Limitless Path

Despite being required to both fight five thousand beasts up a hundred levels at max level and kill fifty bosses at least fifty levels up solo, Beth was there for it. In fact, she accomplished it in almost record time, finding that by far the easiest part of the quest. Gathering resources still took forever, and that was pushed further in not having such a convenient inside contact at the only trading firm she worked closely with. She was thinking that it might be a good time to do a little outreach with other firms, not that she was leaving Seven Lights behind, but it would be great to have an even broader network of merchant contacts to source materials from and even sell materials to.

Just saying that she wanted to make contacts with other trading houses and merchants was easy, actually doing it was much harder. Or would be much harder if she was above shamelessly cheating, which she was not, so she contacted Mortaine and asked for his introduction. He replied that he could easily get her what she needed, but also reminded her that she did have a task outstanding for him, though it was still not a number one priority. She, or at this point, they had a list of items to collect for Mortaine and Laselle, all of which were helping with their ongoing investigation. Between that and Baelvyr's ongoing investigation, Beth did get the sense that things were on the move, as it were, but she wasn't exactly privy to any of those inner workings just yet.

The biggest thing now for them, something that was going to help them a lot if they really just invested the time, was working their way through Enlightened. Beth was maybe more eager than the others, but that's because she did have this back-of-the-mind giddy feeling that welled up from time to time when she thought about how she really just needed rebirths to get to Exalted. Not only that, even before Exalted, each rebirth was more than making her stronger, as it was with the whole team, it was making her much stronger. It was in one sense her catching up, very slowly approaching the power of Baelvyr or Mortaine or Laselle, but in another sense it was her fully settling into her Ideal. She wasn't going to be beating any Exalted, not any time soon, but each rebirth gave her Ideal a boost in power. Not to mention her Mana Physique, which grew stronger with rebirths, even though that was a bit more minor. She also didn't really think of that as an advantage as that was true for everybody. Presences and humanization took time and investment, Mana Physique relied much more on level of rebirth, apart from the overall rank, which was very difficult to change, at least for the better.

On Mortaine's recommendation, more as in letter of recommendation and not him just saying to do something, Beth took a little trip across the galaxy. Not the first such thing, and not something that inspired the kind of fear, or awe, as it might have at some time in the not too distant past. Still, even with how tedious it was to navigate the janky teleportation networks, and how annoying the teleportations were for her with how they twisted space, annoying her like somebody scraping nails on a chalkboard. Despite that, she endured the whole process to get to the opposite side of the galaxy, going through a dozen teleports to arrive at her destination. She had been to a lot of places in her interstellar adventures so far, but the planet that Mortaine had directed her to might take the cake for the most spectacular, and that was certainly saying something. She had seen ecumenopolises and all kinds of crazy things over the years, but much of what she had seen hadn't been built with the express purpose of being incredible.

The world she found herself on was designed to be beautiful to an almost obscene degree. Despite the fact that it was all very intentionally done, it didn't at all feel fake or as if the whole thing was just put on as a show or a production. Every street, every building, every walkway, every tree and shrub and bush and flower, everything was arranged in a perfect way. Beyond even that, the place was designed by masters of the craft, with parks and buildings with gorgeous architecture blended together in such a way to create a wonderful, seamless whole. There were places where the buildings and nature meshed, plants and trees extending into or out of buildings to bring the entire environment together in a way that made both the natural and constructed look as if they had all grown up together or merged in a perfect fashion. Buildings and islands hovered in the air, shedding bright blue and turquoise waterfalls down into ponds or ornate fountains with gilt and carving. It was a scene that she couldn't even describe, and she didn't even want to begin to calculate the amount of time, effort, money, and rare resources that had been sunk into making the place what it was. It was a flex of the highest order, a statement to any and all, a grand declaration that the people who built here, who lived here, were people of wealth and power and beauty and ideals.

And the people, oh! The people! The place was bustling in a way Beth had truly never experienced, stopping in shock as she exited the local CRA Hall, watching the people on the streets moving back and forth. They were all dressed in impressive finery, beautiful designs of many colors and cuts, different fashions and styles blending together in a riotous sea of excitement. The people moved with a freedom, a feeling of grace and lightness and energy, that she had rarely if ever seen in others, and they all shared it. It was like everyone was going to a party or a dance or a festival at all times, even if it was something as simple as walking down the road to the store to buy food or going across town to work for the day. Just breathing in the air and watching the people go about their day was a pleasure, and Beth immediately decided she wanted to live there, even if only part time. She didn't care the price or the demands of the citizens; to see a place so free and open and uplifting was a blessed experience, and to think she and Sera, and the rest of the team, of course, could experience this every single day was tantalizing in the extreme. And she hadn't even gotten started; that was all from the first thirty seconds of her having seen the city, heard the jubilant cries and happy voices, and witnessed the grand architecture and design.

She had to shake herself out of her daze and force herself to head to her first destination, which was sadly her only destination on this world, Zephyr Prime. Still, she could visit at any time, as the world was in no way closed, and there weren't any restrictions, other than availability, on renting rooms in one of the CRA Halls. She pondered what to do as she made her way down the street, exchanging pleasant greetings and smiles with those she passed, all of it feeling totally natural. There was not a thing that felt fake or out of place in the city, and everyone there seemed to genuinely and willing partake in that air of hope and optimism that spread all around. She couldn't resist, nor did she want to, getting caught up in the mood and the feeling, wearing a broad smile on her face as she moved down busy streets, through a bustling market, and around a large series of apartments. Even those huge building had been constructed in such a way as to blend in, with each other, the city as a whole, and the entire environment around them. Beth marveled at the place as she approached her destination, watching as a flock of small, brightly colored birds flitted overhead, singing in a happy trill as they flew.

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The building she came to was an edifice all on its own, with seven spires rising to varying heights from a central building of ten stories. Whether it was the materials the building was constructed from or the way it was arranged, everything was beautiful, with a sense in the design that gave the casual observer an easy feeling. On a deeper inspection, the building was designed to give both a sense of openness and grandeur at the same time that led to a slight feeling of awe. There were so many layers to the architecture and design of the city that she was having some trouble even processing it all. She felt like it was a city that she could spend a thousand days inspecting, let alone exploring, and she would have new feelings, and new understandings, every one of those days. It was a bit overwhelming, as she found that she was getting lost in such thoughts even as she stood on the street and stared at the building she was supposed to be entering for business. She wasn't sure if it was entirely a good thing, but it didn't make her upset or feel like anything was strange or off, so she accepted the feeling and tried to internalize it as much as she could.

Shaking that off, she walked up to the front doors which were, yes, she wasn't seeing things, made out of solid gold. Not just gold, but mana gold, which was a pretty obscene level of wealth, considering mana gold was usually worth more than its weight in platinum coins, and a set of double doors big enough for Baelvyr and Bjorn to walk through side-by-side was a flaunting of wealth that she had had rarely, if ever, seen. The Seven Lights firm didn't have anything like this at any of its branches, or anything close to it, and she was struck not just by the doors, but by the fact that there was so much enchanting layered into them that she wasn't sure if they were mana gold or just pure blocks of enchantment. Whoever they had do the work was at least a Sage, no question in her mind, and she couldn't even imagine just what they had put into the doors; the kinds of things Sages and beyond could do could be both incredibly powerful and amazingly unpredictable. She let herself move on from the doors after a moment, entering a lobby that reminded her something of a CRA lobby, with its minimalist elegance, but this was a totally different beast.

The place was made of such high quality materials that she found herself doing several doubletakes just on glancing around. She had to do a tripletake when she realized the lamp holders were forged of a mithril allow, which truly seemed an extreme expense for both such a simple item and one that would be all over a building. Beyond that, every single thing was made from some kind of high quality material that pushed the definition of wealth and subtle elegance to a new level. There was a minimal amount of furniture scattered around, all made of woods that she was sure would make her eyes water if she looked up the price, and all artfully arranged in precise seating formations. The chairs and tables were all set out on top of simple rugs in dark colors, but the fabric they were stitched from was probably worth more than every piece of both clothing and armor she had ever owned. The floors under those rugs, in the places it could be seen, was an extremely high quality stone that was polished so well Beth was sure it was actually shining in the light of the lamps, where they glowed in their damn mithril brackets. Even the counters at the back of the room and to her left were made of fine woods carved by a master craftsperson's hand, with scenes of fields of flows and flowing rivers running heavy with fish depicted in vivid detail.

Beth was finding that she had to shake herself out of a stupor quite a lot on visiting this world, and she was a bit curious if Mortaine had planned that. The easily distractable old fool was often subtle or clever in ways others didn't always expect, which was yet another reason he had lived so long and amassed so much wealth and power despite adverse circumstances. Far from being annoyed, she knew she was going to have to thank the man for recommending what she imagined was some of the best the Milky Way had to offer, and she hadn't even started negotiating with the trading firm yet. That firm was purported to not only be the wealthy in the galaxy, putting even firms like the Seven Lights firmly to shame, but it was rumored to have extra-galactic connections that both supplied resources and backed the place with external muscle. Not just in the sense of powerful warriors, either, as she was sure some of the proliferate and intricate enchanting she saw on everything came from that well of intergalactic resources. The firm, Black Ships Trading, made no secret of its wealth or connections, and was thusly highly selective of who they chose to work with and for what deals. Beth was just hoping she could get a foot in the door, and she had come suitably prepared; or she had thought so, before seeing the building and the wealth on display. She felt a bit embarrassed about what she had prepared to show the kind of wealth and resources she represented.

Beth approached the counter at the back, finding that she was currently the only person in the lobby other than the workers. A woman on the left side of the counter gestured to her as she walked up, signaling that she would help Beth. Beth walked over to her and gave her a tentative smile, which the woman returned very brightly, introducing herself with a shallow bow.

"Good day to you, ma'am. I'm Alicia of the Black Ships. How may we help you today?" the woman said.

"I was recommended to check this place out by a friend. I was hoping to be able to do some business here, but I'm not sure what your procedures are…?" Beth replied.

"Well, I'm not sure who it is that recommended you, but we serve a very exclusive clientele here," Alicia replied still smiling broadly, but shifting slightly.

"Well, Mortaine recommended me, with this letter," Beth said, passing Mortaine's message along. "That's the Lord of Traversal, by the way, just so we're clear. Oh, and I have things like this to trade."

Beth showed the woman, who was now displaying quite a bit of surprise, the entombed heart they had stolen during the Grand Palace. The woman's eyes went very wide at that and she immediately called for someone far more senior than herself to handle the matter, which Beth hoped was a good sign. The person who showed up just a handful of seconds later was at very least a peak Ascended and exuded an air of power and authority that Beth was sure worked wonders on other customers, but she was not quite as impressed. The man, an elf of some kind if his height, pointed ears, and the cast of his facial features indicated anything, gestured for Beth to follow him before leading the way up to a private room. He ushered her inside and poured them both a drink, not even asking her preference, though he poured something she immediately liked the smell of, before he sat across from her, taking a sniff of his drink and then a sip before focusing on her.