Rather than jump straight to wish number two though, Callie decided to check out the basement first. The foundation was going to be important when we built the rest of the place, so it made sense to figure out the dimensions and stuff. I followed her down, curious to see what a basement made of monster would look like.

It was…surprisingly homey. The supports were made of bone, but the bone wasn’t white and porous like human bones. I could still tell what it was, but the bones were black and glossy. The stairs down into the place were made of teeth, at least based on the shapes, but they were fitted together, joined into a solid series of platforms.

The floor was…leather? It had been made of some kind of hide tanned firm enough to be almost like tile. There was a slight give, but it didn’t feel disturbing or anything. It reminded me of walking on rubber floors as a kid, back when Benny and I were in childcare together. Kind of springy but still hard.

Lastly was the walls, made of some sort of scales, overlapping in a surprisingly pretty shimmer of blue and green, melding into pretty images that seemed to shift and change based on where you were standing. The whole place was shockingly beautiful for a building (or part of one) made from a monster corpse.

“This is big.” Said Callie with interest, pacing out the length and width of the basement. “Like…really big. Not exactly a mile like I expected though.”

I pointed to the supports. “You asked for strong. It condensed the material to make sure it could hold up whatever building we end up with. Speaking of which, do you have any ideas how you’re going to do this?”

She nodded. “Yup. First I’m using my next wish to wish for a blueprint. Having an exact layout is going to make things substantially easier.” I waited, and she rolled her eyes. “Right. I wish I had a blueprint for the perfect inn for our needs.” Nodding in approval, I waited until the familiar purple flame rolled across my vision.

Wish detected. Grant wish?

I confirmed, and the familiar buildup of electricity rolled across my skin. It wasn’t a strong buildup, a piece of paper with a design wasn’t a stretch for my power and didn’t require much effort, even customized to Callie’s wishes.

There was a flash of purple electricity and the light coalesced into a rolled up tube of papers, which I passed to my girlfriend.

She popped the top, sliding them out, and then carried them over to a central patch of floor and laid them out on the ground, pinning them with a few conjured rocks of shadow to keep the pages from curling. I followed her over and leaned down to get a good look.

I whistled. “Those are…extensive. Thirteen rooms, expansive kitchen, of course, training area, basement meeting hall, secret exit, there’s a lot here.”

She nodded. “The design is even modular. It calls for very general materials, wood, nails, and so on. We can substitute out better materials if we want something sturdier and that will last, or just use the bare minimum.”

“And which one are you going with?” I asked casually. I could grant the wishes for her, but I still didn’t want to influence her calls too much. You never knew when a wish would fail because of unfair compensation. I had a good idea of what she’d choose though, knowing Callie as well as I did.

Sure enough, she rolled her eyes. “Obviously we’re using top of the line E-ranked materials. Or at least the best materials possible with what I have. I’m going to use four of my remaining five wishes maximizing material conjuration, and then the last one to actually put the place together. With all the mats here and a proper blueprint the actual construction should be coverable in one wish.”

I nodded thoughtfully. “That seems like it would work. So, four wishes for the materials, how are you going to divide them up?”

Picking up the blueprints, she turned and headed back up the stairs, out into the meadow outside the spacious basement. “Ok, I think I’ve got this sorted to get the best results. First wish we’ll wish for external building materials, then internal, then the roof, and finally furnishings.” She turned to the others, who had approached when we came out. “That sound alright to you guys?”

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Benny looked thoughtful. “If you really wanted to maximize your material quality you’d wish for them one by one. Wish for the best wood, then the best nails, and so on. But that would take more than you’ve got wish-wise. I think your way will get you a solid build, and should cut down on unnecessary time wastage.”

“We don’t need to make it impregnable anyway.” She said with a laugh. “It’s an inn, not a fortress. The rooms will be usable while we’re here though. The layout is ten normal rooms and three suites. Obviously as the local Lady Celine gets one, and I’m claiming another. As for the third…I suspect Chelsea will get it. Political reasons.” Celine nodded at that and everyone else cursed.

Callie spun, fire in her eyes. “Alright. Time to get started. I wish we had the perfect mix of materials for the outside of this Inn, both in terms of fitting the design and our own preferences.” She was careful with her wording, and I nodded as the message came.

Wish detected. Grant wish?

I winced a bit at the details stat wise. The Might and Creation requirement was expected, but the real kicker was the Impact. It made sense since each of the items in question would be a fully functional real object. I confirmed, and the electricity started to build.

It started with a tingling sort of buzzing along my skin, like normal static that built and built. That was pretty normal, but something about this one felt…different. This was going to be the biggest conjuration I’d done. The wish power worked by creating custom ability templates to maximize my stat usage, which meant different wishes functioned differently, like those bindings we’d used on Weston.

This one felt strange, and I wasn’t quite sure why for a moment. I felt the electricity build inside me, and I waited for it to explode from my hands or what have you, but instead it seemed to concentrate in my stomach. My eyes widened and I retracted the bottom part of my mask as my head fell back and I screamed, a beam of purple lightning streaking up into the sky.

The beam hit the clouds above us and they darkened, flickering ominously with purple light before erupting into a torrent of wrist thick bolts of lightning, all striking the spot directly in front of us. When it finally cleared, I was doubled over, hands on my knees, wheezing, and there was a huge pile of well cut black timber in front of us, shot through with odd grey crystals.

“What.” I wheezed. “The actual fuck?” My voice was gravelly, like I’d just been smoking. Which I suppose I kind of had, if you considered the puff of black soot I’d just coughed up smoking.

Callie, who looked concerned, looked me over until she was sure I was ok, then she walked over to the wood. “These are fulgurites.” She said as she pointed to the branching grey crystals. “The wood is probably some kind of lightning material.” She leaned over, making an interested sound. “There are other materials, neatly stacked and seemingly way less dramatic to make.”

I considered what I knew about my ability. “You asked for the best. I’m guessing a normal conjuration wasn’t enough for that material. It gave me an ability that allowed me to mobilize natural resources to make the stats I used go further. Like with the basement. It seems weird this has only just started happening though.”

“Not really.” Said Benny. “If I had to guess it has to do with your soul. Remember abilities can do more dramatic things and stretch the bounds of possibility more with a stronger soul. Your wishes are getting more effective for the same reason. The ability templates can be flexed further with your current soul strength.”

I considered his theory, and I had to admit he might be right. The bindings on Weston had been big and dramatic, and prior to that I hadn’t really pushed myself wish wise for a while. We’d been sticking with basic stat trades and attack stockpiling.

“You still up for the next one?” Callie asked worriedly. “If you need a minute we can wait.”

I put a hand to my chest. “I am shocked at how little you think of me. Shocked I say.” Callie just rolled her eyes, trying not to laugh.

“If you can make bad puns you’re fine.” She said with a teasing smirk. “In that case, I wish for the best material possible for the interior of the Inn within the confines of the budget and my preferences, one of which is that my boyfriend doesn’t have to vomit lightning bolts again.” She winked at me, and I laughed as the message came.

Wish detected. Grant wish?

I confirmed. Luckily her deciding not to fry my lungs didn’t seem to count as compensation of any sort for me, which was fair. Not electrocuting me wasn’t my idea of a bribe either. This time the electricity grounded out of my feet, and the earth churned as the materials pushed up from out of the dirt.

She wished again, this time for the roof, and then the furnishings, and by the time she finished with those we were standing in the middle of a very odd pile of random stuff including lumber, fasteners, light fixtures, and a surprising number of expensive looking filigreed doorknobs. I was panting, these creation abilities were taxing in a way I wasn’t used to.

After giving me a second to catch my breath, with Benny doing his spiritual calming thing just in case it helped (it did a bit) we moved on to the last wish. “Alright.” Said Callie excitedly. “Time to put it all together. I wish the materials we have here would be assembled in the manner indicated in the blueprint I wished for earlier, adjusted in any way necessary for optimal material application.”

Wish detected. Grant wish?

This time I took a second before confirming and then once I did, it began. The electricity built as usual, but instead of coming out as a blast it started to radiate from my palms as a pulse. Purple lightning flowed out in circular waves, and as it hit the materials, they started to glow.

Like a magnetic draw, they started to lift into the air and move toward the foundation, gently rotating around it at first, then picking up speed as it started to draw in more and more parts. Before I knew it there was a tornado of stuff surrounding the basement, with the tip of the funnel seeming to be a zone of construction laying the materials in place.

Timber shoved itself into place, nails flew at top speed into wood with perfect accuracy, and as we watched, the Inn built itself from the ground up, visible at first, but within minutes it had sealed itself off, and everything, fixtures, furnishings and all, was gone, leaving the meadow looking perfect and pristine.

Walking up the to the new building, I knocked solidly on the door. When it held, I opened it up, stepping inside, and whistled loudly at the sheer elegance of the decor. The furnishings had looked much less impressive when they were in a pile outside. Now it was kind of a quiet understated opulence that made me glad we’d gone with this particular design. I loved it. Turning to the others, I shot them a grin. “Good news. It worked.”