't be the only ones from the old days that held up at G-rank for whatever reason. I know some of the old Twenty were almost as into combat specialization as I was. Granted, they'd be too old for the list now, but still, they would be decent competition."

That got a chuckle for Owen. "Just two. Rayka Vale and Helix. Vale has been running a bounty hunting business down here for years now. Never felt the need to jump up ranks because she didn't want to lose her cash cow. Word on the street is she's finally ready to make the jump up to F-rank after the tournament. Helix disappeared for a few years there. No one is sure where he went, but I heard rumors he ended up in one of Mad Madigans lost mazes and got stuck there for a while. He came out...weird. I'd avoid him. It's not common for Ascendants to go crazy for non recursive reasons, but I'm pretty sure Helix did."

Abel actually cringed at that. "That's...not ideal. Helix was a scary bastard even back in the day. That transmutation power of his is nasty, and he was always good at coming up with creative ways to use it. Sad to hear he's had such a bad time. He wasn't very talkative, but I always liked him well enough. I remember Rayka too, but she made less of an impression. Something about energy constructs I think? I'll keep an eye out for them. What about the new bloods? Anyone with potential or just the usual legacies?"

Owen shrugged. "Most of the E-rankers have kids going in, but not too many of them are notable. We've got them coming in from both sides too. The Unity and WCP both. Screaming Stevie has a kid entering who seems to be pretty competent. Sonic powers are always a pain in the ass to deal with so he's under scrutiny. Dread's daughter is going to be in it, to no one's surprise. The entire Titan Twenty is going to be competing, though only a few of those are notable. Beat and Sever are supposed to be solid, and they've been seen around with Serenity, the Peace Lord's daughter, though all three vanished for a while."

I shared a look with Callie, who smirked slightly at the mention of our defeated enemies. Good to know that was getting around. Abel, on the other hand, looked annoyed. "Food aside, this isn't really worth much man. You've told me about a few people I could have heard about elsewhere. You made it sound like you had the inside line on anyone we might be meeting. I assume that you can at least give us the details on the outsider factions?"

The eye roll Owen gave my teacher reminded me so much of something Benny would do that I had to stop myself from choking on my food. "Impatient ass. " He said fondly. "Yes, I have the details on most of the recent arrivals. I also have my sources still scrounging and have my ear to the ground. I'll get you the new information as it becomes available too. We're in this together now, so I want the four of you to place well. How else will I get paid?"

"We appreciate the help either way." Callie cut in with a reproachful glare at Abel. "Any information is better than none, and this food is delicious." I tried not to snicker at that. Callie was obsessed with good food, so this deal was already a good investment as far as she was concerned. Abel knew her well enough to know the same and just rolled his eyes at her predictable reaction. "In any case, any info on the outsiders is bound to be useful. We can find out about the locals from anywhere, but knowledge about the new arrivals is sure to be sparse."

Even Abel couldn't argue that, and he raised an eyebrow at Owen, silently prompting the green haired man to continue. With a victorious smirk at my silver masked teacher, he did so. " There are a few of them that I've heard about. Mostly bigger factions from the nearby star systems. The Twilight Order is here. They're monk types, most of them use some variation of light and shadow powers, sometimes both. Big on tricks and illusions and SUPER pretentious. Their contender's name is MacGregor. Big blonde bastard with a beard who prefers light based attacks. Heard he burns out peoples eyes sometimes."

He looked around quickly before continuing, lowering his voice. "The Darkling Institute use some weird combination of necromancy and mad science to create minions. They're mostly pretty scary, but the most dangerous is a girl named Mordaunt. Dark blue hair and dark skin, travels with a huge bandaged guy in manacles. Has the creepiest glowing green eyes. The minion's name is Malgrim and he's got a freaky level of regeneration. Some kind of Vitality multiplier ability I think, because he straight up knits back together as you watch."

I shuddered a bit at what kind of abominations necromancy and mad science could produce in conjunction. Mad science could seemingly bend or even break the rules that governed most ranks out of sheer randomness, and necromancy created powerful undead servants. The last thing I felt like running into was some kind of super corpse with rule bending abilities, and I made a not to avoid the Institute's people if possible. I had to ask. "Are there any less...creepy options? Someone more into direct combat?"

He smirked at that. "Well, the Spear Legion are here. They all have the same ability actually, or versions of it. Spear Mastery. They tend to synergize it with odd stuff, but their whole thing is just being really good at stabbing stuff with a spear. It's less straight forward than it sounds though. Weapon masters are nasty in a fight. They only have the one trick, but they're damn good at it." He gestured at Abel. "This scary bastard could technically be considered an unarmed combat specialist, to give you a bit of context."

That did give me a bit of an idea about how versatile some of those spear users might be, but far from scaring me off, it made me even more excited. I hadn't ever fought a spear user before, and I was betting they had some fantastic martial arts. I wanted to see how they would measure up against our Balam Mastery, not to mention my combination style with Callie. "Who did the Spear Legion send? Most of the system factions have a primary inheritor right? Same as the locals? They must have some really impressive contestant lined up as their primary."

"Got it in one." He said with a nod. "Lament is their main contender. That girl basically breathes the spear from what I've heard. She's spent twenty five years in G-rank, just polishing her spear skills to the peak of Intermediate. If I had to pick, I'd say she's Apollyon's best shot at a decent match up, though the other three members of that team are no slouches either. Their second is a guy named Wren, uses an absolutely gigantic spear made from some oversized animal bone."

At the mention of a peak Intermediate Skill, I just blinked in shock. The absurd amount of dedication that would have to have taken at G-rank boggled the mind. If her Spear Mastery Skill was peak Intermediate and she was still at G-rank, it also meant that wasn't her actual ability either. Probably a synergized Skill. Someone that scary having an unknown ability made me even more excited, and even Abel looked intrigued.

My mentor's eyes had lit up at the comment as he looked at Owen intensely. "Peak Intermediate? My Ragam is intermediate, but its a ways off from peak. Managing to get a Skill more than a single rank above your current ability rank is difficult, bordering on impossible. The soul weight is too much for most people to take. If she's planning to break through to Expert before she hits F-rank she must be a monster."

That was something I was curious about actually. "Does combat mastery have a high requirement for soul strength? I know that any alterations to a technique strain the soul, and combat specialists are all about maximizing usage. Do you and Mel have a high soul strength? I know Alden's is above average for his rank." The news that having a Skill more than a single rank above your standard caused soul weight made sense when I thought about it, considering how elixirs and such worked, but it opened up a lot of possible questions.

Abel nodded absently, barely paying attention. "Yeah, any decent combat specialist has a strong soul. Soul strength is pretty important for any decent elite, it's much more common in higher ranked planets. We need to feel out some of the competition. Most of them will probably be holed up scheming, but the Spear Legion sound like they're the kind to prefer a straight fight." He turned his predatory grin on Owen. "I only have one more question. What are the chances the Spear Legion fighters are at the Bone Arena?" Owen's answering smirk was all the confirmation I needed. Guess I knew where we were heading next.