Limitless Path

"You need to practice," Sera said when Beth was done.

"Rude," Beth replied with a frown, a frown that melted away as Sera wrapped her arms and tail around her. "I was just practicing."

"You're dangerous now. Even more dangerous, and that's saying something," Sera said, kissing Beth lightly on the cheek. "You need to practice with your Ideal a lot more before you can really start using it in combat. Hell, you need to practice more just to get used to the passive boost that having one will bring, but you have a real chance of doing something, uh, regrettable with an Ideal if you're not careful. Most people in my clan who made an Ideal over the many millennia we've been around have spent centuries crafting it and decades after they fully formed it practicing with it. It's not something where you can practice five hours and be totally fine."

"Well, we've got time," Beth said, leaning into Sera's embrace. "The next thing we're doing isn't under a hard time limit. I can spend a week practicing, a week objective time, and that'll be a couple months in here."

"That's true, we can always cheat the time requirements a little," Sera muttered, nuzzling against Beth.

"Come on, let's take a small break," Beth said, lifting the dragon girl up and carrying her back into the house part of the residence gate. Another advantage of the gate; she and Sera could spend hours in bed together and practically no time at all would pass in the outside universe.

"That was nice," Sera said some time later.

"Sorry, I feel like we haven't spent enough time together lately," Beth said.

"Come on, we're together all the time," Sera scoffed. "We even fuck basically every day. Are you saying you want to do it more than that?"

"Yes. No. Well, I mean," Beth stammered. "I just don't want you to feel neglected. But also, yes, I wouldn't mind getting frisky more often."

"That's music to my ears," Sera said with a big grin.

"Well, I know you're always ready," Beth chuckled, sitting on Sera's hips as the dragon lay on her back. Beth reached inward with her thumbs, pushing them under Sera's large breasts and caressing the scales she had lining them. "I love the way your scales changed because of your Physique. They look even better now."

"If you love it, then I love the change. By the way, your eyes changed, in case nobody told you," Sera replied.

"My what did what?" Beth asked.

"Your eyes changed," Sera said with a laugh, resting her large, long-fingered hands on Beth's ample hips. "They're still basically the same, but the silver part isn't silver anymore. You have this, uh, like, swirl of white fire making up that part now. I assume it's a little change that happened because of you realizing your Ideal."

"Oh, whoa," Beth said, making a small plate of shiny metal appear in her hand and checking her reflection. "It's a little hard to notice. I can only see it if I peer at them really close."

"That's true, but still, it's beautiful," Sera said, leaning up after Beth made the 'mirror' disappear and kissing her warmly while looking into, or rather, at her eyes.

"That's nice," Beth said, having not stopped the movement of her thumbs. "So, do you want to go visit your family next? I know we've been making plans around that, but if you want to do something else…"

"No, we should get it out of the way," Sera said, laying back and digging her fingers, conveniently laid across Beth's rear, deep into their resting spot. "I don't really need to check in, but I should go see what's going on. And I need to tell them that I'm off the market."

"Off the market? Like, you were expecting your parents to arrange a marriage for you?" Beth asked, moving her hands down to Sera rather expansive, and heavily muscled, stomach. The dragon had a line of scales that trailed down from between her massive breasts to right above her pubic area, with a cluster around her bellybutton, which was still visible. Beth kneaded the scales as Sera answered.

"Not my parents, really, but some of my relatives, maybe," Sera answered, perfectly happy with where her fingers currently were. "I'm technically one of the two heirs to the clan right now, though it doesn't have to go through bloodline inheritance. If the clan elders thought they could get a big advantage for the clan, and tie me down by having a specific partner which would force me into taking charge more, they would do it. They can't force anything, however, and if I tell them I have someone and have no interest in someone else, then they'll back off."

"Well, no interest in someone else permanent," Beth said with a smirk.

"True. You're very understanding with being a little more open," Sera said.

"Doesn't bother me," Beth said with a shrug. "Besides, both of us usually play around when you have some interest. Not like I'm not getting a benefit."

"A somewhat mercenary way to view it," Sera said, laughing at the same time to show she wasn't being insulting with that framing.

"Well, who's in the bed right now? You and some random floozy, or you and I?" Beth asked with a wicked grin.

"You talk like an elder," Sera laughed, digging her fingers in more firmly, which prompted a very appreciative response from Beth. "I forgot quite how much you love have your butt massaged."

"It just feels really good," Beth grunted, adding, "Especially when you're doing it. The way your long fingers can grab my whole butt while your palms are still on my hips feels super good."

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

"The muscles you've built up over the years feel nice to grab and dig into," Sera murmurred, making a happy noise when Beth leaned forward, running her hands up Sera's torso and past her shoulders. She did a face-plant into Sera's cleavage at the end of the movement, burying her face in between the huge, soft mounds as she cradled Sera's head with her hands.

"I love how warm you are," Beth muttered.

"You're becoming a bit dragon yourself, with all that fire in you," Sera laughed, kneading Beth's butt with her left hand while running her right hand up Beth's back, lightly digging her claws in.

"Is that possible?" Beth said quietly, groaning at the feeling of Sera's claws.

"Is what possible?" Sera asked.

"You know, transforming into a dragon? There's all these old stories on Earth about somebody transforming into a dragon or phoenix, usually by drinking a pure drop of blood or something silly," Beth said.

"Hmm," Sera muttered, continuing her ministrations. "It's not absolutely impossible, but there's all kinds of complications. Most people will have something, like a skill or two, that give them characteristics of a beast, but not that fully transform them. Even some of the transformation stuff that's out there doesn't really fully change the person, it just morphs their flesh for a duration. Actually becoming that other thing is different and would take all kinds of weird changes and stuff to do. I don't know, it's not really my field or anything, but I don't think it's something that happens that much, if anybody even knows how to make it happen at all."

"Hmm, I guess you'd then be in this positions where what would you have? A Presence or Humanization or both? How would that work?" Beth asked, sitting up just a bit so she wasn't grumbling into Sera's tits.

"Not as far as I know," Sera said, slowly moving her hands up from Beth's hips. She frowned for a moment as she caressed Beth's stomach before saying, "I have access to some of my family's archive right now. Not all of it, as they don't want people just wandering around with all that knowledge available that might fall into other people's hands, but some of it. There's no mention of anyone having both, and the only couple references are that they're incompatible."

"That's kind a bummer," Beth said, stroking Sera's arms as the dragon girl's hands continued upward. "Having both would make somebody stupid powerful."

"Again, this coming from the girl with a fully completed Ideal at ten rebirths," Sera scoffed, teasing Beth's breasts a bit, eliciting a deep moan from the other girl. "Considering the stuff I'm seeing on how they'd be likely to clash, making them work together would be a massive project in and of itself. Then, what are you getting, maybe something like ten percent more power overall? I mean, that's good, but might as well put all that time and effort into something just as strong, like getting a weapon skill up to Grandmaster or Sage."

"Mmm, I suppose that's true," Beth muttered, closing her hands over Sera's to hold them firmly in place.

"Does that feel nice," Sera asked.

"Yeah, you just gripping them like that feels really good, but it won't drive me over the edge. It's super pleasant, like a really warm and comfy sensation," Beth explained.

"I should hold them more," Sera said with a huge grin. "It's also quite a nice experience from my end."

"Oh, stop. Yours are so much nicer," Beth said.

"Not at all true," Sera disagreed firmly, shaking her head. "Bigger doesn't always mean better, and I love everything about yours. They've got a great shape, they're a really nice size, just perfect for holding and rubbing, and they look lovely."

"Well, uh, thanks," Beth said, smiling and blushing very heavily. "I, uh, didn't know you liked them that much. I still don't think they're anything special."

"They're very nice and you should be much prouder of them," Sera said with a chuckle. "Also, I think you having such a busty girlfriend-"

"Wife."

"-Fiancée, as well as our whole group being very busty, distorts your sense of things a little," Sera said with a laugh.

"Well, that's true, though Adam and Bjorn don't count there," Beth said with a chuckle.

"I don't know, have you seen Bjorn without the armor? Those are some mighty big pecs," Sera said with a wicked grin.

"Stop, you," Beth laughed, patting Sera's hands before sliding to the side and off Sera's lap. She moved to the edge of the rather large bed and hopped up, finding Sera's arms around her a split second later, though it was just a brief hug.

The two moved into the bathroom, where cleaning up took a bit longer than it otherwise might, but Beth was determined to spend a lot more time with Sera. She almost felt like she had this weight that was lifted, even though she really didn't feel that much pressure from growing stronger, but the level of power she had reached had already so high, and she had so much insane potential, that she felt like she was already at a point where she could decide what to do with her time without being fearful. She loved fighting, almost more than anything, and she still absolutely loved that feeling of growing stronger and exploring new things, but she felt like her connection to Sera was even deeper than it had ever been before. At the same time, she wanted to make use of that connection, or maybe even it was better to say she wanted to revel in it, to spend time with someone she absolutely, positively loved with all her body, mind, and soul.

When the two of them were eventually clean and out of the bathroom, they went looking for everyone else to circle the wagons. Beth wanted to get an idea of where everyone was at and what the plan was before she dove back into training for a couple weeks. They found most people split between the Gate Residence and the suite that was under Beth's name in the Hall, getting everybody into the gate. Again, Beth only knew of three people who could probably pierce into the gate and see inside without actually entering and Mortaine, Zane, and Fallon all had much better things to do with their time than spy on a couple of fresh Enlightened.

"What's going on?" Andrea asked. "And what have you two been up to?"

"We need to come up with a plan," Beth said from Sera's lap, not seeing the tall girl make a circle with her left thumb and forefinger and stick her right index finger in-and-out of it. She did see and hear the laughter from Andrea the amused reactions of the others and just rolled her eyes, guessing from the movements of Sera's muscles about what she was doing.

"A plan for what?" Adam asked, the least affected by their antics. At first, Beth had thought he was a bit socially inept and maybe a touch naïve, but Andrea had privately told her that Adam got about as much action between the sheets as anybody she knew, and she knew a bunch of horny people, including Beth and Sera. Yet more lessons about books and covers and judging, and Beth chalked it up to her maybe still be a little socially naïve.

"A plan for after the next few days of training I have to do," Beth said. "We're going to visit Sera's family, and I want an idea of who's going. We should also figure out what the step after that is, as I'm not expecting to be locked up or killed by the dragons."

"Well, I, uh, don't think I'll go," Kris said quietly. "Dragons and phoenixes are, uh, w-well, rivals, and I think I might just stay here."

"Oh, it's not that bad," Sera said, waving a hand dismissively. "At worst, you'll get challenged to a few duels. It's nothing we can't handle."

"Y-yeah, I'd, uh, rather not," the shy beauty said.

"If she stays, I stay," Bjorn declared firmly, patting Kris's hand, though he also got most of her forearm. Kris wasn't small by any means, either, it was just Bjorn really was that massive.

"I'm not really interested," Neph said. "There's some things I want to take care of; nothing crazy, just a couple quick errands."

"Okay, so that's three out already," Beth said, looking around.

"If there's going to be fights…" Adam started.

"Not if we can help it," Beth said, watching the stoic's man's face fall at that. "Though, maybe we could whip a couple up-"

She was interrupted by a jab to the ribs from Sera. "We're not going there with the intention from the start of getting in fights."

"Oh," Adam and Beth said together, disappointed.

"But, I'm sure some will happen," Sera said.

"Oh!" the two said again, though much happier.

"Well, if he's going-" Andrea started but Adam interrupted.

"Will they count as official duels?" he asked.

"Well, no, probably not," Sera said with a slight frown and a shake of her head.

"Oh, well, no thanks then," Adam said.

"Stop flip-flopping!" Andrea huffed in exasperation. "I'm kinda interested, but I don't want to be a pain, and I'd rather stay with this lug and work on Mana Physique stuff. He thinks he's about to improve his already, which is crazy."

"Most people never even do that," Sera said in some surprise.

"Idiot savant," Andrea added before Adam could get a word in.

"Right, well, that leaves you two," Beth said, looking at Blood.

"Nahhh-" Blood started before getting her own poke in the ribs. "Yes, we're going."

"Okay, I guess it's just the four of us for this one," Beth said, looking at the group and seeing the agreement.