The next morning we met up with the others for a team meeting. “So, everyone get settled in ok?” I asked Jessie as we let them into our place. We weren’t staying in the same building this time. The Necromedes was huge, and we’d been moved up to a nicer part of the ship. This particular abode was more in the style of some of the Church architecture we’d seen.
“All good.” She said with a grin and a thumbs up. “Serah and Bethy are becoming fast friends.” She paused. “Well, Bethy decided they were fast friends and Serah got swept up in her wake. I think it’s good for her to have someone to hang out with platonically. That love triangle with her and Gabe and Chelsea is messy.”
“I’m not sure it is a triangle.” I said with a laugh. “I can’t tell who she’s interested in if either of them. Then again, Morgan has multiple wives, maybe she’s just planning to date both of them.”
Jessie snickered. “I’m sure the Church will be thrilled to lose both one of their princesses and one of their most promising recruits to the independents. In any case, your sister has been showing Annalise and Yvette around, along with Markoth and Nasha.”
“Nice of her.” I nodded. “Lots to show too. It’s a big ship. How about you?” I asked Benny. “How is the training going? You get any techniques done yet?”
He chuckled. “Been working on my sword art. Your mom’s training might have been rough but it’s really helping. Plus I’m still riding the wave from helping take down that D-ranker. I didn’t rake in the same kind of points as you two, but I definitely benefited from being part of that whole mess.” He slid out a piece of paper, scribbling out his own stats just like we had the day before.
Benicio Cortez- E-rank. Ability: Expert Body of Inspiration- Allows the integration of existing artifacts into the users body for the purposes of strengthening and enhancing them, two items per placement.
Might:
9974
Impact:
65
Fantasy:
1556 Vitality: 1441 Focus: 8141 Perception: 1582 Creation: 2471 Progress to next rank: 25230/100,000 Soul strength: Sapphire Soul Body Pet: Wolf named Rolf Current integrated tech. 14/20.
Torso: G-ranked intangibility for short bursts, Three times multiplication of Might for five minutes.
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, Three times multiplication of Focus for five minutes.
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, Three times Multiplication of Perception for five minutes. Heart: Illusionary double, Three times Multiplication of Vitality for five minutes.
Skills: Minor Cooking Mastery, Expert Inventing Mastery, Lesser Haggling Mastery, Minor Stealth Mastery Path of the Dracolich-Illusory. Proto Technique: sword art, Dance of the Dracolich
I whistled at the changes. “Almost ten thousand this time. Clearly that story is getting blown out of proportion in the retelling.” He rolled his eyes, knowing I was kidding. “But you didn’t mention hitting Expert in Inventing. That’s awesome man, congrats. I think the biggest change is the evening out of the rest of your stats. That happened to Callie too.”
Callie nodded. “Yeah, it’s something I think we were all waiting for. We’ve been told for a while that once you hit a certain rank the stats lagging behind get dragged up alongside you. ‘A rising tide raises all ships’ and all that. I think we’ve all reached a level of notoriety where that effect is starting to show itself. Benny’s are curiously uniform though.”
He nodded. “I think it’s a subconscious thing. Some of my stats were bumped extensively because they seemed like an active part of the proceedings, while some were just passively jacked up because no one would believe anyone below a thousand Vitality, for instance, could take part in something like that.”
“What about the Inventing?” I asked with interest. “You didn’t mention that going up.”
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He grinned. “That’s new. I’ve been…experimenting. Trying to incorporate my Path into inventions. Part of the reason I made it was as a more fantastical counterpoint to my ability, hoping the two would synergize and boost me to new heights. Because of that, my Inventing was always supposed to relate to my Path, and be informed by it.”
“What did you come up with?” I asked excitedly. “Did you finally find a way to make your creations more targeted? I know you were working on using your soul to steer Inventions to be more specific items.”
He waggled a hand. “Well…sort of.” He said sheepishly. “I’m still working on that. If anything, my Path made it harder, but I’m pretty sure I'm on the right track.” He held out a hand, and a small item appeared on his palm. A black stapler. I reached for it with interest…and then it hissed and tried to bite me.
Its teeth (which had been hidden behind the stapler cover perfectly like lips in a mouth), sank into my gloves and stopped. My armor was very high quality, and my skin had three points more Impact than most E-rankers, so there was no chance of it getting its hooks in. Still I glared at my friend, holding up the stapler as it snarled and tried to dig into my finger. “Why?” I asked blandly.
He shrugged. “It’s my new Invention. The Snarling Stapler, I call it. It’s only F-rank. The Path of the Dracolich seems to have turned it feral. Like I said, bit of a backstep, but I’m on the right track.”
“You realize we’re going back to Callus for the wedding.” I said bluntly. “Where an F-ranked stapler could probably wipe out a city.”
“I…” He paused. “I hadn’t considered that. I’ll keep it in my ring. Sorry.”
I just laughed. “Still, it’s important to work on techniques, especially after the Fantasy bump. Those will be our biggest advantage in the future. Skills are important because they’re a good basis, but techniques are where we can show real power.”
“I think you might be a bit biased, hon.” Said Callie with a laugh. “Your mom said you’re a genius at forming those, so yours are a bit more effective than most. Not that I don’t think they’re important, but I think you might be in a better position to take advantage. The rest of us still need to depend on Skills and abilities.”
She…might have a point. My Path was unusually far along, I had a strong soul and my unique ability gave me a wide variety of skills to use as a base. Still, I knew that once we hit D-rank we’d be facing more and more people with powerful Paths and we needed to be ready to beat them back with our own.
“Maybe talk to Abel.” I suggested. “He made a powerful technique ages ago. The Cicada Stacking Steps are crazy useful” I turned to Jessie. “How about you, you get your Path made yet? Since we’re heading home we don’t need to worry about running into anybody dangerous for a while. You can afford to take your time.”
Benny glared at me. “Oh sure, yell at me and tell me I’m dragging everyone down, but as soon as I get it finished we all go on fucking vacation and everyone else can take their time.”
“It’s not my fault you’re so dumb.” I said loftily. “Gotta get you started early if you want to keep up.” I moved out of the way as he picked up and threw a coaster at me from the end table next to him.
Jessie rolled her eyes. “You two are like toddlers, I swear. I don’t have a Path yet, though I do think the Path of Vitality might be a good fit for me. It’ll be a comprehensive upgrade to my abilities, which are all based on that stat. Plus it might be easier to get in contact with. I’ve been getting some decent stats lately too. Mostly in Vitality as usual, but I’ve been seeing the same bump in my other stats as the rest of you.” She wrote out her own stat sheet.
Jessica Evans- E-rank. Ability: Expert Lifeweaving- Infuse living things with life itself and direct their actions while the users power flows through them. Control has limited effect on sapient entities. Prolonged exposure to life energy may cause lasting effects in controlled subjects. Might: 3625 Impact: 65 Fantasy: 758 Vitality: 17,256 Focus: 755 Perception: 765 Creation: 1958 Progress to next rank: 25182/100,000 Pets: Wolf named Lily and Undying Lifestorm Ursa named Randall(Intermediate Beast Bonding with Jessie)
Soul strength:
Sapphire Soul Body Skills: Intermediate Horticulture,Intermediate First Aid, Minor Herbalism, Minor Flower Arrangement, Intermediate Beast Taming Mastery, Intermediate Beast Bonding, Intermediate Shape of the Wild
I gaped at her Vitality. “Seventeen THOUSAND?” I asked in shock. “I mean, I know it’s your main stat, but it’s higher than any stat I have. Hell, it’s higher than any stat CALLIE has, and she’s much more focused than I am. I can see where your other stats may have suffered for it a bit though. Was the Might from Randall?”
She nodded. “Yup. I’m annoyed my Focus is my lowest stat. I get Perception and Fantasy, but Focus being seven fifty five? Do I come across as that much of an airhead?” She sounded outraged, and the rest of us had to smother our laughs.
“You know you try to downplay your intelligence.” Said Callie with a friendly chuckle. “Guess it worked a bit too well.”
Jessie stuck out her tongue at my fiancee, who laughed at her antics. “Anyway, try to find your way onto the Path of Vitality if that’s where you’re aiming. Like I said, we have nothing but time.” I grinned. “Maybe you can teach Benny a thing or two since he’s having so much trouble.”
He pointed at me menacingly. “Oh that’s it. Just you wait, I’m going to spend the next four months mastering my Path, and then I’m going to use it to kick your entire ass.”
I snorted. “Please. You’re a hundred years too early to challenge me.”
“I’m marrying into this.” Callie told Jessie with a long suffering sigh. “I’m going to be putting up with their nonsense for the next ten thousand years.”
Jessie put a hand on her shoulder. “I’ll remember your sacrifice.”
“Hey.” I said in outrage. “We’re right here? Don’t talk about us like we aren’t in the room. And it’s not like you two are a picnic to be around.”
Callie turned to me slowly. “And what exactly do you mean by THAT, Shane?”
“Nothing honey.” I responded quickly. “You’re the light of my life and you make every day better. I’m looking forward to an eternity of wedded bliss.”
She gave me an unimpressed snort. “A likely story.” She winked at Jessie. “Gotta keep him on his toes so he doesn’t start taking me for granted. My future mother-in-law taught me that. She’s been giving me lessons.”
“When we get to Callus.” I said maliciously. “I’m going to ask Amelia for every embarrassing picture you’ve ever taken. Two can play it that game.”
Her eyes widened in horror, but I felt laughter and peace through the bond. I sent my own right back. We spent the next few hours spending time with our friends and talking all about what we’d do first when we got home as the Necromedes made its journey out into the cosmos.
Four more months until we were home, and I’d see everything I’d grown up seeing through brand new eyes. I was so excited to get back, to see all our friends and comrades, and to finally marry the girl of my dreams. This trip couldn’t be over fast enough, just four more months to the first day of the rest of my life.