The preparations for the meeting we were crashing began the next day. Benny made the wishes after talking with Callie for a bit. It  seemed like I was running into a wall on storing more than ten of any  one kind of attack, and Benny was best able to supply a new type. Callie  was thinking about trying to supply a stealth ability for the next try,  but we figured experiments should be done when we didn't have so many  important things on the line, so Benny paid for the wishes with five  uses of his spider leg attack.

It was temporary, just like  his was, but still a G ranked pair of extra sharp limbs was a damn  useful thing to have in my back pocket, especially with my DS skills to  modify it with. once that was done Callie pulled him aside and discussed  the potential wishes we might need. Once he had a good idea of what we  should do without my input mucking things up, he came back and got  started. "Ok. So we talked it over and we have a few wishes for the  meeting. Mostly environmental stuff to help us stay hidden."

I  just raised an eyebrow, waiting. Seeing I had no questions he started  with the first one. "Ok, first off I wish during the duration of the  meeting, every possible clue that might reveal our presence would be  masked, and by possible I mean as many as I can afford not every clue  conceivable." He's obviously put a decent amount of thought into this,  and one he said it, the usual purple flame licked across my vision.

After confirmation I got the rundown.

I  whistled. That was a decent chunk of points, but that was good, it had  been a modular wish, which was what I called the ones that were open  ended and just applied the best possible version of the effect. More  points meant more effect, and this many should hide us from plenty of  accidental slips if we made any. Benny paid with the spider leg attack  and I felt the growing charge in my body explode into the ether,  altering the world around us.

Benny, meanwhile, seized up,  falling to his knees in pain as the price was extracted. I panicked a  bit, wondering why it was painful when Callie's hadn't worked like this,  and then Benny gagged and vomited up a pool of molten gold the same  color as the spider legs, which flowed across the floor and up my leg,  funneling up my body and condensing into a small golden gear mark with a  C in the middle near the other symbols.

Benny lay there  for a minute, dry heaving and shuddering on the ground before staggering  back to his feet and slumping back on the couch he'd been sitting on  before he fell. "Well, that was deeply unpleasant. Sucks I have to do it  four more times." He hacked a few more times and Jessie brought him a  glass of water, pumping some life force into him to patch up any injury  or exhaustion.

She rubbed his back for a while, imbuing  her touch with green power. Her expression turned worried as she glanced  up at us. "I don't know if doing these too close together is a good  idea. That was pretty rough looking. I don't think he's actually  injured, but it seemed draining." She frowned seriously. "I might be  able to overcharge him enough to offset the drain though. I'll leave it  up to you Ben, whatever you want to do is fine. I trust our fearless  leader won't ignore her healer's recommendation?" She arched an eyebrow  at Callie.

"Not at all." Callie said quickly, putting both  hands up in a placating gesture. "If he doesn't think he can keep going  we can wait. The meeting isn't until later tonight, so there's no rush.  We can space these out to let him adjust. That really did look kind of  rough." Callie's blue eyes cast a concerned glance at my previously  shaking and drained friend. I'd have been worried too, but I knew from  earlier wish sessions what Benny could handle when he put his mind to  it. He would tell us if it was too much.

Sure enough, he  shook his head. "I'm fine. I appreciate the worry, but Jessie's little  pick me up did me a world of good. I can definitely keep going. I'll let  you know if I need a break, but I want to get these out of the way so I  have time to take a nap. I don't want to feel like this when we're  heading to the actual meeting." He turned to me. "I wish that the enemy  we'll be watching would be as unguarded as possible in their speech so  we can learn their secrets more easily. Obviously I'll be paying with  the spider legs again."

I hesitated this time before confirmation, but I trusted Benny to know his limits.

I  noted that the stat distribution here was basically the same. I  suspected those thirty six points of Impact were making up for quite a  bit of lacking potency in the wish, but those two stats being used for  essentially the opposite of the first wish made plenty of sense. Once  again the purple electricity built and exploded out into the ether,  leaving Benny choking on the ground.

This time he seemed  less affected though. Jessie had kept him topped up and he was clearly  in better shape despite still not enjoying the process. Once he was done  he held up a hand, taking another drink from the water glass. "Ok, I  don't need too long, but give me at least a minute. That was loads  better, but it still sucked ass. You better fucking cherish these  attacks, because no way am I ever doing this shit again."

I  winced at his comment, and Callie finally stepped in. "Ok. That's  enough. Switch attacks for the last three, Benny. Shane, you can hold  ten of each type right? And he's only given you four of the density  shifted triple and tranq blows. Use those instead. You can trade the  other spider leg attacks for stats later if you want, but give yourself  some time to adjust." MY friend grimaced but after that second try he  was willing to make a change. He wasn't giving up, but switching to a  different attack type wouldn't halt the wishes.

He sat up  with a groan from where he'd been on hands and knees. "Fine." He said in  a raspy voice. "I'll pay the last three with triple tranqs. Those will  be the most useful anyway. Sharp limbs are great, but knocking people  out is a good match for your style. I wish for a random escape teleport  applied to me that will take me to a random place somewhere in the city  if I come under attack." He paused. "Then, I wish for one for Jessie and  her wolves, and one for Callie. I figure with Zeke there you should be  fine if the worst happens, right?"

As before, the wish energy began to gather, and I confirmed it as I read over the stat requirements.

I confirmed.

I  had been worried about granting three in a row, but it seemed as long  as the wishes were made separately my power could queue them up like  that. Benny and Callie were worth the same to transport, but Jessie,  probably by virtue of bringing the wolves along, also cost two hundred  Vitality, which I happily paid for.

I felt my power surge  and discharge three more times, and each one pulled more and more from  me. Granting big wishes was tough, and these were large. I was the one  on the floor this time, and Jessie stepped up to infuse me with  lifeforce, which really helped. Wishes took a lot out of me, but it was  worth it. I looked up at the others. "Alright, that should be enough to  keep us pretty safe once we're there. If we get into too much trouble I  can slip away with Double Trouble probably. I have escape skills for  this, plus Zeke watching my back."

Callie sighed, helping  me up. "I guess. I'm worried about this though. I get not using one of  the teleports on you, with your background you'll be the safest if push  comes to shove. Still, I don't like it. The thought of leaving you  behind doesn't sit right with me, even as a hypothetical." I pulled her  into my arms, squeezing her tight as she laid her head on my shoulder,  knowing that sometimes there wasn't anything to say to refute someone's  fears, and that when I had moments like that, a hug was usually the most  helpful response.

Personally I was  just glad Jessie could bring the wolves with her. I hadn't been sure  that would work until it did. Their Vitality connection and the fact  that they weren't sapient was probably the main reason. It was still  damn convenient for us. With the wishes out of the way for the day,  there was only so much prep work I could do before tonight now. I told  the others I was going to do some training and left them to their own  devices, giving Callie another tight hug. She stayed to talk to Jessie  about their day out, which had been postponed due to our insane training  schedule.

I had a massive  stockpile of attacks if I needed them, so I decided to work on upgrading  some of the DS Mastery subskills. I'd need them all upgraded before I  could get that Skill to intermediate. I decided the first skill upgrade I  would focus on was Stone Limb. That skill had become much less useful  over time because of the long buildup needed. Touching rock was fine,  but touching rock for thirty seconds was just too big a liability mid  combat to be useful.

I  decided not to do too many of these, we weren't planning any combat  tonight, but even with the wishes I wasn't stupid enough to burn all my  enchantment charges before an operation. I settled on fourteen. That  would leave me ten charges to work with, and literally dozens of attacks  stored up to use them with. I placed my hand on the dirt in the  training room, the track was made from the stuff. Then I triggered Stone  Limb, straining the skill to make it form faster. It hurt my head but I  managed to shave down the time from tens of seconds to only eight.

Of  course, that wasn't fast enough, and it still hurt. So I repeated  myself. Eight seconds to six, six to four, four to three, then to one. I  finally got the cast time down to a second, and then I began perfecting  that. I used the one second cast Stone Limb, then used it again, each  time I got more and more proficient at it. The more I forced the skill  into that shape, the less it hurt, and the more natural the changes  became to the skill itself. One use, two, five, each one making it more  and more complete until finally, the changes were permanent. Like a  puzzle piece clicking into place, Stone Limb CHANGED.

I  pressed a hand to the ground, triggering the skill normally with the  last of the fourteen charges, and I grinned as the rock climbed my arm,  officially snapping into place in a single second, and finalizing the  change to the second of my subskills. Two down, plenty more to go, but  it was fine. I'd take my time and optimize every skill for my new combat  style. This wasn't just a task to do, it was an opportunity to  customize the Skill to my exact needs, and I wasn't going to waste it.  When DS Mastery upgraded, I planned for it to become an even more key  part of my arsenal.