Being back in the Pavilion was like walking out of the heat into a cool familiar house. I hadn't even noticed the shift in tension in Doomtown. Even when I was enjoying myself, I'd had to be actively on the lookout for traps or murder attempts. Up here in G-district where we could relax I was finally able to let down my guard.

The first thing I did when I got back was go see my best friend. Callie came along, and to my shock, Benny was actually at the Pavilion instead of at the Academy with Celine. To my even bigger shock, he was currently running the obstacle course, or at least about to finish it. I'd missed most of the actual run. Judging by his combat standards against the golems, he had been putting in a ton of work too. Callie and I came over to stand next to Alden and Jessie as they watched, letting out a low whistle. "Wow, someone made some big leaps."

Despite not have gained many stats in the week we were gone, Benny's integration of the abilities that his artifacts gave him had become exponentially more polished. His density shifting, both lower and higher had been trained diligently. He appeared to be able to extend the effects of his enhancements to his whole body now, using them as comprehensive Skills. He had to concentrate hard to do it, and it was clearly taxing, but it gave him the ability to contend with much stronger opponents.

Alden, who had noticed me but not commented, chuckled. "Aye. Been putting him through his paces. He still sneaks off to see that lass of his now and then, thinks I don't notice, but a bit of down time isn't doing any harm. Still, he's been training like the devil is on his tail." He shot a fond look at Jessie. "And this little miss hasn't been far short of that. Though I admit I see less of it since she trains so much up at the fancy E-ranked faction building. Us lowly G-rankers aren't good enough I suppose."

Our perky blonde haired teammate didn't even bother to respond to him, she got so excited when she saw us she launched herself off the bench, catching Callie mid stomach in a tackle hug. I suspect she picked Callie because she was closest, and because trying to tackle both of us would be nigh impossible given the height difference. "You're back!" She squealed so loudly I thought she might shatter glass. "I'm so glad to see you!"

I chuckled and reached down to ruffle her hair, since she was already engaged in a hug. She huffed at me, blowing some of it out of her eyes so she could fix me with an emerald glare. "Stop that. Jerk." She climbed off Callie, gave me a light shove and then plopped back down next to Alden. "Also shut up, I so didn't do that. Randall just doesn't like training here. Can you blame him?"

He shrugged, conceding the point. "You lot are back early. You finish that training so soon?" His tone was casual but I saw a hint of shock on his face. Considering the Paired Dueling training was passed down to Abel and Mel by Alden, he would know how it worked. What I was curious about was where he'd learned about it. Though obviously adapted for the local environment, this whole training regimen had the feeling of a systematic teaching tool. Things like that were supposed to be important assets to bigger forces.

Had Alden been a member of some big sect or group? Had HE had a partner at one point? I was deathly curious, but that all seemed like personal stuff that might be painful to talk about. So instead of saying all that I just smirked and said. "Yeah, we got the Skill a few days ago. But we're not really done. We came to pick up some stuff. There's a big auction down there and we're going to try to buy up some training resources. We want to make sure the Pavilion can keep pumping out strong elites."

This time it was his turn to whistle. "Not bad, you two. That's damn fast. Still, fits with the two of you. Always been a bit quick on the uptake, least since I've known you." I smiled and nodded my thanks at the compliment. Alden had trained Abel, him being impressed was an honor.

"So." Said Callie, flopping onto the bench next to Jessie. "How much has he improved? I can tell he's a lot smoother with his ability. I assume that's a result of building soul strength? Using those abilities as Skills must be tough for him. How did he manage to grow so fast?" That was a good point, soul strength training was slow and incredibly difficult to manage. It was basically just work until your head hurt then stop and recover.

Alden grinned. "He's been working on some new Inventions after you left. Threw everything but the kitchen sink together, and finally came across something useful. He build a spiritual calming belt. They help the soul recover faster. They're extremely rare, even lower tier versions. Once he integrated that he started to increase his Skill training tenfold. He's been progressing quite quickly. Sadly the belt is too low tier to be effective long term. Once he catches up with Solomon I'm guessing he'll slow down."

Still though. It was a terrifying new ability. And I knew how much it sucked recovering from excessive soul weight. Even a bit of recovery would help in the future, no matter what tier it was. It really showed the absurd potential of Benny's ability. Even items of limited use would be helpful if used like a part of you. Benny would be able to catch up much faster with that capability, and I was glad to hear he'd found something that could help. We'd need to help Jessie learn to train her soul too. Based on what I'd been told it seemed like it was almost necessary to advance past E-rank.

We waited a bit for Benny to finish his fight before he headed over to where we were sitting. He had originally been jogging, but when he noticed Callie and I he bolted over. "You're back! How was the dark district? See any cool stuff? Bring me any souvenirs? I accept tribute in the form of food, clothes, and expensive Inventing materials." He paused. "Though not necessarily in that order."

I snorted. "Amateur. Why bring you souvenirs when we can bring you to the dark district. We came back to drag you down there in person." Also I hadn't considered buying souvenirs, which I kind of felt bad about now. Not that I would admit that even on pain of death.

Benny seemed momentarily derailed from our banter. "Wait...really? I thought it was super dangerous down there and all that? Aren't you worried about us getting killed down there? Because I was joking about needing new stuff. I can definitely wait on Inventing materials if it means I don't have to die."

Callie cut in. "No. I have a plan for that. We both do actually." She bumped me with her shoulder. "Solomon has an idea for keeping us all safe, and on top of that...well I won't talk about my plan here. The walls have ears and all that. Suffice to say there's a big event down there we don't want you both to miss. On the upside Agria you can take Randall for a walk finally."

Mentally I had to smother a laugh at the idea of the giant F-ranked bear coming with us. Still, he would give Jessie plenty of security, especially with the F-rankers we were going to request from Alexander. Though that actually gave me an idea. "Agria, do you have a beast bonding Skill? " I'd never heard Jessie mention anything like the bond with the Ralkors, but if there was a permanent version of that like our Paired Dueling Skill it would make Jessie infinitely safer.

She seemed surprised I'd even heard of it. "Not even close. Those Skills take forever to develop. I'm pretty sure the Beast Queen has one, and a fairly high level one too. I know you can synergize them with your ability to make some interesting powers, though I won't be doing that." She didn't say why, and didn't need to. Everyone here was well aware of her long term goals in regards to her healing ability.

Still that seemed odd to me. "It takes that long? I'd figure with how taming works it would be pretty easy to form a bond." Even easier than for Callie and I, though I was starting to think I'd cheated with the overlay somehow, based on how everyone was reacting.

"The opposite." Jessie said firmly. "Bonds require a deep understanding and connection. Animals don't think like people, so it's harder to make that connection to begin with. Beast Taming just teaches you how to train an animal and teach them certain behaviors. It doesn't turn them into partners. Bonding is also usually permanent. Tamers often find new beasts, but a bonded companion is rarely tossed aside."

That was an interesting thing to note. I also saw Callie blushing furiously under her mask at that last bit, which made me grin a bit. Not that we couldn't feel how closely we were connected, but hearing it out loud like that was kind of intense. Benny, to my delight, seemed to get what I'd been insinuating, and pulled Jessie aside to talk to her about wishing for a bond with Randall. Since I hadn't told her to do it myself my own bias wouldn't mess with the pricing so much, plus I could always use more heals.

While Callie caught up with Jessie I pulled Benny aside to check on him. "Hey, you ok man? Heard you've been working yourself pretty hard. Impressive you managed to rig up a spiritual calming belt, but don't run yourself into the ground ok? We're planning to help you two catch up before the end of the tournament so we can bring you with us into the Moonsong Glade. You've got plenty of time to train."

Benny just shook his head. "You don't get it. You and Callie are pulling farther and farther ahead. I've been making sure to spend time with Cel so she doesn't feel ignored, but other than that...we're in this together man. I can't let you leave me behind. We might be able to use wishes to get our stats filled out, but the Pavilion has shown us there's way more to combat than that. It's not just me either, Jessie has been training harder than she lets on."

That was...touching? Worrying? I didn't know. But it wasn't my place to tell them what to do. It wasn't even really Callie's, group leader or not. "Alright, but just remember that you don't need to overdo it. You both bring other things to the team. That spiritual calming belt proves your Inventing must be getting better right? No way that thing is less than G-rank. Did you get Inventing to Intermediate?"

He grinned at me widely. "Yup. I haven't been slacking as much as you thought the past few months. Even when I was at the Academy I was usually working. The hardest part was keeping financially solvent while I worked."

Which reminded me. "Speaking of finances, we're also here to stock up on chits. Not sure how much we have in the coffers, but I know Abel and Mel are planning to toss their own cash into the pot. With all of us we should be able to afford some pretty good stuff." Eager to see what exactly we had to work with, we both headed over to talk to Abel and Mel. After we finalized that, we'd just need to wait for the reinforcements Alexander was sending (hopefully) and we would be ready to head back down. Though we might be able to take the evening off too. Would be nice to have some downtime before the big show.