Chapter 152: Chapter One Hundred Fifty Three

We didn't commission new costumes. We went home. Immediately. If Zeke  felt the need to tell me Mr. Jack-tastic was in town now there had to  be a reason for it. I didn't believe for a second he'd just been  informing me because it was amusing. This had some relation to me, and I  wanted to know what it was before those absolute lunatics filled my car  with spray cheese or something. I still had nightmares about the day I  spent in Jerks territory.

Callie apparently was at least  sympathetic, because she agreed to head home with me. Benny decided to  stay back at the academy with Grimmengap and most of the wolves, though  Jin, Rallia, and Lily came with us. Without Cark and Benny we had the  room to barely squeeze everyone in. When we got home Jessie went to go  deliver the two thousand chits to Cark while Callie and I cornered my  Uncle. He smirked when he saw us. "Ah, hurried home I see. I'm not  surprised. I figured you would be curious."

I dropped down  onto the couch across from him. "Ok, let's get the obvious out of the  way. Why or how are you allowed to tell me they're in town in the first  place. Doesn't this fall under the whole 'do it yourself' category?"  That was going to bug me all day if I didn't get it settled. I was still  figuring out the rules for how all of this worked. The more I found out  about Zekes geas the more I could work around it if necessary.

That  got me a disappointed head shake and a tsk of disapproval. "That was a  waste of a first question honestly. I told you, Stella called. She would  have passed the info to you all eventually anyway. I was just acting as  an intermediary. I didn't tap into any resources or information lines  you couldn't normally access." He grinned at me tauntingly. "Now that  you asked the dumb question, how about the smart one?" He didn't even  try to hide the condescending glee he felt at making me dance to his  tune.

Sighing, I rolled my eyes. "Fine. Why does it matter  to me that Mr. Jack-tastic has come to Rajak? You wouldn't call and  tell me that just because that stupid gang haunts the darkest parts of  my nightmares." At least, I hoped he wouldn't. Though saying it out loud  like that made me wonder how accurate it was. Zeke's sense of humor  could be obnoxious sometimes.

He gave a satisfied nod, and  I felt more and more that I'd just stepped into some kind of trap I  really should have avoided.  "Because they came here partly for you." He  paused. "Well, no, they came here because breaking through to E rank  means Mr. Jack-Tastic is a top tier existence on this planet now, and as  such being at the center of the action means he gets a bigger slice of  the pie, but you being here definitely helped them make the decision to  come over more quickly. After all, you're very important to them."

Ok,  I liked the way that sounded even less than I liked how gleeful he was  being about this whole thing. Despite the sinking feeling in the pit of  my stomach though, I didn't take the bait. I stayed calm, and said in a  very level voice, with absolutely no teeth grinding. "And why, exactly,  would I be important to the Jerks, when I met a total of like six of  them in the entire time I was in Velan?"

His smile got  wider, if that was even possible. "Oh, you don't know?" I had to  literally force myself not to lunge across the room and try not to choke  him. "I just assumed that you were aware. Apparently you were  responsible for foiling the grand entrance of Mr. Jack-tastics only son  into the criminal underworld of Velan. He decided that you were his  nemesis, and has decided to accompany his father to Rajak in order to do  glorious battle with you." I believed he must have been tapping into  his seven digit Focus score to get that all out before he dissolved into  gales of laughter.

The blood drained from my face. "Oh  you have got to be fucking kidding me. Please tell me his kid wasn't  Carl." Granted it could have been Stephen the Shoe, but Carl had at  least had SOME brains, not to mention he had seemed like the one in  charge. Zeke just grinned at me, clearly savoring my pain. I pointed at  him accusingly. "You are WAY too bored if you're this amused by my  misfortune. Forgetting for a moment your complete lack of any sort of  life,how exactly did Mr. Jack-tastic of all people hit fucking E rank?"

His  smile dimmed but didn't vanish as he rolled his own eyes at my critique  of his entertainment. Still, his voice became more serious, and  honestly slightly impressed. "In a similar way to how Unity did it  actually. In retrospect it's actually kind of brilliant. By making his  name both ridiculous, and included in the name of his gang, combined  with picking the weirdest and most eccentric people possible, he was  apparently farming renown for years, building up his profile in a way  that the other gang lords just couldn't."

I blinked. "I  mean, I figured he was pushing the crazy angle for renown, I think we  all did, but I guess I never really noticed how any interaction with the  Jerks was filtered through the lens of them being his subordinates.  Even more so than the Queen of Hearts and The Nobody Man. I got the  impression they were all sort of equal. If he kept from tipping people  off he must have been playing things pretty close to the chest. I guess  the whole 'genius or idiot' question kind of answered itself huh?"

Callie  looked absolutely thunderstruck. She'd been an executive in the Velan  branch, not to mention a frequent visitor to the WCP. A case could be  made that she was the member of the Unity with the most connection to  the underworld in all of Velan, and this had obviously completely  blindsided her. I knew how she felt. I turned to Zeke, trying to convey  with my tone that I wasn't kidding around anymore. "So, this Carl thing.  How much trouble can the son of an E ranker make for me? I mean I know  you can stop Mr. Jack-tastic himself from messing with me, but what  about the other Jerks? Also, why didn't we know about Carl to begin  with. I figured Cap would be aware of something like this."

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Zeke  looked a little annoyed at that. "Apparently it was something of a  secret. Carl is an idiot, but he's a prideful idiot. The only reason we  found out about the connection was that Mr. Jack-tastic ,gods that's  such a stupid name, because JACK exerted personal influence to spring  him from jail. As much as we might pretend otherwise after a certain  level powerful cultivators can basically do whatever they want. Just him  showing up in person was enough to pressure them to let Carl go."

It  was hard to throw stones there, I'd benefited from Zeke's powers when  he came to help with the sleepers. Still, Mr. Jack-tactic wasn't the  only F ranker in town at the time. Even if he had been approaching E not  many people knew that.  "Wouldn't that be a huge risk though? Putting  pressure on the authorities like that? I mean, rank isn't a magic  medicine that makes you invincible. Even without being as high in stats  the other F rankers would still be a threat if push came to shove.  Unless his ability is really that overpowered? I dont think I've ever  heard what he can do."

Zeke didn't seem to care, but given  his insanely high rank that wasn'ta shock. "He's a beast caller. It's  similar to what Benny does, but with animals. He binds the spirits of  monsters and beasts into his skin like tattoos and can tap into their  abilities at will. It's less versatile than an embodiment skill because  it's permanent, but it's also more powerful because the beasts can  actually still grow as he does. But you aren't wrong, Jack isn't  invincible at F rank by any means, but he doesn't have to be. He just  has to be strong enough to be inconvenient."

Realization  dawned on me. "The F rankers in Velan are balanced. Taking on Mr.  Jack-tactic means potentially getting hurt or even killed, leaving your  territory open for the others. Stella might not have that same problem,  but she also can't afford the blow to her image. If she wants to keep  growing she needs to be the unassailable guild master. It's the only way  she has a chance of making an impression after someone like Midknight  passed the torch to her. Stopping him from springing some random  weakling, son or not, isn't worth burning those bridges so they just  ignored it."

It was interesting to  hear more about the way people interacted at higher ranks, and more than  that it made some of the unspoken rules clear. It was obvious that the E  rankers in the capital could have converged and destroyed all the  criminals on the planet if they wanted, but what would be the point of  that? Heroic cultivation required spectacle, and spectacle required  enemies.

Of course, there were  certain things like Stricture's killings that crossed the line, but even  then there seemed to be rules in place. They had sent a single F ranker  to deal with the issue, keeping the power structure in the city mostly  intact. Even that had been compromised for Callie to get the credit  (which she ultimately hadn't, I could only assume she'd gone out of her  way to make sure my role was disclosed, I'd never asked her about that)  showing that the E rankers had even more complicated motivations past  the preservation of the current order.

So  the question became, what was Carl going to actually do? I doubted he  was going to ignore me, but I wasn't exactly running around town, and  the city was way too big for that to matter anyway. The only thing I  could think of would be coming to the Academy, but it was a Unity  exclusive institution. Then I paused. Was it? The Unity pretty clearly  didn't care about outsiders attending, Celine made that obvious. "Is it  possible that Carl might end up at the Academy? Like could Mr.  Jack-tastic pull some strings to make that happen?"

Zeke  didn't seem surprised by the question. "Sure. Building good relations  with an E ranker would be worth admitting someone to the school. They do  that kind of stuff as a political gesture all the time. In fact, that  would be a decent reason for coming here. The Academy isn't just a  concentration of force, it's a recruitment tool. The events they hold  weed out the most promising candidates from the student body and give  them a chance to see what they're capable of. It's one of the fastest  ways to get to a higher ranked planet."

That  was good to know. I'd have to look into how that worked, but however  that was, I was guessing it was aimed at F rankers. Given their status  in the academy, it would make the most sense. In fact, I'd always  wondered why the F rankers stayed on as student instructors and helpers  after graduation, but if it involved some kind of opportunity for  promotion that made perfect sense. I shot Callie an excited look, and I  was sure she was having similar, if not identical thoughts.

We  thanked Zeke for the news, and ignored his snickering about the fact  that I had an insane stalker. This had given us a lot to think about,  and we both headed to the training room for a spar. We had Balam lessons  to continue, and after the big power boost we both needed to get used  to our new capabilities. I was happy to take some time off from thinking  for a while. Not that it would necessarily end soon, I was pretty sure  with the Jerks in town, none of us were going to be making much use of  logic.

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