Before we could leave, we needed to check in with the others. After dinner with my mom, we went to visit Benny and Jessie. They were up first because they were main team members. Chelsea came along, excited to officially re-meet everyone and learn about her new traveling companions. Callen was around apparently, but we hadn't seen him. With mom around and on Killian's ship there was no reason to worry about my sister's safety.

When we arrived at Benny's place, I rapped on the door. It only took a minute for him to answer. He appeared to have gone to bed early, because his hair was tousled and his eyes looked a bit blank. "Shane?" He said in confusion. "Aaaand you brought your sister." He grimaced, glancing down at his bare torso. "One second." He shut the door, then came back about two minuted later fully dressed. "What do you need?"

I shrugged, pushing past him with a laugh. "You're in bed? At like ten PM? What are you, a thousand? We need to talk about our next destination. You free?"

He rolled his eyes. "Please, come on in. Ass." He turned to Callie and my sister. "You girls are welcome, by the way. I appreciate you having basic manners." He jerked his thumb at me. "This dipshit has been a lost cause for years. We're lucky we were able to housetrain him."

"I will knock you out and dump your unconscious body in a cave." I said flatly. "Now where's your better half? She usually keeps you from making an ass of yourself while we talk."

Benny just snorted, and both of us grinned. Chelsea seemed confused, but Callie just patted her shoulder. "Ignore them. They snipe at each other as a sign of affection. They don't realize how obnoxious it is...somehow. Which is astounding because everyone tells them constantly."

"Anyway." Said Benny. "Celine is asleep. We had a nice relaxing day together. No training. Then we went to bed. Jessie is with Cark and Cass last I saw, since I assume she's next on your list. What did you have in mind for our next leg?"

"The Empire." I said with a shrug. "There's a war coming, and I figured what better way to prepare for a war than to be in ACTUAL wars to get better at it. We're going to go join up with some noble house. I was hoping to talk to Vinnie about it before we leave. Thought maybe we could join up with him. Assuming there's no hard feelings for killing him in the temple. I think we're safe though, considering it turned into a nightmarish survival incident with an almost 90% mortality rate."

He snickered at that. "Yeah, they got off easy. The Empire huh? So what's the question? You're not thinking of leaving me behind, are you?"

"Given how worried you were about Celine I was thinking I'd make the offer." I shrugged. "No pressure either way, I'd love to have you. Although I am curious about what kind of bump you saw from this whole mess. I assume you got a pretty decent chunk of points too?"

He grinned. "Nothing insane, I wasn't front and center here. But between this and the leftover juice from the Glade I did ok. Here, check it out." He grabbed a nearby piece of paper, scrawling out his information carelessly. Between Might, Perception, and Focus, his writing basically looked like a printer.

Benicio Cortez- F-rank. Ability: Intermediate Mechanical Embodiment- Allows the integration of existing inventions into the users body for the purposes of strengthening and enhancing them. Might 1905 Impact 35 Fantasy 256 Vitality 141 Focus 2683 Perception 282 Creation 171 Progress to next rank: 5473/10000 soul strength: Green 25% Pet Wolf named Rolf Current integrated tech. 10/10. Torso: G-ranked intangibility for short bursts. Right fist: triple punch. Left forearm: F-ranked energy barrier or variable shape. Left fist: minor slow acting tranquilizer effect. Right foot: Density shifting to create heavier kicks and more powerful jumps. Left Foot: momentum neutralization to allow stopping instantly. Head: slight cognitive boost to allow more thinking time. Back: ability to grow a shell to tank damage. Chest: Pair of golden G rank spider legs that arch up from the shoulders. Waist: Belt of spiritual calming. Heart: Illusionary double

Skills:

Minor Cooking Mastery, Intermediate Inventing Mastery, Minor Haggling Mastery, Minor Stealth Mastery

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

I whistled. "Damn. Nice. Seventeen hundred. I'm glad you got a few points in Fantasy. I assume that was upward pressure from your rank. Having any stat that low wasn't going to last long. The rest was in Focus and Might though, which makes more sense with your build."

"Yup." He said smugly. "More than halfway now. Celine did ok too, though nothing nearly as extreme. She was even less of a player this time than I was. Which is part of why I know she'll want to come on this little recruitment drive of yours. She feels bad for not being able to help more. She should be fine as long as we're all training together. Like I said she didn't love how absent I've been lately."

Callie nodded. "Yeah, I was pretty irritated with Shane for being gone all the time too. Though lording my new stats over him helped. Plus he could sense my annoyance and took some steps to placate me. You and Celine should talk to Abel and Mel. The bond is amazing for a relationship. Real communication is the best thing in the world for couples."

Case in point, my ability to feel her gleeful malice as she tried to casually convince my best friend to train with Abel, an experience she knew very well was absolutely miserable. I kept my face blank too, not wanting to ruin her prank. To be fair, the bond WOULD help their relationship. The process of getting it just fucking sucked, mostly because Abel, main teaching method (unless you were a nine year old girl) was to hit you until you figured out how to pick things up.

"So, Chelsea, you're going to be coming along with us huh?" He said as he slumped down on the couch. "Our meeting was a bit brief last time, so in case you forgot my name is Benny Cortez. I've been Shane's best friend since we were kids, so if you want any embarrassing stories I'm an open book."

Callie let out an offended gasp. "Why don't you ever tell ME embarrassing stories about Shane? I need blackmail material."

He shrugged. "Sharing with his sister is one thing, but I'm not about to spill state secrets to the girlfriend. Even I have limits. I might joke about it, but a man's got to have a code." His expression was solemn, and I shot him a manly nod of respect and gratitude...until he continued. "You should ask Maria next time we're home. It's HER job to embarrass him, so she'll be happy to spill."

My sister giggled at our antics. "Seems like you're all really close. I hope I can be part of that. I definitely want to get to know Shane, embarrassing secrets and all. I don't really get out much, and I'm honestly shocked my mom is giving me a pass to go with you."

Benny and Callie didn't know about the exact details of my sister's abilities. They had the general picture, but my mom had begged me not to tell anyone about my grandmother, saying even knowing could be dangerous for them, and I'd agreed. Plus Chelsea's powers were her own to share or not. Still, I wanted them to be friends. Benny and Maria were the closest thing I had to family, and it seemed like Chelsea could use that as much as I could.

"So." Said Benny after a minute. Face getting serious. "We have to join an army. Will you be able to do your wish thing in that kind of environment? Or will you need to keep it secret."

I shrugged. "Zeke will be around to ward off the big guys, and Callen is pretty damned scary. We should be fine. Plus Vinnie knows I'm WCP. And meeting here probably gave him a good idea about what my power is, given it's only the cream of the crop that come to the temple for the trials. No way he wouldn't be interested in having a candidate among his army to grant wishes."

Aside from just stats, I had a few ideas for how to help with that kind of thing. "You get a chance to do any research on the way that works, Cal?"

My girlfriend nodded. "Looked into it during my downtime today. Basically it's a pyramid. Every 'noble' from the Emperor down to an Earl has other nobles under them. It's really stratified. Each of them can field an army of their supporters, and battles tend to be pretty rank specific. So we'd be fighting other F-rankers. The Empire doesn't want to waste their nobles in battles with higher ranks."

That sounded pretty similar to what the other factions did. Die in battle with someone your rank and you were just useless, but they didn't want anyone higher up killing too many of their lessers, since it didn't differentiate talent or instinct. That was how you lost good people that could be put to work. "I assumed it'd be like that. Does it matter which army we join?"

"Oh yeah." She said emphatically. "Not all E-rankers are created equal. Some are members of powerful factions and families that allow them more leeway. Family skirmishes, noble houses in particular, are a bit more freeform. Less limitations on rank because your family's seniors are expected to protect you rather than the rules."

That lined up with what I'd heard from Zeke about his family. That hadn't seemed quite so simple. I wanted to go with a big battle, but I didn't want to end up fighting E or D rankers. "We'll have to ask around. Our options should be a bit more varied if Jessie comes with us right?" If there was one thing I'd picked up from games and movies, it was that armies needed healers.

"Definitely." She said with a smile. "Even without the healing, her little energy boosting thing would be a huge help in battle. Imperial conflicts are all about stamina. You don't just fight hard, you fight long. Less losses than you would expect, but it's a drawn out process."

"Sounds like we have our work cut out for us." I chuckled, glancing at Benny. "You still sure you want to come?"

He shrugged. "What's life without a little risk. Or a lot of risk. Or certain death. That's what makes it so much fun. Besides, I want to see if I can make some cool inventions to help with the battles. Maybe some kind of mines or something. I'm sure my Inventing will come in handy."

I hadn't even considered that. He could make some nasty stuff, and even put together buildings that could be used in combat. That was going to make things interesting. At least assuming they didn't have Inventors already around.

We got to talking about details, whatever we knew or could scrounge up from our scan rings. Chelsea really got into it, telling us everything she'd read on the empire's caste system and how nobility cultivation worked. It was a fascinating subject, and we ended up talking well into the night.

Eventually Celine woke up and came down. Benny filled her in and as he mentioned she seemed more than prepared to go into battle with us as long as we all went together. She'd heard a bit about the empire too, since the Faerieland interacted with them more than any other faction, and tossed in plenty of her own trivia. It turned out to be a pretty interesting night. I hoped we had more like it once we arrived. Before that though, we had to leave, and before THAT I had some friends to contact. I was just hoping they weren't too pissed about the whole murdering them thing.