Unlike my experience with Enchanting, Benny was perfectly aware of the finer points of Inventing. I'd really fucked myself getting my Enchanting Skill from someone with almost no memory of the art. It was a reminder that while my ability would thwart any attempts at "unfair compensation" it also worked off intent. I could still get screwed if I didn't understand what I was getting. Not that I was angry at Mr. Patel, I'd been the idiot who did zero research before asking for his Skill.

Once Benny was feeling better we continued with the last two wishes. As agreed we didn't do any more Skills, Benny wished instead for some supplies for entry level Inventing. I was fascinated by exactly how the information in his head worked. Since the Skill was created instead of being traded from someone it made me wonder where the information came from. I imagined the exact amount of knowledge depended on the stats I spent on it, but it didn't answer the question of where it came from.

Still, Benny had the knowledge and clearly knew how to use it, and he was able to get exactly what he needed by making a list and wishing for, and I quote. "As much of the contents of this list as you have the power to give me." He'd managed to get everything he asked for with the two wishes combined, and some of the stuff he'd requested was weird to me, but he seemed so excited by it all that I decided to wait it out to find out what he could do now. Once he had everything he borrowed some tools from Zeke's workshop and we retired to my game room where there was open space to work.

Benny set down the odd pile of randomly shaped metal objects and tubes of chemicals on the floor and stood back. "Ok. Teaching you will probably take a while, but the first step is going to be helping you learn what Inventing actually is. It's...complicated, but I'll do my best to explain it to you. Much like all crafting Skills Inventing is about stats. That isn't surprising because stats basically quantify all the important elements in existence, and they exist in some form in everything."

I nodded. That fit with what I knew well enough. As we'd seen earlier even mortals had stats, they were just so low that they weren't quantifiable by the world around them, and as such they weren't able to handle cultivation. One point of Impact was the foundation that an Ascendant was built on. You could construct a tower one block at a time, but you needed a stable surface to place down that first block. Everything Ascendants did involved stats in one way or another, and creating items was no different.

Benny picked up a vial of red liquid and a bronze pipe. "This chemical is called Virium, and this pipe is made of phosphorous bronze. Virium has extreme regenerative properties, and phosphorus bronze is incredibly hard. These are mundane items, but they possess higher than average amounts of stats. Vitality and Might in this case. Still below a point, but the values are there, and that's where Inventing does it's work. Where Enchanting shoves your stats into an object and Alchemy mixes them together, Inventing is about more than simply combining things."

He picked up a few other things and started fashioning them together. "Rather than combine the objects together by merging them, Inventing treats the various objects as parts of a whole. Phosphorus bronze has more Might than most metals, it's good for striking things or cutting, Virium has more Vitality, it can heal. The item I can make will have both of these properties, but rather than just add them together, it applies them to the entirety of my creation." His hands moved swiftly and surely as he made adjustments, slowly rotating gears and small pieces of odd random junk he had pulled from the pile and attached.

It took him about ten minutes to finish putting them all together. "With multiple pieces of phosphorus bronze here to use, rather than, to ballpark it, a tenth of a point of Might each the Inventing Skill lets me treat the whole device as a piece of gear with one point of Might. With a few of the other items there added together I also have a point of Vitality mixed in, and because of the strange construction and visual effects I was able to capitalize on the small amount of Fantasy and get a point of that."

He finished and set down...a robot. It was a tiny semi humanoid being with big thick legs that were attached high up the sides of its square body and two tiny flexible arms. There was a red glow behind it's eyes and it looked almost...excited, as it stomped around the empty room, its metal feet clanging as it ran playfully in circles. I blinked at Benny. He just grinned in response. "I call him Tock. As you can see, inventing can make amazing things. Unfortunately it's somewhat more limited than Enchanting or Alchemy."

I raised a questioning eyebrow at that and he shrugged. "When you Enchant you shape the runes to your will, and when you use Alchemy you can use your stats to prioritize ingredients...I think. There was a bit of basic knowledge of a bunch of things in my Inventing Skill but it was vague. Anyway, Inventing is different than the others because due to it's nature as a cumulative discipline, the nature of what you make is entirely dependent on the materials you use. You can make bigger, more impressive things out of Ascendant materials, but it still works based on the properties of what you used."

I blinked in understanding. "Oh! That's part of why people are so skittish around Mad Scientists I bet. They're at the mercy of their materials, and therefore they don't control what comes out when they create." I paused. "Well, I mean they control it by making sure to use materials relevant to their object, but it explains why their results are so inconsistent. It probably takes a ton of experimenting to identify a combination of materials that produces a specific item even after you finish making it."

Benny nodded. "It does. The trade-off is the fact that unlike Alchemy and Enchanting you aren't mobilizing much of your own energy. Mad Scientists can work for days where dedicated Enchanters have a hard limit based on their rank. Alchemists can push a bit further because of their reliance on more powerful materials but Inventing is the most economic and least tiring crafting discipline, even if it's also the most unpredictable." It was weird seeing my friend talk with such authority about a subject I knew he had no clue about a few hours ago, but not in a bad way.

I got down on the floor to look at the frolicking little robot. It was, in a word, adorable. I looked over at my friend and he chuckled. "Vitality, Fantasy, and Might, the combination makes an animated robot." He paused. "Well, the combination of these ingredients makes an animated robot. The biggest gamble in inventing is the nuance of the materials can create a totally different outcome if you don't use the exact same combination. If I was using some other metal I might have gotten an belt with a third arm on it."

Which actually made the way Mad Scientists were treated a lot more understandable. With what Callie had told me about recursion, if a Mad Scientist accidentally made something crazy or dangerous it would start to push their reputation in a more negative direction. Hell, even the general perception of "corrupted" abilities probably pushed people with those powers towards more selfish or brutal actions. The worst part was I could see why they didn't just tell everyone the truth too, because if it came out that Ascendants were vulnerable to mental manipulation like that it would seriously shake public faith in us, and the worry of the masses might have a wide scale effect on all of us.

The image curating that the Unity obviously did behind the scenes made so much more sense in that context. Hell the existence of the Unity made more sense. Snatching up all the talented new Ascendants and pushing them to be "heroes" gave them a sharp push down the right path at the beginning that would hopefully snowball enough to stick. Regardless that was all way above my pay grade. I was just an H ranker, I could worry about this all when I had the power to actually come into contact with it.

For now I was just going to play with this weird little robot because it was hilarious and adorable. The robot, having noticed me getting on the floor, was trying to stalk me now, circling around behind me to pounce. It apparently wasn't aware that it's big metal feet were clanking on the floor with every step, and to make it's complete lack of steath more apparent, as soon as it got out of sight it wailed. "THREEEEEE!" And charged me. Loudly. I felt it bump gently into my leg at what was probably it's top speed and then...stop.

The little guy was all of seven inches tall and made of relatively lightweight metal. Despite the loud impacts on the floor as it walked it had very little force behind it. The robot came to a stop against my leg and kept trying to run, obviously attempting to...push me? I looked up at Benny, who just shrugged "He's a guard robot, because of the Might. You're intruding on his floor, so he's trying to remove you." His lips twisted a bit as the robot pushed harder, obviously trying not to laugh at the little bots antics.

I rolled my eyes and picked the little thing up. It's legs kicked in the air and it's arms waved furiously as it repeated it's high pitched cry. I felt like an asshole so I put it back down after standing up, and it went right back to slamming harmlessly into the side of my shoe. I looked to Benny, who was staring, fascinated, at the little guy. "Well, how does it feel to have an almost superpower? A Minor Skill is technically within human limits, but you're right on the edge with that one."

He grinned at me. "It feels amazing. I almost picked Alchemy because it went with my cooking Skill, but this one is better. I don't need expensive ass ingredients you can't find on this planet for one. Plus look how cute that little guy is." He nodded down to the robotic menace ramming into my leg. "I'm going to give him to Maria. Maybe it'll shut her up about that scan box. Speaking of which, have you been back on Doom Sovereign lately? Seems like a waste not to use the thing even if you have a better source for wishes now."

I winced. "No. I really need to actually. I've been meaning to experiment a bit in game and try to get a better handle on my Lesser Doom Sovereign Mastery Skill. I think the stronger it gets the more of the game mechanics I can use in my fights, and since my power isn't really combat applicable I think I want to focus on that Skill for battle." I'd decided against synergizing it after I learned from Zeke that I'd lose my three times stat modifier if it changed, but I was still incredibly excited by the possibilities.

Benny grinned. "Well, I'm here and you have your original setup still. Why don't I go into the game with your original rig since I have nothing to hide, and you can go in with the newer box. I mean, I don't remember how to play much, but still, I'm sure you could use a sounding board, and with my new slightly better than normal but still not even one point of Focus I bet I can pick things up pretty quick." I returned his smile with one of my own, showing my teeth, and walked over to pick up my old scan box, tossing it to him. Guess it was time to do some more testing.