"I notice he left without actually explaining anything again," Blood grumbled as they sat in the lounge area.

"I mean, he said it's a world dedicated to fighting, there's really skilled trainers here, there's arena fights, and you need a pass to participate, which he gave us. Seems simple enough to me. Is there supposed to be more?" Beth said, raising a brow at the end.

"What exactly is there to do, what he wants us to do, and how to do it, that would all help," Blood replied a little crossly.

"We can just, I don't know, look it up?" Beth said with an eyeroll.

"Look up what Mortaine wants us to do here?" Blood asked.

"No, dummy. He told us just to chill, and I believe him. Let's just look up what exactly we can do and how we can do it. Then, you know, go do those things," Beth replied with an eyeroll, unfortunately sitting too far away to flick Blood's forehead.

"Fine," Blood grumbled, sinking back in the couch and starting to scan through the information on their current location.

Most of what they found initially matched with what Mortaine had described; the world was a very technologically advanced settlement that had medium mana density. Despite the mana density, they had fully tamed the planet, and no wild beasts or monsters appeared, at least, none that weren't instantly dealt with. Nor were there any dungeons or other instances, untamed or not, that people could run. This might be a great detriment on any other world or to any other civilization, but the current leaders of the planet had long had plans in place. After conquering their world, making it less attractive to wandering wild fighters like Beth and Blood, they had fully devoted it to a land of simulated battle. Some of the best trainers in that part of the galaxy resided there, and it was even more popular for fights than many CRA arenas.

The CRA, of course, had a presence on-world, but it was quite small. This was a planet that largely policed and controlled themselves, and the CRA was only there to handle some routine matters. They mainly saw to CRA member needs, those few which couldn't be taken care of by the planetary authorities, and oversaw a few disputes. Like many places, the CRA was the authority on several types of long-term contracts, and they would always have at least some annexes on a planet, even if they weren't otherwise needed or wanted, just to make sure they had resources available to handle disputes.

With the two girls being given use of such a luxury suite by Mortaine, and no arena fights happening at the CRA building, Beth didn't see a need to stop by. As a loose Silver-level member, she wasn't obligated to always check in or be doing work for the Association. As long as she wasn't getting up to things like arresting the planetary governor, she and Blood could mind their own business as they were out and about.

"So, what first?" Blood asked.

"We can fight in arenas and stuff anywhere," Beth replied, tapping her chin. "I think I want to check out the areas where they have training available."

"Fine. I guess I'll tag along," Blood sighed, standing.

"You know, you can do whatever you want. You're not my pet or anything," Beth said, walking over and scratching Blood's ears. Despite being in her human form, the lupine woman loved it, leaning into it as Beth worked her fingers strongly across her scalp. "You don't have to always do what I do or go where I go."

"It's fine," Blood rumbled as she enjoyed the attention.

"Then let's go," Beth said after a moment.

She led the way out of the room and checked that the tokens Mortaine had given them would work on the door, which they thankfully did. After pocketing the tokens in their necklaces, they headed down the hallway until they found an area with elevators, using a super high-speed lift to get down to the ground floor. Most of the tower Mortaine had brought them to was residential areas, and those areas that weren't were restricted access, mostly offices of major companies or trading firms. What that really meant is they at least had to leave the tower to find areas to train or fight.

With their communicators, that wouldn't be hard to do, but Beth wanted to just explore a little. They wouldn't just wander into random buildings, of course, but they could just do a quick check of any interesting buildings or locations and see what they were. The streets in the area they were staying were designed primarily as walking paths, which made even more sense on a world where many people could likely walk faster than highway speeds. Beyond that, there was just the fact that cities were much nicer to navigate and arrange if most of the transport infrastructure was underground. This city not only had a subway system, but it was directly connected in with a planet-wide railway system that could take them to any other city across the world in less than a day, most of them within just a few hours.

The first interesting place they found wasn't for training or fighting, but was a massive complex that reminded Beth of a fancy mall, but was laid out a bit differently. The whole thing was focused on restaurants, with some incredible eateries in the location. Of course, such high-end establishments came with similarly high-end prices, causing Beth to scoff a bit at Mortaine's insistence they wouldn't be able to spend their money in even a year here. Still, she didn't plan on buying diamond coin meals and five diamond wines every meal, or even any meal, though she was impressed that the options were there.

They stopped in at one of the restaurants and made an order, finding that all the shops didn't require any kind of pass, which was obvious in retrospect. A meal better than anything they had ever had, apart from what was offered in the Trial of Celestial Awakening, cost them each two gold coins. That much for an incredible meal was great, not even a rounding error in their current wealth, but most people would never be able to pay two gold coins just for a single meal. After each eating three plates and thanking the wait staff profusely, they made their way back out of the massive building and continued their wandering.

The next thing that caught Beth's eye was a building she mistook for a CRA Hall at first, but she quickly checked and found that it was one of several major battle arenas just in that city. They decided to stop in and check it out just to see what it was all about, though Blood could tell that Beth was already getting the itch. She managed to control herself, and they walked through the building to get a good idea of not just what was available, but how busy the place was on an average day.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

Quite busy, it turned out, as basically every room was full, the floor of the arena was full and had queues for fights, and there were private sessions and matches that had halls booked up for several days. Beth was a bit discouraged, as it would take a while to get into just about anything, as even the wait on the arena floor was at least twenty minutes to get into a dueling arena, and that was considered quick. She decided she could definitely pass on this location for now, and Blood was always more interested in lazing around than fighting, following Beth back out onto the street without question.

They wandered around for a while longer before entering another building, this one a much blockier and more uniform construction than the last. Beth inquired from some people working a counter in the lobby they entered and found out the whole building was dedicated to training. It was broken up into dozens and dozens of rooms very similar to the training rooms she was used to in the CRA Halls, and anyone could request to use one. A person or team could use the rooms to train, or they could request the time of a trainer, and pay the requisite fee, of course.

"How much is the training?" Beth asked the man at the desk curiously.

"We charge by the hour," he began explaining. "Based on your weapon and the level of trainer you request, the rates vary. The standard hourly rate for an Expert trainer is one gold, while a Master varies more but costs between ten and fifteen gold."

"And what about trainers above Master?" Beth asked with a slightly quirked brow.

"Grandmasters, who are much more limited in number, charge at least a platinum an hour," the man replied calmly. "As to the availability of any other trainers, that is generally on a temporary basis. We make no guarantees, even for many of our Grandmasters' time, but Sages and beyond are under no mandatory obligations."

"So, if I want to hire a Grandmaster for two hours, would that be possible?" Beth asked.

"For what weapon?" the man replied calmly.

"Greatsword," she replied.

"One moment," he said, checking through the database. "We have no trainers available at this moment, but if you're willing to wait just under an hour, one will be available. If you do not wish to wait, you can train with a Master immediately."

"I'll wait," Beth said with a shrug, having tons of money and more than willing to wait for the best she could get.

"Very well. Can you provide some identification so we may register you?"

Beth thought for a second, realizing her Earth Driver's License wasn't going to do much good in the wider universe, before pulling out her Silver Emblem. It was tied to her mana signature and had very basic details embedded, including her name, so she could use it basically anywhere as ID. "Will this work?"

"CRA Emblems of at least Silver work just about anywhere," the man confirmed, scanning her emblem before registering her. "If you want to leave, we can ping your communicator when your slot is up. Otherwise, we will call out for you when a trainer is free."

"I think we'll stay here," Beth said after giving Blood a glance.

"There is a bar that opens off the right rear of the lobby as you face inward," the man said then before returning to his other work.

They went over to check the bar, finding a long row of booths along the outside of the first floor and a long bar counter with three different servers working behind it. Despite being midday, the bar was fairly busy, with more than half the booths and a third of the bar seats occupied. Beth and Blood took two stools at the far end of the bar, waiting a moment to get served. Beth ordered something light, not exactly wanting to get drunk before training with a Grandmaster, just having enough to get herself hydrated.

Her concern about being called was alleviated when someone else had their session time come up and was clearly called through the bar. The two relaxed and drank a little more as the time passed, Beth opting for a low alcohol content cider while Blood, who was not going to fight at all today, went for a heavier liquor. It was quickly nearing the hour mark, and Beth was just checking the clock on her communicator when she heard the call for "Elizabeth Bell," echo out, leaving a small pile of silver and gold coins on the bar as she got up.

When she returned to the counter in the lobby, she found the same man she had talked to earlier signaling to her. When she approached, he said, "Room 355. Your trainer is already there."

"Thanks," Beth gave him a nod and walked back in the building, trailed by Blood. They found the elevators rather easily and stepped inside, punching in the third floor. Beth noted the rooms at the front started at 01 and went up from there, so 355 would be near the rear of the building.

It took only a minute to walk back to the room and Beth knocked first, hearing someone from inside give the command to enter before pushing open the door. She found the room very familiar, quite a similar setup to every other training room she had used since she started walking the Path. The one difference was the person waiting for her, a very tall, pale-skinned woman with large eyes and long, thick, lustrous black hair. Beth almost thought she had albinism at first, but realized after a moment that it was just the natural state of her skin, whether it was a species trait or from something else, such as an elixir, she wasn't sure.

"You are Elizabeth Bell?" the woman asked calmly, her eyes slightly flicking, a sign she was checking things on the HUD her communicator laid over her vision.

"That's me," Beth replied, walking forward and hopping up on the training stage to stand opposite the woman.

"And this is?" the woman asked, indicating Blood.

"My bonded companion. She's not going to train today; she's just here to watch," Beth answered.

"Very well," the woman nodded. "I am Jaine Kar-neen. I will be acting as your instructor for the next two hours. I am a Sword Sage and have been one for some time. I am a certified Professional Trainer as well, and have been so for nearly five decades. Do you have any questions."

"Sorry, I don't mean this in a bad way, but I signed up for a Grandmaster…?" Beth trailed off, a little confused.

"The other Grandmaster is still busy as his client extended and my client, unfortunately, decided they had more important plans this afternoon," Jaine explained coolly.

"More important?" Beth mouthed quietly, wondering what could rank as a higher priority than a private session with a Sage-level trainer.

"Indeed," Jaine said, perfectly calm again. "What is it you wish to practice? And are there any skills you wish to focus on?"

"OK, um, I have both Swords and Unarmed at Expert level and fight with a combination of them. For use with my sword, I have Monstrous Blow and Celestial Annihilation," Beth explained.

"Celestial Annihilation…so, you ranked highly in the Trial of Celestial Awakening," Jaine said with a nod. "Monstrous Blow is not particularly bad for a greatsword user, but I would advise you to start looking into upgrading or merging the skill, if you have not already. That skill is only tier one; you should look to improve it early so you have plenty of time to upgrade it how you like."

"I've been thinking a little about that, but I've been busy with some other stuff the last few months," Beth acknowledge the advice with a nod.

"Celestial Annihilation does not need any focus at this time, merely training in its utilization. Now, what do you have for movement skills?" Jaine continued with another question.

"Swift and Spatial Step in Gold," Beth replied calmly.

"Spatial Step? Fairly rare and powerful, but unlikely that you have been well-trained in its use," Jaine said with a nod, a thoughtful look in her bright green eyes. "What about buffing or enhancement skills or abilities."

"I have Beastly Tyrant," Beth replied carefully.

Jaine sensed the caution Beth used to reply and merely quirked an eyebrow, waiting. After a moment, Beth continued, "It's just hit Platinum."

"Platinum…at your age? Not impossible, but it was likely an extreme circumstance," Jaine murmured. "Based off that, I have a handful of recommendations before we start."

"I'm all ears," Beth replied.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.