We did get the mushroom, bringing us up to four items on our list. With proof of concept we spend the rest of the week using a combination wishes and determination to track down a full twenty three of twenty five items. Unfortunately, that was when we ran into a little snag. The less items remaining on the list, the more expensive the wishes got because of the smaller number of variables in play. By the time we got to the last two items on the list they were too expensive to wish for with our current model.

Still, despite missing out on the one week mark like we'd been aiming for we were doing amazingly well. The recordings had started and I was fairly sure they showed us doing pretty damn well, but with the last two items being up in the air as they were we decided to hold a team meeting. It was internal only, just the four of us, because we would be discussing my ability and the others didn't need to know about that. I was willing to trust and open up to my new friends, but there was sharing and there was being reckless. It would be stupid to tell people willy nilly about my real origins.

Callie was leaning back against Rallia, the black wolf she'd claimed for herself, using the big beast as a pillow as she considered our options. With nine wolves left (one got killed by that poison fire construct) we had exactly enough of the big animals for our group to each get one. After Jessie healed them up, her life energy allowed her to take control of them if she wanted. She spent the next three days with Cark watching her back as she trained them all using her ability to enforce commands and positive reinforcement to show they would be rewarded for certain actions.

I'd kind of expected it to be harder, but given they had originally been ridden by goblins they took to the positive treatment much faster than expected. Jessie still kept them topped up with life energy when we were riding them, in case she needed to take control of them if one snapped, but all in all they were pretty smart creatures for non sapient animals, and as long as we fed them well and gave attention they seemed to actually love being around us. Even riding on their backs didn't bother them, and their speed as G rankers meant increased mobility even when we moved as a whole group.

My wolf, Jin, was black with a white spot on his forehead, and the biggest of the lot. He was one of the two I'd fought with the goblin riders and had connected with me after our battle, clearly seeing me as strong enough to follow. The rabbits I kept catching and cooking for him probably helped too. Regardless, I had a kickass war mount now, and I couldn't wait to bring him back to the city. I'd been worried if we could, but Callie said tamers were a known thing and there were provisions for docile monsters and animals, of which the wolves were apparently the latter.

Callie blew out a long breath. We were on the top floor of the hatchery, and the others were out with Cark doing some training. We were pretty sure they knew we wanted them out of the way for a bit, but they didn't seem to mind. Cass and Zeke were downstairs, but Cass was mortal so we didn't need to worry about her hearing and Zeke knew my secret. I decided to break the ice. "Ok. We didn't make it to the end of the list before the week was up, which isn't great. But we're pretty close, and we might still be able to get first place if we find the last two items. Callie, what's last on the list."

She grimaced. "Akkadian Fire Beads and the Heart of a Greater Mountain. I might be wrong but based on the activity from the searchers nearby I'm pretty sure they set up the last two to overlap on almost everyone's lists. Both of them will be in the same place though. A volcano. Jessie has been scouting and managed to find one relatively close by, but if we found it so will others and there's a good chance this competition is going to get pretty intense." She didn't sound too pleased with the Academy, and I could see why.

We;d been doing this whole thing as quickly and painlessly as possible. Granted not everyone would agree to trade and we had to pick some fights, but we'd mostly been able to avoid all out brawls. This was going to be the definition of a brawl, literally everyone left or at least bunches of them, all going for the same item. On the one hand that would be a huge pain in the ass to get through, but on the other hand it did have a benefit. "We can use that too though, cant we? We can demonstrate our skills against the other fighters for everyone to see."

That got a grudging nod. "That's true. We want to get at least some impressive time on the cameras, we're going to be part of the stream for this when it gets released, and the better we do the more they include us. Granted we've done ok so far, but we've also been leaning into the wishes to get things easier, which definitely makes us look efficient, but it also makes us look absurdly lucky and like we aren't relying on our own abilities. One last big fight will definitely give us a chance to show off, but I'm not entirely sure it's worth it."

It was a tough call. We had weaker members we would need to protect. We could leave them behind sure, but then we would be robbing them of that prime time footage we were all looking forward to and the sweet sweet gains we would all get from it. I didn't have an easy answer. "We could leave the others behind? We'd have to check and see what they think about it, we are a team, but if this is going to be the free for all you say it is bringing the H rankers might be too dangerous."

Benny looked dubious, which considering his relationship with Celine wasn't surprising. I wasn't sure if they were actually dating yet, but the two of them spent almost all their time together. The idea of asking her to give up her chance to make a name for herself would obviously bother him, but I could tell he wasn't any more enthused about bringing her into a G ranked war zone. "With the wolves around, we can still bring them with right? They essentially have not only a means of escape but an actual weapon that they can use against higher ranked enemies."

That wasn't my area of expertise, I turned to Jessie. "You're the one who got them to the point they're at. I'm a big fan of Jin, but can the wolves be trusted to have our back in combat already? This is a pretty new setup. In fact, depending on the circumstances it might be MORE dangerous to send them into battle on the wolves. If they consider the H rankers to be an impediment to survival their instincts might tell them to eliminate the threat. But again, not really my area of expertise. What do you think?"

She bit her lip, looking uncertain for a minute, before finally shaking her head. "No. They wouldn't do that. You need to understand I haven't just been using life force to make them do things and then giving them treats. My connections don't just allow me to control them, but to share thoughts and impressions. The same way I can see through the eyes of a raven I can feel what the wolves are feeling, and can communicate my feelings. They don't really do complex thought, mostly acting on instinct, but I've been able to show each of them that we're part of their pack and that we care for them as they care for us."

Even without going into the psychology stuff that was really impressive. Jessie's power had MUCH more potential than I had expected. I looked at Jin who had his head cocked at me. He didn't understand human speech, I doubted if he would anytime soon, though theoretically if his Focus got high enough he might be able to learn. I doubted he had pretty much any points in that stat though, animals weren't known for that and from what I could tell tended to end up Might and Vitality heavy most of the time, with a few exceptions. Still, he clearly felt comfortable around me, and I was glad we had decided to keep the wolves. They were powerful supports. Plus I'd always wanted a dog as a kid, but Zeke didn't feel like cleaning up after one.

In the end it was Callie's decision, and we all gave her space to figure it out. After some thought, she finally sighed. "In the end this isn't really up to us. I could claim authority and tell them to stay behind, but it's not really my place. If the wolves can help keep them safe there's no reason to forbid it. We'll give them the choice to go or stay behind and see what they decide, but it's their future on the line not ours, and it's not right to try to decide how they do it. Sure it's dangerous to go with us, but cultivation is inherently dangerous. Trying to coddle them now just means they'll be weaker when we aren't around anymore."

It was clear she didn't like making that argument. I imagined it struck her as far too much like something her dad would say for her liking, but she wasn't wrong. Our lives were pretty dangerous. Ascendants DID die in the city fighting monsters and criminals, if there was no danger involved we wouldn't get nearly as much renown for victories. It wasn't our place to deprive them of training or exposure that could help them survive, even if it was to protect them. They were our friends, but in the end they weren't actually part of our team. They had their own priorities and we had to respect that.

I reached down to scratch Jin behind the ears. "Fair enough. I suggest we wait until tomorrow before we go though. We can get those five wishes in for the day. Might put us a bit behind the others if they found the place already but I think the wait would be worth it for the boost in power. Granted ten points isn't going to be a crazy amount, but it's enough to make a difference in a pinch, and I'd rather have it and not need it than need it and not have it. Although maybe eight would be better, leave a wish in case of emergencies."

We'd been using up all of our wishes getting the proper items for our list one at a time. It had been four days and we were already almost done, which showed just how useful the technique could be. Still, not having any spare wishes on hand in case of an emergency had been bothering me, and that didn't seem like a smart way to go into such a precarious situation, considering we would be up against some of the best teams in the Academy. Anyone who got this far this early was going to be tough to beat.

It also struck me that putting the last two items on everyone's list meant that only one team could actually finish the hunt, which kind of explained why they had that whole first place gets all the exposure rule. In the end I was pretty sure they were trying to show us that cultivation meant being the best, and that while useful, alliances weren't viable in the long term if you really wanted to reach the top. Regardless of the reasoning though I was determined to win. Now we just had to plan out how this was going to go. Hopefully Jessie could at least draw us a map or something.