The next week was a blur of grinding and training. I put in some serious work with Benny and Jessie. Callie and I had talked and given the massive point difference between G and F rank in terms of requirement, my wishes were better spent on the other two first. With seven days of wishes we managed thirty five points between the two of them. Given how behind he was we made it twenty points for Benny and fifteen for Jessie.

Benny didn't have all his stats unlocked, but since the early points became easier the higher you went just by virtue of qualitative shift we didn't bother fleshing out his stat sheet. He would get the other stats later, we focused on Might and Focus, to help with inventing and to let him use the integrated inventions he made more effectively. We couldn't rank him up too quickly, but I wanted to at least get some points in him.

Benicio Cortez- H rank. Ability: Lesser Mechanical Embodiment- Allows the integration of existing inventions into the users body for the purposes of strengthening and enhancing them. Might 13 Impact 2 Vitality 2 Focus 12 Perception 2 Skills: Lesser Inventing Mastery,Minor Cooking Mastery, Minor Haggling Mastery

I was going to put another ten or so into his Vitality stat when I could. Then we would let him grind Inventing for a while so he didn't draw too much attention when he hit G rank. Jessie had already been H ranked when she got here, and while it had still been a shorter time than normal, a boom from hitting the scene in the capital wasn't too crazy. I put five of her points into Might and ten into Vitality at her request.

Jessica Evans- H rank. Ability: Lesser Florokinesis- grow and control plants, as well as repairing damaged plants fibers. Might 11 Impact 2 Fantasy 7 Vitality 25 Creation 8 Skills: Lesser Horticulture, Minor Herbalism, Minor Flower Arrangement, Minor First Aid

Jessie's Might had been six originally and her Vitality fifteen. With the added points she was officially past the halfway mark for an H ranker, and it was a fantastic achievement to hit so fast. Of course, I got some benefits of my own after all the wishes. Sadly since buffing my team was the whole point I couldn't really take stats, but memories worked just fine. Specifically Skill memories that helped me a lot with gaining and upgrading new skills.

We figured out I couldn't take memories implanted with wishes, like the original knowledge from Benny's inventing Skill, but I could take memories of him USING the Skill, and gain experience inventing as a Lesser inventor, which helped me rank up my own inventing Skill much more quickly than expected. The best part was that he didn't hurt his own progress that way, at least not much, since he could just make new inventing memories.

From Jessie I got a ton of memories from her Herbalism skill. Not a Lesser Skill or anything, but it was enough for me to get a new Skill of my own. After a few sessions I officially had the Herbalism skill myself, and Jessie was able to make new Herbalism memories so no real damage to her long term abilities. As long as they stuck to giving me memories of training or specific uses of powers and not the foundational information the skills would stay at the same level. Though they wouldn't advance so it wasn't really perfect. Still. I'd made my own progress.

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 18 Impact 12 Fantasy 14 Vitality 12 Focus 18 Perception 25 Creation 20 Skills: Beginner Doom Sovereign Mastery,Lesser Enchanting Mastery, Lesser Inventing Mastery, Lesser Cooking Mastery, Minor Piano Mastery, , Minor Gymnastics Mastery, Minor Swimming Mastery, Minor Guitar Mastery, Minor Singing Mastery, Minor Poker Mastery, Minor Archery Mastery, Minor Boxing Mastery, Minor Herbalism Mastery

Still, even without trading for stats I had made some gains. A point of Creation and three of Focus from my growing reputation in the crafting hall, though I suspected I'd have done better if I'd kept going back. I'd also been kicked back down the rankings from six hundred and ten thousand plus to seven hundred and twenty thousand six hundred and five. At lower levels the rankings weren't separated by much so an entire week of not gaining any contribution points had seen me overtaken by a LOT of people.

I wasn't worried about it though, easy come easy go. I could get those points back simply enough by buckling down and granting some wishes at the Academy. Not to mention I would be getting some serious stats as I did. I just had to avoid calling the same people too often. If I had access to more wishes too quickly it would fuck up my cover as a poor sub contractor just taking advantage of a decent connection. People didn't bother rare item dealers if them getting the items was a fluke, though I'd had more than one call from customers hoping to get another boost.

Despite it making it easier to find clients that way I always told them I was sold out. I'd go back for repeat business after the whole thing had some time to cool down. In the meanwhile I would find new people in line in the crafting hall to top me off. After the week of training though, we had all gathered together to discuss our next move. Jessie and Benny both looked absolutely thrilled by their improvement, and Callie had been working with her shadows to improve her in combat usability for once we got her Might up to scratch.

We all met up in my room again and I raised an eyebrow at my friends. "So. As much fun as this has all been I think I'm about ready to quit being a vending machine for the moment. I can still do wishes for you guys especially on days we can't get in to the academy, but I'm starting to get cabin fever cooped up here in the residential area. I don't think we're ready for G district again and I don't exactly want to hit the Academy when I'm on empty. So any ideas on what the hell we should do to test this new and improved team dynamic?"

Jessie raised a hand eagerly. "Oh! We could do another critter hunt!" She made a face. "Though I would prefer we go after something big and slow that doesn't breed fast. Those raccoon things were never ending and it was pretty stressful just sitting there while you held them off. There were so many it felt like one would slip past you any minute. Are there any big strong H rank monsters we can look for? You guys could hang back and let us take priority, only step in if you're needed."

That wasn't a bad idea. Bit slow for me and Callie, but if it helped them get used to their growing powers it was a solid plan in my opinion. I turned to Benny. "What do you think? Also any new integrations over the last week? I've been so focused on grinding up your stats I wasn't sure. Jessie was the one working in the later half of the week, so I figure you put the improved Focus to work right?" I really should have checked in, but I spent all the time I wasn't granting wishes every day meditating on the information in all the new memories, going over them repeatedly to contextualize them with my skills.

He grinned and held up a fist. "Yeah, I managed to get my hands on some more materials. I tried a bunch of combinations but I finally got something useful for my other fist. It's a low power slow acting tranquilizer effect that gets driven in with a punch. To start out or with just one hit it's basically useless, but the more the fight goes on the more hits I land and the longer it has to work. It's perfect for long term fighting against people I can't use a finisher on." He gave Jessie a wry smile. "I learned that lesson the last time. I needed something that would work on a stronger opponent."

Jessie's eyes lit up. "That is so COOL! I totally want to spar soon so I can see how it works. I had double the amount of Might you did last time, but now I'm actually two points behind you. That said my Vitality took a big jump, and with my extra Might now I should be able to use my Florokinesis in combat even without my wand." She looked sad at the loss. "Though that thing made using my powers super convenient. I'm really gonna miss it now that it's gone." She shook her head, forcing herself back on task and looked to Callie. "Anyway Cal, you're the monster master here, what can we fight?"

Callie rolled her eyes with a chuckle. "In no way does being the only one who isn't too lazy to do proper research qualify me as the "monster master" but I do have more experience than all of you anyway. Down in the WCP it makes sense to let Shane take the lead, but I don't mind calling the shots up here if it's cool with everyone." I think she honestly expected us to bitch about it, but it only made sense that the veteran hero be our shotcaller. I'd only been making calls down in the WCP because I was the one who knew all the places we were actually going.

I gave her a reassuring smile. "Not at all. You have way more practice than any of us do. Plus I'll be honest, I'm already super busy, doing a ton of critter research you've already done just because I didn't want you bossing me around would be pretty stupid and pointless." My smile turned a bit cheekier and she rolled her eyes at that, but I saw the corner of her lips tug up a bit.

She let out a loud sigh. "Fine. If I have to be the monster guidebook that seems like a fair trade for being in charge. As for the actual question...I might have an idea for what we could hunt."