"So, I'd like to start out saying that I'm not willing to commit to more than three wishes a day." I kept my tone firm as I stared down Melinda. I wanted to make sure she took me seriously as a partner, which meant making my terms clear and refusing to bend on basic framework as much as it meant being flexible and amenable to change. I wanted to have a reasonable and productive discussion, but if I gave too much too fast I'd get taken for everything I had.

My reason for picking three was simple. It left me two a day to work with my friends, and it also allowed me to gain a massive amount of access to the stat pool of the whole faction while seeming like I was doing them a favor. As much as liked to make sure my team was up to speed, it was a fact that too confined of a circle would put a strain on resources. I could theoretically give stats for attacks, but I didn't grow from that, not in a direct sense. I could only hold so many attacks too. Doing it this way would mean they'd feel like I was showing a lot of sincerity but it would leave me with wishes to burn for myself and my people while gaining more points. It was a win win.

As expected, Melinda didn't object to that at all. "Three is fine." She said with a warm smile. "I have plenty of people who would love the chance to focus their stat distribution into something a bit more suited to their style of combat. Even that is a huge boon. I can't help but note however, that you've described something you can give us. I'm curious about what you want in exchange for this gift."

"Well there's the obvious. Protection and backing against Sanctuary Hall." I said matter of factly. I wanted a direct commitment to help with the healer problem first thing, and while I was pretty sure she would give it I was hardly going to base the whole negotiation on that assumption. That said, filling her in on the more important aspects of the battle might ease some tension. "Specifically in G-district. They're trying to consolidate the whole district under their banner, presumably without anyone noticing. The Flame Riot Militia picked up on it, but I'm surprised that more groups haven't stepped in to stop it."

Melinda shrugged. "G-district is a feeder district, but none of the real power players bother with it. Most of the powerful groups have their G-rankers deployed to the dark districts. It's more dangerous, but they reap better rewards. The Militia is pretty weak in the grand scheme of things. Burning Fist is young for an E-ranker. It's not exactly a stupid idea to take over G-district if you can swing it, but most powerful factions don't bother with low hanging fruit like that. Besides, Sanctuary Hall is a particularly influential force. They may have paid some people off to stay out of the attempt."

Considering the existence of the other candidate I could believe that. It wouldn't be impossible for them to make up any losses. It also didn't shock me that the high rankers considered G-district expendable despite it being a large gathering. I imagined it was easy to underestimate that kind of force as an E-ranker. Hell, thinking back to what I'd been like at I-rank it was hard not to do it myself. The further you got from mortal the less you had in common with what you used to be.

I stared at Melinda, not making any other comments, until she finally sighed and nodded. "Fine. I have some G-ranked forces I can pull to send down to support you. I suppose it'll be a good opportunity to blood some of our people in any case. A battle between large factions in a district that low isn't a common occurrence. This might be the first one in my lifetime. You can get to know some of the warriors with potential among our ranks."

That sounded interesting, but I was worried about something else. "Will they send more F-rankers? They sent one down there last time, albeit in disguise. If they don't we should be fine, but if they do it could be a problem." I wasn't worried about anyone managing to beat Abel and Mel at G-rank, but enough F-rankers could drown them in raw force. I wasn't sure even Abel could fight too many opponents up ranks.

"No." Melinda's voice was firm. "With our attention on this matter, any room for backstabbing or double dealing as at an end. Their only recourse now would be to either face Travis and myself, or to stick to the structure of the battle and drown you in G-rankers. That said, don't dismiss them. As I mentioned, they are wealthy beyond measure. There are plenty of powerful Ascendants they can hire that would abide by the restrictions of the district. We are fairly well off, but not nearly so much as Sanctuary Hall, and I'm afraid that hiring outsiders would be a bad decision given the unusual nature of your gift."

I cursed. She was right. She could control her own group and limit the spread of information, but there was not possible way to control mercenaries. Which meant we couldn't use them. Not in such a short time anyway. It might be possible to arrange a contract or something if we had more time to work. but nothing short term. Still, I was confident in Mel and Abel. I doubted anyone would see them coming. They'd been out of the game for years, but were scary powerful still. Most of their peers were probably F-ranked already, so they would be relative unknowns to start I bet.

"Alright." I said decisively. "You put together the group you want to send and I'll bring them down. Do you want me using the wishes we agreed on to improve their capabilities? Also can we get a contract written up, just for my peace of mind." I wasn't sure if that would be offensive, but I didn't really care. Cicero had fucked us over even with a contract, I absolutely wasn't going without one for something this important.

Luckily it didn't seem to be a problem. Melinda just gave me another warm smile. "Of course, nearly every faction has someone with the contract Skill on staff. The ones that don't have to consult the Lawbinder Cavern for every little thing, and those crooks charge more than even we can afford easily." I cocked my head in confusion and she chuckled. "The Lawbinder is one of the older E-rankers. His ability is contract based. Not sure exactly what, people tend to keep that under wraps, but he can make incredibly powerful binding documents and words for a fee. He recruits similar talents for his faction and they serve a purpose much like we and Sanctuary hall fulfill."

The more I found out about this place, the more intrigued I got. I wondered what other factions there were, with something like a hundred E-rankers around, that meant if it was an even split between Unity and WCP there were a full fifty factions around. There must be so many amazing groups with so many interesting aspects to hear about. For now though, I just needed to focus on the Beast Lord Garden. If I could help them solidify their position I'd naturally come into contact with the others.

It occurred to me that since we were driving out Sanctuary Hall, we could help the Beast Lord Garden take over G-district instead. There would be some things to work out there, but since Sanctuary Hall saw a benefit in it, we could definitely gain as well. Plus Melinda was my backer now, which meant the stronger she got, the more secure I was around here. It was something to keep in mind long term in any case. "We can get that figured out in a minute though." I said. "You never mentioned if you wanted me to use the wishes on the G-rankers coming along?"

Melinda's smile turned into a beaming grin. "Of course. Since you won't be able to just add points to anyone to bump them up ranks directly, adjustment will be priority, and the G-rankers are the ones with the least time adjusting to their current stats. Giving them a solid foundation to build off of will help them make better impressions in the upcoming battles and pay dividends anyway. If they can make powerful reputations down in G-district some of them might even break through before all this is over."

She seemed to have come to the same conclusion about the snowballing effects of reallocating stats that I had, which wasn't a surprise since she was an E-ranker whose Focus was probably higher than all of my other stats put together.

With that decided Melinda shut down the privacy formation and called one of her people, asking him to retrieve someone named Basken. Based on the context I assumed he was the contract maker we needed, and I was happy to see she was taking my comfort so seriously. Having seen how worried I was she'd gone out of her way to make sure we got this done quickly.

Basken, as it turned out, was a fairly normal looking guy. I was used to Ascendants being strange or visually striking, but Basken was just a lanky man with curly dark hair, a goatee, and thin wire rimmed glasses perched on a thin nose, making his brown eyes seem larger than they should have been.

He had a lazy, almost tired manner about him and when he was introduced he gave me a sleepy smile. Melinda didn't tell him about my ability, happily, just gave him a bare bones framework. "Basken, this is Solomon. He's working with us for the foreseeable future. We need a contract drawn up for a guest elder position. Nothing restrictive, and something he can break at any time. Support and resources in exchange for services rendered as a growth consultant for our lower ranked members I think." She looked at me questioningly and I gave a nod of confirmation.

"That sounds fine to me." I said. "A guest elder position certainly sounds like what I'm looking for. A member of the organization without being too bound by the command structure." I noted she hadn't mentioned THEM being able to dissolve it, just me, and looking over the shoulder of the contractor as he scrawled out a lengthy document I didn't see a loophole for that. It was a hell of a gesture for them to make me solely responsible for the deal staying in place, and it made me even more certain of my choice.

I went over terms with them for the next hour. Despite my good impression, I wasn't some moron who took what I was offered. I combed the contract top to bottom, making small changes and quibbling over what looked on the surface like minutiae. My old man hadn't been around too much, but the exercises he had me do as a kid and the few conversations we had were a strong motivator to understand contracts. Even before I'd know about his power, my father treated everything like a contract.

I'd had lots of practice finding loopholes and gaps, and I put all of it to work, trying to get the best terms possible. Melinda, for her part, just laughed it off. I think the fact that I was taking the contract so seriously made her more confident I'd stick to it. Allowing me to break it at any time was a calculated risk, and bargaining so hard was putting her mind at ease. Eventually though, we finished the contract and we both signed it, finalizing the deal. With that done, I was ready to head back, but not before meeting my new entourage. I'd be bringing back a bunch of new G-rankers for the war effort. Strong ones hopefully. Time to meet our new comrades.