Limitless Path

It was a month of objective time when they were ready to do their next rebirth, Val remarking how they were rocketing through Enlightened at an almost unprecedented rate. It was that almost that caught Beth’s attention, and she asked the kresnik if she had any records of anyone faster, which the Young Scion was only to oblige with a few tales she had collected. She only shared the three stories that she had managed to find some verification for, but she had had ample free time during her time with the Scions, some of it when she was at official events and just had to be present and look pretty, a perfect opportunity to do research on her communicator, and all three stories had solid evidence supporting them. The first was pretty straightforward, in Beth’s humble opinion, a slew of documentation about a man who was very similar to Veren; a prodigy with the spear from an early age, the man had spent but a few years to get to Grandmaster before setting out to explore the galaxy roughly a thousand years ago. His high weapon skill mastery at the start, coupled with continued rapid progress, meant that it took him less than fifteen objective years to hit Ascended, and he had plowed through the Ascended ranks from there. There was plenty of documentation backing up his claims, including official scans of his level and rebirth at various points that could be corroborated by multiple sources, and also the fact the man was still alive, though stuck in the high ranks of Ascended. Even being a weapon prodigy was no guarantee of successfully realizing one’s Ideal.

The second was a very similar story, somebody they didn’t really have on their team per se, but a person that was just incredibly adept with a certain skill. Such people, if they were given, found, or even made a high-tier skill early in their journey as a Wayfarer, could rise through the ranks incredibly quickly. Maybe not as quickly as a genuine weapon prodigy, as a skill still needed stats and mana reserves to work, while somebody who was, say, twenty-two standard years old and a Sword Sage didn’t need any mana or stats to be a monster, but they were still very fast in their climb. Just over twenty objective years to hit Ascended fast, which was still faster than Beth’s group’s pace would be, but not as fast as someone that was near-peerless or peerless with a weapon. Pound-for-pound, someone who had a skill at the same relative level as a weapon skill would, given all other conditions being roughly equal, lose more often than not, at least accounting for their skill not being above tier six. If a skill was tier seven or higher, than the calculus was a bit different, but weapon skills were just that strong, especially at higher ranks. Again, weapon skills also didn’t need anything to start, really, as someone with ten in every stat and no rebirths could become deadly with a sword or spear or bow or even just their body, while other skills multiplied stats and burned mana to function. The only real counterbalance to that point was that the person with ten stats, if they tried to not level and keep training, would reach a point both where their own body would have trouble keeping up, and that somebody with monstrous stats could decimate them without them being able to properly react, either not being fast enough or strong enough to prevent themselves getting overwhelmed.

The third example, again with ample documentation, was way more interesting for Beth, as it was someone who didn’t get rolling quite as early, though still extremely early relative to many others, but started obliterating everything when they got their Presence. Beth had a Presence that was a bit on the strong side, and she had trained hers extensively, unlike many other Presence users, but it was nothing as compared to the account of the woman Val sent her. The person was a prodigy of Presence, as many press releases and accounts had referred to her, in some fashion or other, and could use to truly devastating effect. One of the big things about a Presences was that it relied both on the person’s stamina and willpower to function, which should have made it hard to really shine by being a Presence’s prodigy until one had a few rebirths under their belt, getting the stats, particularly Endurance, needed to keep their Presence running for a significant time. If Beth wasn’t an expert with her Presence and had an Ideal herself, she would have found some of the claims that Val had compiled in the report a bit far-fetched, like the woman crushing a much higher level/rebirth person to near-death with just her Presence, but she well knew what those soul-related powers were capable of. The woman had reached Ascended in ten objective years, Exalted in twenty-one, and Manumitted in fifty, though the last was cribbed from an extra-galactic report, and those were few and far between and often not fully accurate. Still, the level of power and control was impressive, so much so that it really inspired Beth to work on her own soul-centric powers more in the coming months.

The rebirth went without a hitch and without anything major happening, in any way, either any more humanization or any strange connections or occurrences. Beth nearly had fifty thousand Strength at level one, just making her think about how anybody who couldn’t see rebirths might be surprised when it turned out she was strong enough to demolish a quarter of a city with a single jab. Then again, a lot of people who could see rebirths would also be surprised by that level of power, pointing to her being so far beyond the pale at this point that she was even beyond the warning Baelvyr had given her about people showing up at level one and being able to annihilate other powerful people. She could slap most Enlightened to death at her current stats without even using skills, and the elite among Enlightened would need her to use a few skills to smear them across the pavement.

Before she could take a trip to Zane, along with whoever was interested in going, which she assumed would be the whole team, they had visitors show up at the manor, and very welcome ones at that, at least for Beth and Sera. It was Selene and Alex, who showed up the evening after they had done their rebirths, Beth having given the team time to do whatever they wanted even though she was sure the visit to Zane would have been more informational than directly work. Beth didn’t even need to let the two in but just so happened to be in the dining room with Sera and Val when they showed up, immediately going over to greet them. She noted right away that they both were tired, with Alex in particular showing signs of weariness and even burnout, though she didn’t want to count her chickens before they hatched. She walked the two over into the living room area, an arm around Alex’s waist and an arm around Selene’s shoulders, sitting down with the two of them sandwiching her on one of the two large, L-shaped couches. Alex leaned against her, radiating a sort of great fatigue, leaning her head against Beth’s shoulder and closing her eyes right away, her body leaning into Beth.

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“She’s very worn out,” Selene said from Beth’s other side, pressing her body against Beth’s to lean across Beth, stroking her lover’s hair and face. Alex barely stirred, just slightly repositioning her head on Beth’s shoulder and making a small noise before settling in again. “She’s been pushing very hard to try to catch up to me, the sweetheart. I’m sure she’s genuinely getting close on her Ideal, as well, which is both exciting a bit worrying.”

“Worried about being overshadowed already?” Beth asked in a teasing tone, giving Selene a huge smile to make sure there was no sting in the comment.

“Oh, of course not,” Selene replied with a broad smile of her own, still leaning across Beth. She drifted forward a bit and gave Beth a gentle kiss before leaning back a bit and resting her head on Beth’s shoulder for a moment.

“Is she alright?” Sera asked, having finished eating and left Val to clean up before walking over.

“She’s fine, just exhausted. We were hoping to take advantage for a few days and rest,” Selene replied quietly. Sera stepped up to the couch and gently picked Alex up, the woman not waking a sign of just how tired she was. Sera sat down in the same motion, positioning Alex in her lap and wrapping her arms around the angel before wrapping part of her tail around her. She snaked the rest of her tail across Beth and around Selene, wrapping all three of them in the very, very long appendage.

“Sometimes I forgot how comfortable this is,” Selene murmured, leaning forward again to stroke Alex’s hair. Beth grabbed Selene around the waist and pulled her into Beth’s lap, letting the the greater demoness lean back and twist a bit to see Alex and Sera.

Selene stroked Alex’s hair again for a moment before leaning forward and gently kissing her temple, letting her lips linger for a time before leaning back for a moment. Only a moment, however, as she straightened just slightly and leaned forward again, this time going in for a warm, long kiss with Sera, Alex getting unintentionally, or likely intentionally, squished between them. Beth shifted just slightly and carefully grabbed Selene’s hips, not that she thought she could hurt the Exalted, but she enjoyed being gentle with the other girls. She carefully shifted both her and Selene’s position a bit so it was much easier and more comfortable for the greater demoness to access both Alex and Sera. Beth then leaned back into the soft couch, gripping Selene’s hips slightly tighter and watching as her lover slowly finished kissing her wife and then sat up.

“My, how I’ve missed that as well,” Selene muttered, giggling breathily. Despite being a powerful, imposing, feared greater demoness that was talked about in hushed whispers, she had a wonderful, throaty giggle that Beth found captivating. Only Alex, Beth, and Sera were aware that the fearsome Exalted could giggle so gently and warmly, a sound and slight motion that transformed her already beautiful person into lovely radiance.

“It hasn’t been that long since our wedding,” Beth said quietly with a small smile, giving Selene’s hips a small squeeze and gently rubbing them for a moment.

“Ah, but work’s been so boring, and Alex has been neck-deep in leveling and working on her Ideal. Every day feels like it just drags on forever right now, or that’s how it’s been. We’ve got a little time off and I intend to enjoy it,” Selene explained, giggling again before leaning forward and giving Beth a warm, very long kiss.

Beth could feel Sera’s tail winding around both of them, her wife clearly enjoying both the show and the closeness of all of them, both physically and emotionally. Beth carefully extracted her right arm and slid it around Sera while Selene still had her trapped in that same lovely kiss, pulling the dragon girl a little closer, also squishing Alex in between all three of them. The angel grumbled something and wriggled heavily, trying to secure herself a bit more room before settling back down. Beth was pretty sure she hadn’t even really woken up, another measure of just how much trust there was between them as Alex felt totally comfortable being fully asleep and wrapped up with them. Selene took her time, but when she came up for air she barely paused, transitioning back to Sera and starting on another long, warm kiss. It was clear even the demoness, despite her words and attitude, was also rather tired, as she was being very cuddly but not super sensual in her movements and actions, her kisses soft and warm rather than aggressive and hot.

The next time she came up for air, Beth tapped Sera, getting free from her tail immediately, her wife well understanding even little signals. Beth shifted Selene slightly, always forgetting that the demoness was only a bit shorter than Sera, not counting either of their horns, and then she stood up with Selene in her arms. Sera was right on board, standing with Alex curled up tightly in her arms and following Beth upstairs and into their suite. The wives gently set the other set of wives down on their large, very plush bed before quickly taking a few seconds to get the place ready for sleep, putting out the lights and arranging things in the room. Beth then slid in behind Selene while Sera slid in behind Alex, the two in the center pressing together as they all snuggled close. Beth had to grin as she remembered that Sera’s arms were long enough to wrap around all three of them, the dragon holding Beth’s back with one hand and her large backside with the other. Beth couldn’t do quite as well herself, but still got both Selene and Alex, even with their wings, and managed to get a very large handful of Sera’s boobs in the process, though she just gently grabbed them and didn’t go any further.

It didn’t take long for all four to fall asleep, though Alex was already there and Selene was out before Beth and Sera fully finished settling down. Beth was the last one out, feeling the heat that the others, especially Sera, generated. She listened to the soft breathing of the three others, with Sera already lightly snoring while Selene breathed deeply and heavily; in comparison, Alex was almost entirely silent, her breathing deep and even and only detectable because Beth’s stats were so high. She didn’t know how long they slept, but they woke at some point later that night or the next morning and it was pretty clear that Alex and Selene didn’t want to move. Fortunately, none of them really needed to do much of anything, including things like eating and sleeping, for a very long amount of time. It raised an interesting point, in fact, in that she wasn’t Sera, with her Diamond Mana Physique and other attributes, even needed to eat at all. The dragon was, for all intents and purposes, immortal, and she barely needed anything other than a trickle of mana to sustain herself; on the other hand, the dragon really loved to eat, as her having a gluttony skill could attest to, so Beth was sure they weren’t going to be conducting any experiments involving survival rationing any time soon. She let the thoughts fade and pressed close to Selene, reveling in how the woman’s strong but curvy body felt pressed against hers; all four of them had storage artifacts or powers and they had all removed their clothes before sleeping, apart from Alex because she had fallen asleep in the living room. Beth enjoyed the warm, gentle sensation of Selene’s incredibly smooth skin pressed against her as the greater demoness drifted in and out of sleep for a few hours.