"Well, that was something," Andrea breathed.

"You can say that again, lassie," Rell muttered quietly.

"Alright, let me get our winnings and split everything out," Beth said, standing as she made to leave the booth. She didn't get to the door before it opened and Alex entered, closing it quietly behind her.

"Alex," Beth greeted, accepting the handshake from the woman.

"Congratulations on another great auction," she said with a smile. "It's nice to have people move through the back to claim their earnings, but that's not necessary today. I brought your payouts and your elixir."

"Thanks so much," Beth said with a warm smile. She received everything from Alex and did some quick math in her head, since they had deducted her elixir price from the winnings. The total amount they earned was one mithril and eleven diamonds for the gems, which wound up being 1 mithril, five diamond, and forty-five platinum coins for the gems after consignment fees. The two big items totaled three mithril, ninety-four diamond, and twenty-five platinum coins after consignment fees. After the elixir price deduction, Alex had handed her three mithril, seventy-nine diamonds and seventy platinum coins.

"Alex gave me the coins and I did the math," Beth said. "We earned about five mithril coins profit after consignment fees. Dividing that out, Rell and the others who joined us for the devil challenge each made just over forty-nine diamond. The rest of us made just under seventy-six diamonds with the gems included. It's easier for me to just give everyone even amounts rather than try to count it down to the coppers, so I'm giving Rell and company fifty diamond coins each while giving the other three seventy-six diamond each."

"That's a lot of extra plat, lassie," Rell immediately said.

"I don't mind," Beth shrugged. "Even counting out the extra for my elixir as well as rounding up, I'm still at the same amount of mithril coins as at the start. I'm just down most of the diamond coins I had sitting in my stat screen, which isn't bad to get a good elixir and to pay my friends back for their help."

"If that's how you want it," Rell said, speaking for the group. They each accepted a pile of coins from Beth, who's wealth had yo-yoed from one orichalcum, nineteen mithril up to one orichalcum, twenty-three mithril before dropping back to the original one orichalcum, nineteen mithril. Now, though, she had seven diamond coins instead of the fifty-five she had been sitting at, the difference of her elixir and the rounding up having cost her around forty-eight diamond coins from her savings.

"I wanted to thank you all for using the auction today," Alex said with a small bow. "Is there anything else we can help you with today?"

"Nah, lassie, we're just glad ta have the chance," Rell said, returning the bow properly.

"Then I'll lead you all back to the lobby, if you don't mind?" Alex said, gesturing out the door with another bow. Bjorn made his comfy chair disappear before the eight filed out of the booth, following the angel through the building and into the lobby. They said their goodbyes before splitting to go their separate ways, though not before they had all made sure to exchange contact information with each other. Beth was slightly amused when she noted that her communicator listed her family members, Sabs, and then a long line of powerhouses, whether it be the Senior Enforcers from her "home" Hall or those she was meeting while working for Mortaine, all of them quite powerful and well-connected themselves.

Beth and Blood walked back with Andrea and Adam, since all four of them were currently using rooms in the CRA Hall. They parted ways in the CRA lobby, however, as Andrea had her own things to take care of and Adam generally followed along with her, though they were staying in different rooms. Beth and Blood returned to their room where Beth immediately got ready to take the new elixir, moving into the bathroom and stripping down. Blood followed her in and sat on the countertop, keeping an eye on Beth to make sure the elixir didn't invert her eyeballs or anything crazy.

"This is gonna suck," Beth muttered, rolling her shoulders and twisting at the waist.

"The longer you spend stretching, the more you'll psyche yourself out," Blood commented.

"Always so helpful," Beth said, giving Blood a big, fake grin.

"Stalling," Blood said with a grin of her own.

"Fuck off," Beth growled, hopping in the massive tub with only her necklace on, from which she pulled the new elixir.

She didn't wait any longer, flicking the cap off of the small bottle with her thumb, being rather careful not to shatter the container with her more than two thousand STR points. As soon as the cap bounced on the floor the first time, the rim of the mouth of the bottle was at her lips and the warm, slightly salty tasting liquid was sliding down her throat. This elixir was rather thin, feeling little more than water, and she was able to chug it in a couple seconds. Nothing happened for a moment as she tossed the bottle at Blood, the wolf easily catching it out of the air with a casual swipe before retrieving the cap and throwing both away.

Beth waited for a moment, feeling heat and a fuzzy sensation spread through her body as she tried to keep taking deep breaths. It wasn't so bad, but just as she had that thought, she felt and heard all her joints snap one-by-one, the sound alone drawing a grunt from Blood. Beth hissed and clenched her teeth feeling the pain spike, only to realize that that was only the beginning. Over the next fifteen minutes, she had to endure her tendons and ligaments stretching and tearing while her muscles shifted and ripped. It just continued for far too long, the ripping and tearing and snapping happening multiple times before it was done.

When it was all over, Beth had only a bit of that sludge-ey excess on her joints. She turned the tap on with a sigh, not closing the drain as she worked to sluice the gunk off her body. When she was sufficiently clear of junk, she carefully hopped over to the shower and quickly gave herself a thorough, skin-abrading scrub. Satisfied there, she returned to the tub, which Blood had filled in the meantime, sinking into the scalding hot water with a sigh.

"Bad?" asked Blood, sitting across from her and letting their feet intertwine.

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"Did it sound bad?" Beth asked sarcastically, cracking one eye open to give the wolf a half-hearted glare.

"A little."

"'A little,' she says," Beth grumbled, but closed her eyes again.

"Hey, you lived," Blood growled.

"Can elixirs actually kill you?" Beth asked, a frown appearing on her face before smoothing out. "Fuck it, who cares."

"They can," Blood answered the question anyway.

"Really?" Beth asked, cracking an eye open a second time to give her companion a glance.

"Yeah, but it usually only happens when you have something that primarily or singularly affects one thing. Like, if you take something that strictly rebuilds your bones to be stronger, and then later you take another elixir that focuses on the same thing, making your bones stronger, they can sometimes interfere with each other," Blood explained, having looked it up on her communicator.

"That's a scary thought," Beth grumbled, sinking back in the water a bit.

"People still do it because they can also combine and have a stronger effect then the two would independently," Blood commented.

"I think raising your skills would be the safer way," Beth replied, casually kicking a foot up to turn the hot water on again for a minute.

"Skills are slow," Blood replied. Getting a look that was skeptical enough for Beth to open both her eyes, she said, "I guess we're different. Even setting aside you using that device to get a skill at Platinum already, we level our skills a lot faster than most. It takes a lot of people a couple years just to get skills to Silver."

"No way! Where'd you hear all this?" Beth asked, narrowing her eyes.

"I do look things up myself," Blood replied laconically. "I also do talk to people other than you."

"Harsh," said Beth.

"But true," replied Blood.

"I still say skills are better," Beth said lazily, shutting the hot water off.

"They're slower and people have trouble overcoming the barriers between brackets," Blood said with a shrug. "Just improving something to Gold is really hard for most people, and a lot of people will never even get something to Platinum, even if they have tier two skills."

"That sucks," Beth sighed with a small shake of her head.

"It ain't easy," Blood said.

They enjoyed the hot water for a while longer before getting out and getting ready for bed. They slept quite soundly that night, enjoying the extremely comfortable CRA bed, before getting up the following morning and having a big breakfast. They followed the rest of their morning routine and, as if that was the signal, they heard a knocking at their door. Beth gave Blood a look, the two communicating through the glance more than they could say through even telepathy, before Beth walked over and opened the door.

"What a lovely morning it is!" exclaimed Mortaine as he strolled into their room, though he didn't sit down.

"I take it you're here about the next job?" Beth asked with a slight frown.

"Of course! But first, let's relocate!" Mortaine exclaimed. He quickly corrected himself, asking, "You don't have anything else you need here, do you?"

"No, we're good," Beth replied after sharing a glance with Blood.

"Excellent!" Mortaine cried before all three disappeared with various popping and whooshing sounds.

"Where are we?" was her first pertinent question.

"Welcome, ladies, to the Battle World of Fates' End," Mortaine replied in a deep voice with a sweeping gesture out the window.

"Theatrics aren't your strong suit," Blood commented.

"Stick to your day job," Beth added.

"Everyone's a critic these days," he grumbled before straightening his clothes and brushing off a bit of imaginary dust. "Anyway, as I was saying, this is the Battle World of Fates' End. It's a world dedicated to combat, both real and simulated, though the 'real' combat I just mentioned is arena fighting."

"And our next job is here?" Beth asked with a lilt to her voice as she quirked an eyebrow.

"Well, no, not technically," Mortaine answered, holding up his hands to forestall any further questions. "The next job I'd like you to tackle can't be started for a week or two, depending on a few…circumstances, so I thought we'd stop here first. Not only is this place a heaven for battle junkies, it's a place where you can get some extremely proficient training at a bargain price."

"Sounds pretty good, but what's the catch?" Beth asked, the skepticism in her voice only intensifying.

"No catch," Mortaine said with a laugh. "The only two exceptions here are that there are no beasts or monsters on the world, as the entire planet is strictly controlled. The other exception is that you have to pay an exorbitant sum to acquire even the most basic pass. The second negative can be skirted around by knowing little ol' me, as I can provide you temporary passes that will let you participate in anything you want at minimal personal expense."

"Minimal," Beth said warily. "Which means, even with your pass, we still have to pay to do things here."

"That's just life, my dear; best to get used to it early," Mortaine replied with a slight tsk-ing sound. "I assure you, based on what I know of your current wealth, you won't be able to burn through it here even if you try. Not in a year, let alone two weeks or less, so have no fear and, more importantly, have some fun."

"I don't know, we're coming up on our third Rebirth already," Beth said, glancing at Blood, who for once wasn't in sync with her, giving her a frown.

"All work and no play makes Beth a dull girl," Blood quipped.

"All play and no work isn't going to get us anywhere," Beth retorted with an eyeroll.

"Please. Two weeks is hardly the end of the world," Mortaine said, a little exasperation creeping into his voice. "Besides, I told you already that there are some of the best trainers around here. Not only that, but it's a Battle World. The two of you are some of the few people I know who would treat a place like this as a vacation. Most people come here to seriously train and test themselves."

"Fist-fighting a dragon would be a relaxing Sunday for her," Blood snarked, jerking a thumb at Beth.

"Well, I mean…" Beth replied, tapping her chin as she appeared to give it some serious thought.

"The two of you are odd," Mortaine said. "And that's coming from me."

"Thanks for the compliment," Beth replied with a very fake smile.

"Anyway, here are your passes," Mortaine said, tossing each of them a red crystal with a set of runes floating in the middle of them. "Don't lose those or you can't do anything here but sit in the room and drink. Of course, some people would consider that a vacation, so don't let me tell you what you can and can't do."

"Wait, keys," Blood said suddenly, Seeming to be triggered by looking at her pass.

"What?" Beth asked while scrunching her brows together.

"We forgot to turn in our rooms keys," Blood said sheepishly, pulling hers from her necklace.

"Oh," Beth said dumbly, pulling out her own key.

"Simple," Mortaine scoffed, snapping his fingers and making both keys disappear. "Those things are pretty secure, but they're cheap to make. The CRA has to go through a million of them a year, knowing their membership."

"I resemble that remark," Beth said with narrowed eyes.

"Oh, I can tell," Mortaine joked with a wave of his hand. "But, now you have the passes, your keys are taken care of, and I have other pressing matters to be about. Remember, call me if you need me."

With a final bow, before the two could say anything else, he disappeared with a sound like a rubber-band snapping and a faint purple light. Beth stared at the spot where he had been for a moment, narrowing her eyes again as she was almost positive he was specifically messing with her. She shook the thoughts off after a second and made to explore the room they were in, fortunately finding a data pad that contained some information, including that Mortaine owned the place, so they wouldn't be paying anything or getting kicked out randomly. Other than that, she found an impressively stocked bar, a huge lounge area with multiple couches and some very fancy tech that could project a screen or hologram in the middle of the arrangement, and a kitchen area equipped with everything they could ever want. The suite also had an enormous bathroom that she mistook for a pool complex at first and a richly appointed bedroom with a very large and comfortable bed. Other than that was a door leading out into a luxuriously appointed hallway with fancy carpet runners and exquisitely carved mana lamps.

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