Limitless Path

Veren left the stage after slowly sheathing his sword, walking back to their group and sitting at the far end. Some of that mystical air still hovered around him, though much diminished from the blazing sun that he was earlier. The air in the whole place was still a little strange and the crowd was much subdued, though Beth thought that might be from a combination of Veren's feat and the fact that the home team just got thoroughly schooled, both for the day and for the whole series. Still, it was an impeccable way to end, and the witnessing of someone pushing the threshold of what was beyond the human, beyond the realm of the ordinary, had put everyone in a bit of an odd mood; not quite depressed, but not exactly elated, and more than a bit confused.

Baelvyr got up then, which had the mood chill a bit, but he didn't don the armor this time and ambled forward to meet the captain of the other team on the field. He asked if they wanted to do the whole team fight that had been set as the tie-breaker just to run it out, and the elf politely, and a little faintly, replied that it wasn't necessary. Despite the whole arena getting crushed by Baelvyr earlier, the elf had borne brunt of his ire, and it really looked like he was still recovering from that ordeal. It was no surprised that when Baelvyr challenged him to what the ogre insisted was just a 'friendly spar,' the elf politely, and very quickly, declined the honor. They still weren't done, however, as they did have a ceremony that they had to attend in a few days, which even Baelvyr couldn't get them out of. That was in a few days, and for now, they returned to their rented suite.

"Sword boy there doesn't want to fight you, or me, or someone?" Beth asked Baelvyr, pointing at Veren when they were back in the suite's living room.

"Eh, not worth it," Baelvyr said with a shrug.

"The hell does that mean?" Beth asked, the others also paying attention.

"Transcendin' from Grandmaster to Sage is an intensely personal thing," Baelvyr explained. "Unlike when ya pushed into Master the first time with Tazeen's help, ya can't do that with Sage. It's one of the reasons why so many people get stuck in Grandmaster; ya can't get pushed, not in the same way, so it wouldn't be any use for us to step in right now. Well, we could give 'em a challenge, but he's already very close, so he'll get it on his own anyway. Some people take years to get to the state he achieved in just five days, and most take a decade to get to the state he achieved while meditatin' durin' a fight. Don't worry 'bout 'im; he'll get there without any help, easy."

"Alright, understood," Beth said. "Nobody else in the group is hitting that point any time soon, anyway."

"Yeah, none of ya have to worry about that soon," he readily agreed to several frowns from the group. "I expect one of the lot of ya to get skill to Mithril before any of ya get yer weapons to Sage. I could always be surprised; I ain't gonna be, but I could be, and that's what's important."

"Thanks for the big vote of confidence," Beth replied sarcastically.

"Hey, I just tell ya the truth. Don't attack the messenger, or whatever they say about it all," Baelvyr replied with a snort.

More time passed as they waited for the ceremony, which turned out to be just as boring as Beth expected. The only highlight for her was the leader of the other team, not the elf but the man in charge of the team day-to-day, approached her and apologized for the elf's behavior. Beth accepted the apology in the spirit it was given, though she privately thought the elf should apologize for his own behaviors himself, and she got the contact information of the other team leader. She wasn't sure if it was some kind of ruse, but she would run it by Val and if the kresnik said it was fine, then they could make use of that contact in the future. Even as somebody to train against it would be valuable, and the team was certainly strong, though Beth didn't think they would be catching up to her team. Not any time soon, at any rate, and she certainly wasn't intending to sit around and wait.

Baelvyr had some stuff for them after the ceremony, but it was just a few things setting them up for later. He wanted to bring them in a little more on what he was working on, or at least part of it, but they couldn't do it right away. Beth was perfectly happy to be left to her own devices again, and she was settling in, much to some members of her team's grumbling, to start grinding again. Well, the first thing they needed to do was analyze their quest for the True Rebirth and see what they needed and how complicated they would be, but Beth intended to persist with the quests for a little while yet. Maybe, at some point, it just wouldn't be economical to do so anymore, but she didn't feel like they had hit that point, or not yet, at any rate. That did mean that they had a stop before their final destination, as everybody needed supplies at this point; even the young richies needed some supplies now, as they were starting to enter territory where even the large factions in the Milky Way struggled to have, or have enough of, the needed resources.

The Seven Lights firm was just as it always was, though they got there through regular teleportation this time, unlike Beth's last visit. Somewhere along the way they lost Veren, which didn't surprise her at all, neither his slipping away nor the fact that everyone had missed when it happened. He had been focusing entirely on his sword and wasn't even up for his usual vaguely insulting comments, but Beth understood he was both going through a kind of metamorphosis and that his mind was really one dedicated to the blade at all times. When it took up his full concentration, he wasn't anybody interesting to be around, not even rising to the easiest of baits she threw out for him. She was sure they'd see him again, and not even in that long of a time frame, as he also bore some interest in the things Baelvyr was involved in and wanted to give them information about.

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Selene had several updates for them before they even got into what they needed or wanted, including that she had been doing better than projected in selling all the parts from the salvaged dreadnought. That give them even more liquid cash to splash around, though Beth wasn't yet that concerned with their funds; everything they needed was getting more expensive, but they still weren't at the point where it was wrecking their reserves to buy their materials. As usual, time was the biggest factor right now, with having to wait anywhere from months to years to secure everything for their orders. Selene had some news about some rare items she had sourced for them that they could very likely use during the next couple rebirths, and she sold them basically at cost, which saved them quite a bit of money. Beth wondered if that was something that she was allowed to do, to which Selene scoffed but also revealed her last piece of news for them; she was leaving.

"Just this branch or…?" Beth asked.

"I believe Seven Lights and I will be, amicably, parting ways," she answered. "Now that I'm an Exalted, they can't really pay me what I deserve, and they don't really have work suiting to my caliber or needs. I'm going to finish the last year of my current employment and then I'll be moving on from the firm entirely. They offered the position of a member of the board when I first discussed leaving with them, but both the pay the and responsibility scheduling didn't really work out."

"Do you have some kind of plan of where you're going next?" Sera asked the greater demoness, eyeing her with a very thoughtful expression.

"Well, let's just say I have plans and leave it at that," Selene said, looking around with very exaggerated movements of her eyes, making it rather obvious she was worried about people watching them even now. Beth supposed it shouldn't be that surprising, that people would want to know what Selene was up to, but she also just had to shake her head at the audacity. There were only a few Exalted in the Milky Way and only two known Manumitted; the rules were more a suggestion for someone like Selene at this point and she would have to do something fairly egregious to get somebody to even go after her. Even then, who the hell would it even be? Baelvyr, in all likelihood, and, while Beth knew he was strong, that also seemed like a waste of everyone's time. Suffice it to say, if she were in their shoes, she might think twice about playing fast and loose with some of the rules when it came to somebody like Selene, but then again, other people were constantly proving to her that there was no limit to the heights of stupidity attainable in this life.

"Well, if you need a place, or just need something in specific, you know how to get ahold of us," Beth said, eliciting a broad smile from Selene.

"Oh, I'm sure I'll have plenty of needs, but let's not discuss them in polite company," she said, making Beth glad that she had only brought Val and Blood up for this meeting. The entire group didn't need to pile into Selene's office to deliver what was, essentially, a shopping list, and she was so glad for that. Not that Val wouldn't repeat it, or Sera would go around bragging about it herself, which Beth still found a bit odd at times, but their relationship was stronger than ever, so she didn't bother worrying about something that wasn't a problem.

"I know what you mean and I also know what you mean," Beth replied with a grin. "Just contact us when you're, uh, done with this." She had caught herself before saying something that might give a little bit more than Selene wanted away to her erstwhile spies.

The trip, sadly, concluded with just a bit of small talk and then Beth's group was back on their way. She had decided that home was as good a place as any for them to operate out of for a while; they had teleporter access through the CRA, access to her family, it was a high mana-density world, and it was also out of the way. Other than people they already knew, she doubted they'd have anybody coming by to harass them or ask any probing questions. In fact, she was pretty sure that her group would be the strongest on the planet; with most of the CRA members that had shown up for the initial years having now moved on to bigger and better things, only a couple Hall Masters would be individually stronger than members of Beth's group, and even all the Platinum Emblems currently on Earth likely couldn't beat her team in a straight-up fight.

Speaking of Platinum Emblems, that was also on the list, but that would have to wait for a while. She, and any of the others that wanted to upgrade their emblem, would need to spend more time in-grade at Gold, as well as complete both more missions as well as more scut work. They'd be doing some refereeing duties, some desk work, and all the other (not) fun stuff that CRA members spent a lot of their time doing as they climbed the ranks. That wasn't something they were going to work on much now, but it would give them a lot to do once they got through the upcoming leveling and rebirth session that they had planned for the next couple years. That time would also coincide with Selene selling much of the rest of what they had stocked her with before leaving the firm. The money would be good, especially as they could have it used on buying their requirements instead of bothering to withdraw it. It would be leaving money in the Seven Lights' hands, which they would likely use to invest and make more money off of while she left it with them, but she didn't really care all that much.

It was something that hadn't really surprised her, though it had disappointed her a little, but not only were there banks in the wider universe, there were investment banks that did all manner of speculation. It was apparently a universal disease or a problem of all sapient species, in some form, and there were specialized investigators in the CRA who looked into complex financial crimes alongside local law enforcement officers. Beth had done her fair share of investigating, including following money trails, and the specialized officers could have that work and keep it all to themselves, in her opinion. She did not want to be spending weeks going over accounting books and questioning people who had manipulating money and opinion as a job for days on end. The whole thing sounded tedious as hell, but the number of such institutions was smaller than one might think, and they ones that got up to fraud, at least more than a little bit of simple market manipulation, was very small.

The Platinum Emblem would also require more than just a few missions and a simple test when she was ready to apply, but that was all a very long way away. She estimated it would be a decade before she was even ready to do the missions and the rest of it; it might even be that long just before she was ready to spend some more time refereeing and doing the other scut work she would need even before the Platinum missions. She dismissed it from her mind for now, more than happy with the high amount of access and low amount of responsibility a Gold Emblem afforded her and wanting to concentrate on her skills and abilities. She needed something to work on while they waited for their materials to be ready, and she could have another go at killing two birds with one stone as she had another quest part for her rebirth as killing much stronger beasts. This one, thankfully, was not going to be particularly time consuming, though it was the difficulty most other people would have complained about. For her, the stronger the opponents, the better, it was just taking huge amounts of time that would have been a drag for her, though it was more a mental thing than because of a time constraint.