Chapter 244: Chapter Two Hundred Forty Five

Between the date and the conversation with my cousin, I was feeling recharged enough after breakfast to get back to training. I decided to forego doing all five wishes for the Beast Lord Garden folks, and knocked out one of them with Cark before we left so I could top up my fire attacks at least a bit. The great thing about that was that Cark exclusively cared about Might, and that increased his firepower, so the attacks got stronger with every wish, and since it was entirely to his benefit it was totally valid.

I saved one wish and did the three contractually obligated ones for Sloane, topping up my Fantasy to an even one hundred and ten before going to find Alden. Our mentor was sitting in the stands in the Pavilion, relaxing as he waited for your training to start. He'd apparently decided to watch this one. I waved to him as we approached. "Hey old man, haven't seen you around here for a week or so, why didn't you sit in earlier?" I dropped onto the seat next to him, reclining to watch the mostly empty ring.

"Watch?" He snorted. "Watch what? The two of you getting your fool arses kicked in creative ways by the boy? This training course was my creation lad, I know what the first week or so is like. Today is the sweet spot. First time against your real instructor after you've had the humility beaten into you. Mel and the boy couldn't even walk by the time the gave in on that first day. The next day though...that's when you see something. Had all the stupid smacked out of you enough to be halfway competent."

I was beginning to see how Abel had ended up the charming and compassionate person that he was. The poisoned apple didn't fall far from the man eating tree. Rolling my eyes at the bearded man, I continued with my point, though I stopped to have Callie put up one of her stealthed shadow domes. Most people here knew, but no point in advertising. He arched an eyebrow in concern when the dome went up, but didn't complain, just waited for us to explain.

Mulling over how best to phrase this, I decided to just come out and say it. "I can offer you a WCP wish. I have access to a source." I very carefully did NOT mention or look at his leg. It was obvious what he would wish for, and I didn't want to invalidate the wish by tampering with the compensation. "So..." I said lamely. "Do you want a wish?"

Alden burst out laughing. "Lad, that was the worst sales pitch I've ever heard, but I suppose when you're selling gold you ain't gotta hype the merchandise. Am I to assume this source is the reasoning behind all the support from the Beast Lord Garden? E-rankers don't much go in for lavishing gifts and aid on little do-nothing outfits like this. I was wondering how you got them to commit so many resources."

He looked down at his leg. "Now forgive me, but wishes take payment right? What might this old man have that would be worth a new limb? I already work for you lad, and I don't have much money to offer. The boy is already training you, and I trust him to do that much properly."

Callie, knowing I was reticent to comment on wishes because I was worried about skewing the results by biasing the recipient, cut in from where she had been quietly holding the shield. "Well you could pay with some of your attacks. Regrowing a limb for someone at our rank isn't just about normal stats though. It would require Impact. The payment for something like that would probably be more than just one attack."

That was true, I'd used Impact in most of my wishes as a stand in for other stats I was lacking, but I'd only ever granted an Impact related wish once. When I gave Benny his powers. I was pretty sure I had the stats to do it, but even I was under the impression that it would take more than one attack, even one as impressive as Alden's, to offset that cost. It was just a matter of how I perceived things. A few points were fine for an attack because attacks were made up of hundreds of points, the raw value was there and then modified by my need for combat ability.

Alden didn't seem worried though. "Alright then. If I do this the way I think, then I wish for my leg to regrow. I'm willing to pay with ten attacks, paid our over ten days. Does that work? I figure the delay means I should pay more of them, and it'll be a hefty price for a leg in any case." He raised an eyebrow at me questioningly.