"Victory, Elizabeth Bell!" the head administrator called.

There was quite a bit of clapping and several noises of approval at the fight, the other attendants and sponsors suitably impressed at Beth's performance. Beth gave a bow to the administrator and a short, curt bow to the other team before walking back over to where Blood stood. She noted that Val had sidled close to Blood in the meantime, though she was still a short distance down the wall from the two of them. Beth just gave her a glance, getting a narrow-eyed, speculative look in return before everyone's attention was returned to the head administrator.

"Now that that little fiasco is taken care of," the man said, giving the group Beth beat a quick sneer, "the rest of you are dismissed to your quarters. We will be returning to the ship's point of origin before distributing the prizes, so you have close to three days of free time. If you need anything, please reach out to an administrator immediately."

The group broke up, with Beth and Blood ducking out of the hall ahead of anyone else, returning to their suite right away to get cleaned up and sleep. They were awoken a handful of hours later by someone knocking on the outer door and ringing a bell that alerted the suite occupant to a visitor. Beth groaned and sat up, but was beaten to the punch by Blood, who was out of the bedroom and into the common room in a flash. Beth slowly climbed out of bed and staggered to the bedroom door to finally see the outer door closing behind Val.

"Oh, the two of you…sleep together?" Val asked hesitantly, looking back and forth between a very naked Blood, which caused her to blush, and a very naked Beth, which certainly didn't make the blush any less.

"Yeah, but it's not like that," Beth said carelessly with a big shrug. "We're not a couple or anything, if that's your concern."

"Oh, that's good to hear," Val said, sagging a little in relief. She walked over and flopped down and the couch and Blood, more empathetic than she first let on, sat beside her and leaned against her body.

"So, what can we do for the famed leader of the Young Scions today?" Beth teased as she flopped down across from Val.

"I would say get dressed, for one, but I quite like the view," Val replied, trying to maintain her composure, but her eyes clearly roaming over both of them.

"I thought you had the hots for Blood," Beth said casually, sitting up a bit and putting an arm over the back of the couch.

Val spluttered for a second before saying, "I wouldn't describe it so crudely."

"Then how would you describe it?" Beth asked with a little grin.

"I would say that I have a certain sense of…attraction for the young lady-," Val tried to explain before Blood interrupted.

"Val?" Blood said, reaching up to slide her left hand onto Val's right cheek and turn Val's head towards her.

"Y-yes?" Val stammered.

"Just say you think I'm hot," Blood said, leaning in close enough their lips were almost touching.

"I think you're really, really fucking hot," Val breathed before Blood planted a firm, quick kiss on her lips. Beth could hear Val's audible gasp at that, laughing at how out of her depth the tall, pale-skinned woman truly was.

"I'm so happy for you two, but what did you want?" Beth asked, breaking the magnetic gaze that the two had for each other.

"I wanted to ask you a couple questions, and this is just me asking, not for the press," Val said, raising her hands to try to maintain calm.

"I mean, we don't really have a big secret," Beth said, sharing a glance with Blood before looking back at Val.

"There has to be some way you defeated so many enemies. You won in points on the kill count and the dungeon exploration; there has to be something to it," Val said.

"We just spent the whole time fighting," Beth said with a shrug. "And I mean, the whole time fighting."

"How many dungeons did you clear?" Val asked.

"I dunno, a lot?" Beth said, glancing at Blood.

"One hundred sixty-four clears," Blood replied calmly.

"Oh, she kept track," Beth said with a shrug.

"WHAT?! How?!" Val cried, making Blood wince a bit, though she was definitely playing it up a little, as someone yelling near her wouldn't really hurt her ears; not at that volume.

"We ran dungeons over and over without resting," Beth said. "We have a time compression skill that we used to rest."

"A time compression skill," Val murmured. "But even so…"

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"It's what we're used to. We've dealt with multiple beast tides already, even though we've only been on the Path fourteen or fifteen years total, if you count compressed time," Beth explained. "If you're used to fighting without rest, it doesn't ever get easier, but you can go for a long time."

"I'm still trying to figure out how you got so many clears. We didn't even do a hundred, and there's four of us," Val said quietly.

"Thinking about jumping ship?" Beth asked jokingly with a small laugh.

"A little bit," Val said quietly, which had both Beth and Blood sit up. "But, sadly, I can't do it…at least, not yet. I have a lot of responsibilities I still have to take care of."

"Well, you're obviously welcome any time," Beth said, looking at Blood, who had Val's left hand in both of hers and was playing with Val's fingers. The wolf seemed absorbed in the fact Val had six fingers rather than five, and that all her fingers had an extra joint versus what Beth or Blood would have.

"I can't stay the whole three days, but I'll be slipping in here," Val said quietly.

"Do what you want," Beth said to her with a shrug, turning to the wallscreen.

Val was true to her word, showing up several times over the next three days. Beth found herself feeling just a tiny touch jealous, not that Blood was starting to see someone, but of the incredibly natural way that the two of them got along, meshing together surprisingly well. They made their triumphant return to Helion IV after three days of FTL flight, everyone loading up on the various shuttles and making their way planetside. They alighted in the same drab, blockish city that Beth and Blood had first been brought to by Mortaine, with a note to gather the next day for the awards ceremony and certain meetings.

And speaking of Mortaine, Beth had no idea where he happened to be, as he still hadn't popped back up, even after they returned to the planet. Beth just dismissed it, knowing he would suddenly appear somewhere, and some when, randomly without her expecting it. At the worst, she could just send him a message and get his attention, but they weren't on any kind of strict timetable, so she wasn't concerned about his lack of appearance. She booked them a place in a hotel near where Val was, though she'd rather stay at the CRA, just to make it more convenient for the two little lovebirds to meet up without causing a stir.

The awards ceremony was the next day, and Beth and Blood were up early and at the building where they had first gotten their badges with Mortaine. Beth was eager to claim her prize from the gambling den, but she wanted to wait until after this, the ceremony where the winners were officially announced, before heading over there. They were all taken to a large hall with seating that very much reminded Beth of her high school auditorium. She wondered what most of her classmates were up to at this point, but she hadn't been particularly close to any of them. Maybe she would look up what was happening with some people the next time they stopped back on Earth…whenever that happened to be.

When everybody had been gathered, including many of the sponsors, the ceremony started. They awarded a few prizes and certificates to several of the lower-placed teams, commending their performances in a tough scenario. Eventually, they came to the top ten, starting with place ten and working their way up to place number one, which would be Beth and Blood. There was a change as they awarded place five, however, as they gave instructions for that team to come to a separate meeting afterwards. The team was still given weapons, armor, and consumables on the stage, the United Stellar Hegemony making a big deal of how generous they were being for the competition, but there was clearly something more.

The next few teams went up and received their rewards, with third and second place each getting a sizeable bonus, and all were asked to meet an administrator at a later time. It was a small thing in the program, something most others dismissed, but it had Beth pretty curious. Especially when she remembered Val's words from earlier about the Hegemony getting their hands on an item or piece of information that was too hot for them to handle.

Her thoughts were interrupted when it finally came time for their turn, their team being called up by the head administrator himself. Beth and Blood rose from the comfortable seats they had claimed in the middle of the room and walked up one of the aisles to the stage, walking across it to the center. Beth kept herself from both squinting and frowning at the cameras taking pictures and shining lights on them to get a better shot, shaking the head administrator's hand and thanking him for the award and rewards. Their prizes were really incredible; at least, in Beth's eyes they were something pretty special. Each of them were to receive a five-piece armor set that was level two hundred, at epic rank, and was the first equipment Beth had seen with a set bonus for wearing multiple pieces. They also each received a rack of healing potions, a rack of mana potions, and a natural treasure that increased one of their stats and offered some secondary benefit. Beth quickly examined the armor before she scooped her stuff into her necklace, noticing Blood hadn't bothered with looking at any of it before making it disappear.

Mask of True Warding

{This mask is part of the True Warding set, giving bonus defenses, especially against mental attacks and scrying. Each piece is of epic rank and, when worn as a full set of five, the True Warding equipment can be considered a half-step legendary set.

10% increased END

10% increased INT

10% increased WIS

Minimum level 200.

2-piece bonus:15% increased END.

4-piece bonus:25% increased resistance to mental corruption.

5-piece bonus:25% increased END, 25% increased resistance to mental corruption.}

Beth was pretty shocked with the set bonuses, considering they would increase her mental resistances by fifty percent if she was wearing the whole set, not to mention the additional forty percent END. That was also not factoring in the fifty percent increase in END just wearing the five individual pieces brought, meaning the set would nearly double her END, pushing it over three thousand. She didn't put the set on yet, wanting a chance to look it over in private, but she did make sure to note exactly where it was in her necklace if she needed to change out of the current rare armor she was wearing.

They were forced to take a few moments to present their awards and do some smiling for the camera, getting a bunch of pictures taken and having a few questions shouted at them. Fortunately, they weren't forced to give any kind of press conference, meaning they were free to ditch the place, and the journalists, after the ceremony was concluded, making their way to the CRA Hall. The CRA took a very dim view about unaffiliated journalists wandering their Halls and asking questions, particularly when it could be considered at a level of harassing an Emblem-carrying member. It was a great place for Beth and Blood to wait for a couple hours while the heat died down just a bit, as the meeting they had to have with the administrators was later that afternoon. Beth figured she'd give the news a bit to percolate before hitting the gambling hall that evening.

When it was about time for the meeting, they re-emerged from the training hall they had commandeered in the CRA basement and headed back to the Hegemony building. They caught the eye of one stubborn reporter that had stuck around when they entered the lobby, but were quickly taken away by a small group of escorts who emphatically barred the journalist from access. They were led back down a long, bland hallway to a conference room, just as Beth had seen portrayed in many TV shows and games. It was complete with everything from the long central table to the gathered chairs to a little desk that had a computer that connected to the wallscreen. The chief administrator for their competition was standing by the head of the table while a young, slightly scruffy-looking man sat at the desk with the computer.

"Thank you for coming today, Ms. Elizabeth and Ms. Blood," the man said.

"Just Beth is fine," Beth said quickly.

"My apologies, we'll make a note of that," the man said with a nod. "I'm Geoffrey Aquitane, if I haven't introduced myself yet."

"I haven't heard that before, sorry. Good to meet you," Beth said.

"Please, please, let's sit," he said, seeing that Beth and Blood had remained standing. He suited word to deed and took a chair by the head of the table, as there was no chair with its back directly to the wallscreen. "My assistant, Phil, will be going over some of this information with us. He's read-in to everything and knows basically as much as I do, so have no fear."

"I'm still not exactly sure what this meeting is even about?" Beth asked in a bit of a confused tone.

"Right, let me give a very brief overview," he replied. "I'll forgo the four slides we have for now. We can look at them in a moment to answer some of your questions. Essentially, the long and the short of it is we've found an artifact that traces back to a powerful Ascended who has gone…missing, and has been so for some time. The artifact itself isn't necessarily a problem, but what the artifact points to has some implications that touch on a few factions' bottom lines, and we were hoping for someone, either part of a powerful faction or with a powerful backer, to take the item and investigate the mystery."

"I think I get the basic gist," Beth said. "So what is this mystery and who is this person?"

"The artifact is a strange book, that reveals different information to different people, depending on who it is that is reading it, as well as when and where they read it. That is not the mystery, as the mystery is that information was revealed through the book that claims that the author is trapped in a space that they can't leave and needs help," Geoffrey explained.

"And who is this author?" Beth asked, leaning forward a little in her curiousity.

"Joanna Revalla Sotervallia ne Yenllewen, the former Queen consort of the Endless Empress, Liveria Yenllewen," he replied.

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