This journey to the Beast Lord Garden was a solo one. I could have  brought the others, but I decided against it. This seemed like something  I should do solo. I had plenty of attacks stored up if I needed them,  and as a member I doubted I'd run into trouble. I should at least be  able to escape, though I made a mental note to try to get my hands on  some kind of mobility effect. That would show dividends when combined  with Leaf on the Wind not to mention Cloud Step.

When I  got to the Garden, they let me in without an invite. I was a member, and  while I did have to show off this cool green stone token with gold  veins Jessie had brought back for us, once I did no one hassled me. I  let the guard know I needed to see Melinda, and that it was urgent, and  while I expected to be told to wait or come back later, he just escorted  me back to the formation garden when I'd met with her the first time.  Melinda was apparently pretty chill with her faction members, and  treated everyone with respect, even if they were newbies.

It  made me much more willing to trust her with my secret, and I'd already  been leaning towards yes. Seeing how she treated her people like family,  regardless of power, made my good impression of her grow by leaps and  bounds. When I got to where she was waiting she smiled up at me warmly.  "Ah, Solomon. It's so wonderful to see you. I see Agria didn't join you  on your trip. That's a shame. Travis has developed quite a fondness for  the girl. Apparently she gives excellent scratches and smells good."

I  chuckled at that, sitting down next to her as she gestured me to take a  seat on the bank of a small pond I hadn't even noticed when I'd been  here before. Looking back, I realized it was hard to focus on individual  aspects of the formation rather than the whole, and briefly wondered if  that was a factor of the formation itself. Sadly it wasn't the time to  do research on interesting topics. I was here to make a choice, or  rather, to follow through on one I'd already made.

In the  interested of that I took a deep breath, trying to figure out the best  way to broach this subject. "What do you think of the Peace Lord?" I was  going to have to broach the topic carefully. The best way I could think  of was to try to get her to commit to some sort of position on the  enemy. Once I'd established a baseline for their relationship I'd have a  better idea of how to broach the topic of what to do about stopping  him.

"He's an ass." She responded serenely. I blinked, not  expecting such a direct response from her. "I wouldn't have spoken so  freely in the past, but since you've joined my faction, there's no need  for niceties. The Peace Lord is a bully and an arrogant blowhard. That  isn't to say he's not dangerous. He's a slippery bastard, and I don't  recommend crossing him if you can help it. But the man has an ego the  size of this whole galaxy, even if he hides it behind his pompous  nonsense."

I couldn't really argue that after having met  him. It wasn't obvious exactly, but I could definitely look back on our  meeting and see where that kind of arrogance could have been present.  "Alright, well that makes things simpler." I said with a wry smile. "If  that's the case, I'd like to ask you to help me deal with a problem. I'm  not asking for free, I have means of paying you, but in order for me to  do that I needed to know if you would be willing to set yourself  against the Peace Lord, because he is firmly on the path to becoming my  enemy."

Melinda burst into giggles, and I glared at her a  bit, because that wasn't really polite. She took a second to choke down  the laughter, holding up her hands. "I'm sorry. It's just, you sounded  so serious there. I recognize that you're probably very upset with the  Peace Lord, but someone like you being an enemy to someone like him  seems a bit far fetched. Not that you won't get there eventually, but  the Peace Lord has better things to do than pick fights with G-rankers."

"That-"  I sighed. "That's fair. I didn't exactly do this properly. You have no  reason to think I would be a threat to him, but I wanted to take your  measure before I told you this next part. Can we be assured of our  privacy?" She smiled at me again, and snapped her fingers in response.  There was a sort of...shift in the air. The force of the snap rippled  out, and the space we occupied seemed to change in some way I couldn't  describe.

She glanced around appraisingly before nodding.  "Alright, that should work. This formation can conceal our words and  presence from basically anything. I use it to isolate myself from the  world when meditating or training. It wouldn't do to have someone spy on  my capabilities. But it's occasionally useful for meetings as well. We  are as secure as anyone on this planet at the moment, so please,  unburden yourself."

Her words sounded like she was  humoring me, but somehow, I got the feeling she was interested in what I  had to say. I imagine her Fantasy stat was high enough that her sense  for opportunities was finely tuned. She must have picked up something to  indicate that this would be important. I took a deep breath, preparing  myself, and decided to just get it out there. "I've come to ask you to  consider backing me in my dealings with Sanctuary Hall. They've been  starting trouble at the urging of another party, a party I'm having a  problem with, and I have reason to believe they won't stop unless I stop  them. I can offer you a unique resource in exchange for your  help...wishes. I am a Wishmaster candidate, and I'd like your support in  exchange for my own."

I felt the weight drop off my  shoulders as I just...ripped off the band-aid. I didn't have any sort of  subtle or gradual way to work up to the actual reveal. I'd never been  suited to that kind of subterfuge, it was half the reason we'd been so  careful choosing the people we would work with. This was a reveal that  couldn't be taken back, once it was out, it was out, and I was  completely at Melinda's mercy, barring an attack and Zeke's  intervention. Despite that though, I just felt relieved. It was so  exhausting keeping this kind of secret from everyone, having to watch  every step.

There was something freeing about sharing your  secret, especially with someone that you were pretty sure would be able  to protect you. Melinda was getting the chance to get a unique  resource, but to me she would be my new backer. She would be the person  who could keep me safe without all the strings that Zeke had attached.  In that moment, it occurred to me that this might be the whole point of  the candidacy. Teaching us to build our own forces, to see what we could  put together to protect ourselves and take advantage of our abilities  as best we could.

The Wishmaster had built the WCP on his  own merits, what better test of a candidate than seeing if they could  use their own abilities to do the same? It even helped explain why the  other candidate was so set on depriving me of the backing of the forces  on this planet. This would be my foundation, the base of my power as I  expanded into the universe. If I couldn't get my planet of origin on my  side, bring a backwater rock into my faction to act as a stepping stone,  then how would I manage to convince any future forces to work with me?

I  forced down my excitement at digging up a potential piece of the puzzle  and any implications thereof and focused on Melinda, who was the more  immediate concern. She was staring at me, all amusement and gentle  humoring gone from her expression, replaced by shock and if I wasn't  mistaken, greed. That was fine, I didn't mind greed. If she tried to use  force I had Zeke, and if she didn't there was no need to worry. I was  planning to grant her wishes anyway. She swallowed hard, getting her  expression under control. When she spoke, her voice was a bit hoarse.  "A...a Wishmaster candidate?"

I nodded. "Yes. Not just me  either. There's another candidate working with the Peace Lord. That's  what I meant about another party. I'm sure you can see how that  situation might pose a problem for you if left unchecked?" That was the  part that I'd needed to confirm. If the Peace Lord hadn't been an enemy  there was a chance she might side with Sanctuary Hall, and possibly with  the other candidate.

As it was though, that was unlikely  at best. Not just because she didn't like him, but because it would be  stupid. Why would she share an asset like a Wishmaster (even if only a  potential one) with another group she didn't like. The less people who  knew the more wishes she got for herself and her people.

Still,  she was going to be going up against another candidate, and she  deserved to know that. It might be dangerous to deal with, and  forewarned was forearmed. As expected, she barely thought about it, the  lure of having her own Wishmaster too great a lure to even pretend to  turn down. "I won't insult you by pretending not to be interested." She  said with barely contained excitement. "But if we're doing this I'd like  so assurances about exactly what we're going to be getting from this  arrangement. What are your capabilities,  at least the ones you're  comfortable sharing?"

That was a fair question, and I took  a moment to mull over how to answer. Deciding that if I was trusting  her I'd trust her with most of it. "Five wishes per day. I can grant  stats but for the most part I trade them for others, so it's more along  the lines of redistribution than actual power gain. I can grant Skills  but it's costly and I can't do anything past beginner at the moment. The  actual wishes I can grant are dependent on my own stats, so the more I  grow the better I can help, and I can only grant a total of three stats  per wish right now."

I didn't tell her everything.  Trusting was one thing, but it would be stupid to spill all of it. The  stat thing would become obvious and if I didn't tell her the number of  wishes I couldn't make sure to clarify that she couldn't use them all.  But just in case I kept my ability to trade attacks to myself. I could  take the memories of the fact from anyone I needed to make the swap  with, and having that ace in the hole couldn't hurt if push came to  shove. Always good to have a trump card up your sleeve.

I  saw her getting more and more excited as I spoke, though my statement  about stats being mostly traded caused her to wilt a bit. I expected  she'd been hoping to be be able to boost a bunch of her people to  E-rank, which I absolutely wouldn't do at the moment. Backing or not,  messing with balance of power like that would firmly push most other  factions into the other candidates camp just to keep ahead of the  potential fallout. Melinda took a deep breath, forcing herself to calm  down. "Alright. Well in that case let's talk about cost. What exactly  can I do for you?" I grinned behind my mask. The hard part was over, I'd  gotten through my speech. Now came the fun.