My grandfather and I caught up as we headed back to the Acheron, and when we arrived, we retired to the dining room for a meal. “I’m impressed with your progress,” he told me as we sat down to dig into a steak. The other crew members apparently didn’t feel comfortable eating with a Pope, because it was just the two of us at the table, Bella having wandered off to who knew where.

“I’m not sure how much of it was really me,” I admitted sourly. “Black Sorrow and mom both claiming me as descendants probably overshadowed anything I did on my own.”

He shook his head. “I wouldn’t be so sure. Obviously it would have helped, but killing a C-ranker at early D-rank is a hell of an opening act. Special circumstances or not, you’ve got some serious stones even fighting someone like that. Not to mention I can tell you’ve condensed your Chronicle, and it’s a strong one. What did you name it?”

“The Ten Demons Tome,” I said proudly. “It’s built on the best techniques and forms I’ve come up with.”

He nodded. “Your father reached out, mentioned your use of the Great Book Heavenly Library technique. The requirements are stringent for that one, I’m impressed you managed. It’ll take you far, if used correctly.”

“It’s not the Great Book Heavenly Library,” I said firmly. “Pride is unique to me. For one, it’s aimed more at techniques than Skills. It can do both, but its true purpose is to help me perfectly refine all my techniques and pseudo Domains . I have big plans, but I have a feeling my current free form technique style isn’t as high as the art of technique creation goes.”

He chuckled at that. “Good instincts. It isn’t, but we can get into that later. For now, I’d like to talk about your recruitment tour. Now, I heard what happened to your staff, and I pulled some strings. The best staves are made by the Bodgers at the Divine Tree Palace. It happens to be close by, and I prevailed on an old friend to let you participate in one of their ceremonies. You’ll be selecting the wood for your staff yourself from among the Primordial Tree Sea. The elders of the Divine Tree Palace are S-rankers, three of them, so consider this an audition for support.”

My hands twitched, still feeling the phantom pain of the shards I’d pulled from between the joints of my gauntlets. “I appreciate that,” I said softly. “I do need a new one. It’s just…”

“It hurts to lose a companion,” he said knowingly. “Weapons are our closest friends in some respects. We carry them for months or years, imbuing them with a piece of ourselves every day. They channel our souls, our wills, and support our hopes and dreams. A good weapon is the lever you use to turn the world. There’s no shame in mourning the passing of something so close to your heart.”

“Yeah,” I said, nodding. “That’s what I’m doing. I’m mourning. It feels dumb to say out loud.”

He shrugged. “Don’t ever let anyone tell you how to feel, Shane. Weapons are more a part of us than a lot of people we meet. If you’re sad be sad. And if you feel something admit it, because denying it just means you’re giving other people power over what you think. Maybe talk to your wife about it.”

That was definitely on my list. I hadn’t yet because honestly I was a little afraid she’d think less of me. I was taking the loss of my staff harder than I’d expected. I hadn’t mourned when the last one broke, but then again, like he’d said, this most recent staff channeled my soul. I hadn’t been doing much with that when I was using my original weapon. Maybe that really was the big difference. Note to self, don’t casually channel your soul through an object with techniques regularly and let it get broken.

“Anyway, my staff broke a few weeks ago but I doubt the story got to you immediately, with everything else going on,” I pointed out. “So why did you come? Just for the recruitment tour?”

“Basically,” he said cheerfully. “The thing is, the Acheron is an S-ranked ship. While it’s capable of fast travel under any circumstances, for it to truly show its value, it has to be captained by someone with a Saga. When you hit S-rank, that’s when you merge your Saga with your body. S-rankers handle energy in a notably different fashion, at least at the higher end. So while the A-rankers Celia sent might be faster than normal in this thing, they can’t really push it.”

I brightened. “So you can make this ship move faster? Because I was a bit worried about how many forces we could hit and still make it to the inheritance competition in time. There’s only about nine months left, right?”

“Closer to ten,” he chuckled. “The WCP tends to work on its own schedule. Some of the candidates will drag their feet, trying to get the last few alliances they can manage in. But you’ve got an advantage in that department. Not just me making calls, we did some digging into the peak E-rank popsicles you freed on Callus, several of them come from forces that actually went on to be pretty powerful. Clans and families from the Fairyland mostly. I brought them along when I came, and if you can win them over, you might be able to leverage that into some alliances. If not…well, they’re all D-rankers who owe you, so there’s that.”

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That was…amazing news. I’d honestly forgotten about the frozen Ascendants from the cold storage. I knew they’d all been peak E-rank and had probably ranked up when the planet did, but I hadn’t considered that they might be able to help me make alliances. I needed more Ascendants on my side for this war. S-rankers weren’t allowed, but the more A and B-rankers I could recruit the better I’d do.

While my family might open some doors for me, my grandfather had mentioned I’d need to earn the favor of any powerful Ascendants he introduced me to. Once you hit A-rank, while you might be beholden to an S-ranker, you were too strong to just be ordered around for babysitting duty at the drop of a hat.

Sadly, the stipulations of the inheritance competition were that I needed to earn my backup. I couldn’t just have my parents order all their friends to help. They themselves were free to help, and any of their friends who felt like volunteering, like Killian, who I knew, might be up for coming along, but I couldn’t just demand an army. I hoped I could get enough high rankers onboard to counter the A-rankers some of the older candidates would be bringing, especially given some of them might be as high as B-rank themselves.

“So…how exactly are there any of these clans left?” I asked as we sat and ate in silence. “The popsicles were from like…ages ago right? Pre Aetherblight?”

He nodded. “Old as dirt, yeah. The Faerie Queen collected some of the remnants of the old clans into her court when she consolidated the Farieland. The Summerpeace Dynasty, for instance, eventually became the Peacehallow Clan. They’re crystal pixies, and the bloodline is OLD.”

“Summerpeace,” I said slowly. “That sounds familiar. One of the stiffs?”

“Velliana Summerpeace,” he said with a chuckle. “She was the one with the rainbow wings. Some of the bloodlines are extinct, but they have distant relatives willing to take them in for the chance to resurrect some of the old power in their lineage. Minotaurs have lost a lot of their power over the years. They pissed off some god about ninety generations ago and got cursed or something. Terrible sense of direction.”

I hummed with interest. “How about the guy with the gemstone wings? He was memorable.”

“Crystal Dancer, old fae bloodline. They’re an ancestral variant of the Veldane. The current strongest Veldane is only a C-ranker, but there are a LOT of them. They lay eggs, and they lay them by the dozens.” At my confused look he elaborated. “They’re servants to a lot of major fae, and have a lot of sway because they’re so omnipresent. The one you rescued is named Garth, and he’s kind of like their messiah.”

“So…basically I’m going to be doing a diplomatic tour across a bunch of different worlds and factions?” I groaned. “That sounds like a nightmare. But I’m guessing sending Celine wouldn’t cut it?”

He just snickered. “Sorry kid, that’s the burden of power. You have a few friends in the Empire who could get you some face to faces right?” I nodded, remembering the imperial scions I’d met at the ruined soul temple. “I’d wait until you get a few fae clans onboard. Oh, and your parents wanted me to tell you the WCP released an edict.” He winced. “Ten B-rankers and five A-rankers as a limit.”

“That’s a direct attempt to target me isn’t it?” I said sourly. “They’re worried I’ll mobilize the church against them directly. Not that I even could.”

“It’s a valid concern,” he pointed out. “But yeah. Pretty much. This plays to your benefit too though. Despite what they may think, you don’t have an army of A-rankers. This makes C-rankers the main high level force, assuming all the big players have all ten slots filled. C-rank factions are much easier to sway with promises of future gain.”

When put that way, it did seem like a good thing. Especially since if I played this right I might manage to hit C-rank before the competition. My friends might be a bit behind, but I had some connections from the systems around Callus who would be able to help if that was the level I was playing at. Of course, I still needed fifteen high rankers, and it was more important than ever they be strong. Speaking of strong, I glanced at my grandfather. “Doesn’t Bethy have a few A-rank brothers?”

“One or two, I think,” he nodded. “Might be tough to swing, but with Abel training under Lark, you might be able to talk him into allowing it. Don’t think it’s an automatic victory though. The Vampire’s children are mostly much weaker than he is. Bethy is a bit of an exception because of her mixed bloodline.”

The more we spoke, the more there was to consider. I’d been expecting this competition to be much further off, but now that it was almost here I wasn’t sure I was ready. Not to mention once it was over I’d be taking over the WCP going into a fucking GOD WAR. I knew I’d be sharing power with the council, but I’d still be the Wishmaster. Responsible for the lives of gods knew how many people.

I stopped, took a deep breath, and blew it out. “I’ll go greet the popsicles after dinner. Figure out what order to visit their factions in, and we can set off for the Divine Tree Palace while we’re at it. I have a lot to think about.”

“Look, kid.” He said slowly. “This is a lot. I get it. But don’t get in your own head. You’re not doing anything you weren’t doing already. Get stronger and make allies, then bring them into battle with you. It’s important not to lose perspective. This mission was absurdly dangerous, but the rewards for it were immense. Don’t get lost in that and lose sight of why you took it on in the first place.”

I froze. He was right. I was still me. I was still fighting for my family and my friends, still hoping to become a god and change the WCP for the better. Nothing had changed, except my chances of doing that had increased substantially. Now, I just had to stay the course. I took another bite of my prime rib. I could do this.