When they eventually emerged from the gate, Beth first checked to make sure they didn't have any outstanding messages. She found a quick greeting from Kris, a note from Andrea, and a few other small things. She responded to each of them rather quickly, letting the people know that they were out of touch while training for a handful of days but they were available again for a while if they needed anything. She didn't find any message waiting from Mortaine, which wasn't a huge surprise, and she wanted to take care of a few things before getting in touch with him. The book was an issue, but there wasn't anything she could do about it right now, and she doubted there was anything Mortaine could do about it in the short run anyway.

Beth left the book in her necklace as they emerged from the gate to rest and relax. They had hit max level anyway, so there was no point in them doing any more fighting outside of special circumstances. Those special circumstances would include hunting for their required items for their next rebirths, as they wanted to get through their next rebirths quickly and start the leveling process again. It wouldn't be for a while before they were comfortable staying at or near max level for long periods of time. That would likely start happening more when they got to Gold Emblem in the CRA and had additional duties they would be taking on for months or even a couple years at a time where they had little time for themselves and didn't have the luxury of going back to level one. Beth checked their stats just to see where they were at before checking the list of resources required.

Name

Elizabeth Anne Bell

Class

Crushing Hierophant

Level

240[2]

Strength

2660

Dexterity

1350

Endurance

1732

Intelligence

580

Wisdom

580

Free Points

0

Titles

Silver Flame Empress' Inheritor

Skills

Acid Resistance Copper[9]

Ancient World Gate[3]

Beastly Tyrant Platinum[2]

Blacksmithing Journeyman[0]

Celestial Annihilation Silver[9]

Crush Gold[2]

Earth Resistance Copper[8]

Flame Resistance Copper[9]

Focused Meditation Silver[3]

FrostFlame Eye Silver[9]

Ice Resistance Silver[8]

Indomitable Heart Silver[9]

Lightning Resistance Silver[2]

Lordly Reconstruction Silver[9]

Monstrous Blow Silver[9]

Pain Tolerance Gold[2]

Spatial Mana Detection Silver[7]

Spatial Resistance Copper[6]

Spatial Step Gold[4]

Swift Silver[9]

Swords Expert[1]

Toxic Resistance Silver[3]

Unarmed Expert[2]

Wealth

1o 14m 7d 3p 51g 7s 13c

Emblems

CRA Silver Badge (150CP)

Bonds

Blood

Name

Blood

Race

Red Wolf Queen

Level

240[2]

Strength

1600

Dexterity

2400

Endurance

1333

Intelligence

270

Wisdom

270

Free Points

0

Titles

-

Skills

Acid Resistance Copper[3]

Blood Queen's Claws Gold[4]

Earth Resistance Copper[6]

Eyes of Hallowed Truth Gold[2]

Flame Resistance Copper[8]

Ice Resistance Silver[6]

Leatherworking Apprentice[7]

Lightning Resistance Copper[8]

Meditation Silver[1]

Pain Tolerance Gold[0]

Regeneration Silver[3]

Rending Bite Silver[2]

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

Spatial Step Silver[4]

Stealth Copper[8]

Swift Gold[4]

Toxic Resistance Silver[1]

Unarmed Expert[1]

Wealth

18m 80d 11p 5g 33s 79c

Emblem

CRA Silver Badge (150CP)

Beth:

200 Tier 3 Beast Cores

10 Level 250 Epic Weapons

100 Infinity Gems

10 Monster King Hearts

Blood:

50 Tier 4 Beast Cores

20 Wolf Emperor Hearts

100 Celestial Gems

25 Devil Essence

Their lists for their rebirths were shorter this time, but that didn't really mean much. Beth didn't recognize most of the items on the lists; the beast cores were obvious and they had quite a few of, but the weapons were the only other thing that she knew at a glance. She could sort of guess what a Wolf Emperor Heart was, but she had no idea what the gems were, what a devil essence was, or even how to get a Monster King Heart. The lists being as they were, Beth was sensing one thing; money. They would likely be paying out the nose for all the resources, though she was aware each rebirth was going to get progressively more expensive.

A search for some of the aforementioned ingredients led her to understand the nosebleed prices they were looking at. The cheapest price for the gems that she found after a couple minutes of searching was four and some platinum coins a piece, making the gems at least four and some diamond coins for each of them. The Monster King Hearts she couldn't even find, and the devil essence she found one of, which was priced at two diamond coins. If they couldn't find a better deal, just the devil essence for Blood would be fifty or more diamond coins.

The best items were the level two hundred and fifty epic weapons, which she only needed ten of and which were moderately readily available. If she didn't care much about quality and bought them used, she could get them for just under a diamond coin a piece on the open market, which would be less than ten diamonds for all ten. She couldn't even find anything about either of the hearts, at least anything about them being for sale anywhere that she could get access to.

These were all, of course, simple searches on the net, and they didn't delve into any private institutions or even any public auctions, which would often keep their inventories at least partially private. Beth checked and found there was no Seven Lights office on Helion IV, lowering her already basement-level impression of the dull, annoying world. She did have one thing to do, one thing that she had chucked to the back of her mind in her rush to get them the last handful of levels.

"We have a stop to make," Beth said.

"What now?" Blood asked.

"We're owed some money," Beth replied, leading the way out of the CRA room.

"I think you're owed some money," Blood said. "I don't remember gambling."

"Hey, it wasn't that much," Beth defended.

"Beth, you spent more than most families will make in three generations," Blood sighed.

"OK, so, it was a lot. But not to me, and I'm not going to apologize that our hard work and risking our lives has made us a bunch of money," Beth shrugged, marching across the blocky, drab city.

They arrived at the gambling den that Mortaine had taken them to several months ago, Beth marching right inside while ignoring the guards scattered about. That isn't to say she didn't scan them all and get a good estimate of their current level of strength and power. She just didn't make her efforts to assess the guards obvious, nor did she pay them too much mind, as they weren't really worth worrying about. She strode across the lobby, taking note of the several guards, both those visible, and those hidden in several locations to provide additional support. She approached a counter at the back of the room and waited in a line for a few minutes before someone was able to handle her request. It wasn't the same elf from several months ago, but a different person, a scruffy-looking human that had her hair in a loose ponytail with plenty of fly-aways sticking out in all directions.

"What do you need? Here to place a bet?" the woman asked in a tired voice.

"Here to cash in on one," Beth answered calmly.

"Oh? What bet?" the woman asked, her eyes adopting a keener glimmer.

"Bet on the top placings in the United Stellar Hegemony world-pioneering competition," Beth said coolly, pulling out her receipt and showing it to the woman.

"Ah, yeah, we ran a bunch for that," the woman said as she reached for the receipt. "We still had a big winner that hadn't claimed yet. Person was supposed to have put in a huge fuckin' bet on the…unknown winner…"

"Will cashing that be a problem?" Beth asked with a small, slightly feral grin as the full weight of realization of who the woman was talking to sank in. Not only was Beth the big bet holder, she had bet on herself, the now widely known winner of the entire competition, which made her a force to be reckoned with in her own right, not to mention whomever was backing her.

"N-no, no problem, uh, at all," the scruffy woman stammered. "The betting pool went a little crazy after you placed such a bet on an, uh, unknown team. Your payout is going to be at a rate of eighteen-to-one."

"Awesome," Beth said, waiting a moment before continuing. "So, where are my coins?"

"Oh, y-yeah, right away," the woman suddenly scrambled up and quickly moved back into a restricted area of the first floor that was for staff only. It took a few minutes of waiting, but she re-emerged after ten minutes with two men, both wearing mismatched armor, unshaved, and overall disheveled. Beth assumed it was their partially uncovered, bulging muscles that were supposed to do the intimidation, but she found the stench the worst part. Hygiene was clearly not a mandatory requirement at such a…distinguished establishment.

"They've got your coin," the woman said as she resumed her seat at the counter. The two men carefully pulled out small racks of coins, and Beth was sure to count every last mithril as they eventually gave her all ninety coins.

"Pleasure doing business with you," Beth said with a huge grin after making the coins disappear into her stat screen.

"The feeling ain't mutual, kiddo," one of the big man replied tersely.

"Don't worry, I'll stop by again to take more of your money, if I feel like it," Beth said, leaning toward the man, who was her exact height, grinning wickedly the whole time. She didn't flex her Presence or use any skills, but the message, and her current level of strength, were quite obvious, the man leaning back subconsciously as she continued grinning.

"Is there anything, uh, else, we can help you with?" the disheveled woman asked uncertainly.

"Not today," Beth replied, still leering at the security goons the woman had brought out. She had checked their levels and seen they were both less than one-fifty and, while she couldn't see rebirths, Blood had telepathically and lazily murmured they were on their first rebirth. Chumps like that either Beth or Blood could kill with one arm without even looking, so she wasn't worried about either of the clowns actually making a move. Not that they wouldn't be stupid enough to try, but it would be the last stupid mistake they ever made.

She turned then and led Blood out of the building, making their way back to the CRA Hall. It took until they were walking through the building that Blood realized they weren't heading for their room, but it did make sense, as Beth had turned their keys in earlier. Blood just hadn't really thought about it, but it fell into place as they stepped into the teleportation hall, which had a lone man standing inside, monitoring the area.

"We teleporting?" Blood asked.

"Yep," was all Beth deigned to reply.

"Where?" Blood grunted as they moved over to a console.

"Somewhere that doesn't fucking suck as much," Beth returned with a bit of a sarcastic bite to her voice.

"It's all the same," Blood shrugged blasély in response.

"Maybe for your lazy chops, but some of us have standards," Beth quipped back as she put in the coordinates.

"What about Mortaine?" Blood asked.

"What about Mortaine?" Beth returned with a raised eyebrow as she pressed her hand on the console to pay.

"Isn't leaving going to be a problem? He expects us here," Blood replied.

"Blood, he has a communicator. Besides, I'm sure a legendary Exalted like him can figure out we did one teleport to get away from this dirtball," Beth said calmly.

"Whatever," Blood muttered, following Beth onto the teleport pad. A moment later, at a signal from Beth that they were all on the pad, it activated and sent them to another world, somewhere quite far away.

As soon as they stepped off the teleporter pad, they were confronted by a short woman who demanded, "Emblems."

Beth and Blood both pulled out their Silver Emblems, though Beth didn't know who else would be using the CRA teleporters. Still, it was nice that the place took security quite seriously, and the woman just gave them a nod and walked off after verifying their emblems. Beth led the way once again, taking them upstairs to the front desk where they could get a set of keys for a room. One thing they noticed as they moved through the building was that it was quite populated, showing that the place was rather busy.

"Where are we, exactly?" Blood asked after they had their keys.

"Tellahm," Beth replied. Seeing Blood's look, she continued, "It's a mana level six world that's quite popular for a number of reasons, including a large number of dungeons. Even better, it has a branch of the Seven Lights Trading Firm, where we can participate in the next monthly auction or ask them to search for our needed materials."

"Oh, joy," Blood said, Beth rolling her eyes at her companion's lack of enthusiasm for fighting and leveling.

"You can go home and help my parents train level twenty guards, if you're not feeling it anymore," Beth joked as they entered the room.

"Ugh, just shoot me," Blood grumbled. "We have to take a break soon, though."

"Rebirth, level a little, then a little downtime," Beth said.

"Fine," Blood said, her clothes disappearing as she slouched on the couch.

"Not just yet," Beth said, picking her up and setting her back on her feet before scratching behind her wolfen ears.

"Why?" Blood whined.

"Seven Lights first, then we chill for the night," Beth said.

"Again, fine," Blood grumbled, her clothes and armor appearing back on her body.

The two left the CRA Hall, getting a first look at the city they were in, Red Dust City. It was so much better than the drab, boring, blocky city they had stayed at on Helion IV, not least of which because it was full of plant life and trees. There seemed to be a habit of having plants and greenery on and overtop the buildings as well, which made the whole place feel much more alive and fresh. The buildings were something of a mix of eastern Asian and a slight gothic style, though Beth was certainly no expert on architecture.

They made their way to the Seven Lights firm, which had clearly gone all-out on this world, as their building much more resembled a cathedral with strange, East Asian flourishes rather than an office building. The lobby was huge, with high ceilings that were intricately decorated with paintings and drawings. Beth didn't fail to note some of the drawings contained runes within them, meaning the ceiling was at least partially an array or defensive measure. The floor was made of some type of tile that was cut and fitted very precisely in an intricate pattern, forming strange spirals of odd geometric shapes. Everything was gold and white and red, with an off-white sort of cream color that served as highlights around some of the walls and furniture. There was a counter made of some kind of dark oak, heavy and thick and polished so brilliantly it shone at the far end of the room. Three people stood behind that counter, each with markings of the Seven Lights firm on their clothing, and all three were looking at Beth and Blood examining the lobby.

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