The teleport went just like any other they had done, with somebody popping into the rather cramped teleporter room they had wound up in to check them. The person that had appeared was likely a bit stronger than Beth, but not by a really crazy amount, and they introduced themselves to Baelvyr as the person-in-charge at the annex. Beth was starting to see another reason why a bandit group was able to threaten the place; not that she didn't expect it, with how Baelvyr described the CRA presence on the world as very minimal.

Baelvyr led them up to a small room off the little cafeteria that the annex had, looking like a fancy dining room to be used by important Emblem-holders. He had to produce a chair to sit on, having cast a dubious eye over the furniture in the room before grunting and shaking his head. Once he and the three girls were settled, he glanced around for a second before starting his explanation, Beth guessing he was checking for anybody listening in through various skills or other means.

"We got a job to do here. I'll check it out first, after reviewin' the latest report, but ya should be ready. I doubt this is gonna take long," he said gruffly.

"Expecting trouble?" Sera asked with a quirked brow.

"Nah, expectin' a mess," Baelvyr replied.

"You are known for them," Mortaine said.

The three girls leapt at that, Blood almost going over the table at Mortaine before she realized who it was. Baelvyr just shook his head, though whether it was from their exaggerated reactions or Mortaine's appearance, or Mortaine's words, Beth couldn't tell. If he had been surprised or at all taken unaware by Mortaine's sudden appearance in the room with no other warning than, as Beth was now realizing, a faint chiming melody and a soft blue light, he didn't indicate it.

"Mort, ya here for a reason?" Baelvyr asked the other Exalted.

"I was wondering if I might have my three young workers back, if you're done with them?" he asked with a smile.

"I got shit for 'em to do, still," Baelvyr said. He continued, "I want 'em to watch this cleanup first. I want to show 'em how an annex is run for a couple days after that, which'll give 'em a good idea of how things work on a lot of worlds. Then, I got one more for 'em, which will count as a Gold Mission for them. Ya can have 'em after that, unless that puts yer undies in another dimension or somethin'."

"No, no, that's perfectly fine. I left them with some instructions on some materials to get, but I knew that would be a long process. Something else has come up that would be…tricky for me to see to personally. I thought of these three. It would be a rather good experience for them," he explained.

"Time sensitive?" Baelvyr asked.

"Well, no…" Mortaine said, though he tilted his head and pondered for a moment. "I think we have about eight weeks? Perhaps ten? After ten weeks, the opportunity will pass by, and then we will miss out on something important."

"And by 'we,' you mean 'I'?" Baelvyr grunted.

"Well, yes, that is true," Mortaine said. "It will present an opportunity similar to the last big one, though it does not have to do with the same material."

"This planet won't take more than a week," Baelvyr said. "After that, we're gonna go and handle a little situation on a much more populated world. One much more in the middle of the range of what ya can expect when yer out takin' care of Gold postings and up. After that, they'll be on their own again for a while. Gotta get 'em their time refereeing in at some point in the next two or three years, but they ain't gotta do that right away."

"Running them through all the various situations, I see," Mortaine said. "Do you believe the second job will take long?"

"Eh, should be a month or so. I ain't got all the answers, but I don't expect it to be too much trouble. After they're done there, they should have plenty of time to take care of the next mission. They can handle yer problems after that," he said.

"Very well," Mortaine said, sitting back and smiling at them.

"Not leavin'?" Baelvyr asked.

"Nope," Mortaine replied calmly.

"Alright then. Let me go over the report and then I'll see what we need," Baelvyr said, sitting back and getting lost in his communicator.

Beth turned to Mortaine, saying, "Don't have anything else going on?"

"Not now. Or, not in a bit, but now, but I did the now, and the other is elsewhere," he said, nodding sagely.

"I have no idea what any of that means," Beth said.

"You will," he replied mysteriously.

"Ignore him. He does it on purpose," Baelvyr said, still reviewing his paperwork.

This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.

"Congratulations on the Mana Physique, by the way," Mortaine said. "It seems very good, and rather suited to you."

"I just did what I thought was best, but thanks," Beth said with a shrug.

"A lesson that the other two should keep in mind," Mortaine said with another sage nod.

It only took Baelvyr a couple minutes to get everything sorted, including not just reviewing reports but assigning orders as well. Once he had everything arranged, he led the group, now totaling five instead of four, out of the annex. He asked Beth to deploy the airship, commenting that it was a nice one for atmosphere, but that she should save for a starship at some point. After they piled on, Blood took over the piloting duty, flying a course Baelvyr laid out, while the ogre chose to sit on the floor in the back, much as Bjorn had done several times when he was on the bridge.

"You don't have a starship?" Beth asked him once they were underway.

"I do, girlie, but it's tied up at the moment," he said, explaining no further.

"Some people will have all their large assets, such as ships, constantly in use," Mortaine took up the explanation. "I own several space stations and many starships, but I have none with me. All are constantly in use, taking care of various business interests or deliveries."

"But they're all still yours, and still doing what you want," Beth clarified.

"Yes, that is correct. Besides, I do not need such things," he said with an airy wave.

"Can you teleport around like him?" Beth asked Baelvyr, glancing over her shoulder to where he sat.

"I got a teleport skill girlie, but I can't flit around like he can," Baelvyr said. "I got a couple things that I can use if it's an emergency; I won't be caught stranded somewhere. But I don't got nothin' that'll let me just pop across solar systems like he does. A lot of Exalted have stuff like I do, the fallbacks and the like, but only a few can just move about like ol' Mort does."

"Indeed," Mortaine added. "I know of two others in this galaxy that are at or above Exalted tier who can move around freely, and one that rather recently reached Exalted who can move so far so fast without tiring. There are some Ascended that are focused on space, dimensions, or a few other forces that give them some options, but even at Ascended, their range is still fairly limited."

"And if he gets to Manumitted, then all bets are off, but ya don't need to worry 'bout that yet," Baelvyr said.

"Yes, someone at Manumitted, because of their natural progression, has more options. Someone like myself that is specialized in dimensional magic could easily go where they want, when they want, and how they want with very few able to stop them. Only a very powerful Manumitted, far above them in strength, or someone who has stepped into the realm beyond could do it, barring another who knows dimensional magics at my level," Mortaine explained.

"You think we shouldn't worry about the Manumitted stuff yet?" Beth asked Baelvyr.

"It wouldn't do ya any good. I could explain, or he could, but it's not something ya should really be worryin' about before at very least Ascended. I know ya got that special spark in ya, makin' a good Mana Physique early and all that, but ya shouldn't go pokin' yer nose in it yet. When ya get some more rebirths and a little more overall experience, we'll tell ya 'bout what it takes to get into the Exalted bracket; maybe ya can do somethin' with that early," Baelvyr answered.

"Exalted puts the last of the pieces in place, then Manumitted expands on them," Mortaine said. "Or really, Manumitted expands your overall capabilities and understanding. It's a little tough to explain without going into a very long, detailed description. Exalted is easier, as it's just fitting your soul in."

"Fitting our souls in? What's that mean?" Sera asked, even the more knowledgeable dragon confused.

"You progress through three early steps," Mortaine elucidated, sitting back in the communications chair he had occupied. "You start to level and build out your body. At a certain point, namely level one hundred, your body is adapted to work with magic."

"Presence or humanization," said Sera.

"Exactly," Mortaine nodded. "Then, at rebirth ten, if not before, your mana is fully incorporated."

"Mana Physique," said Beth.

"Just so," Mortaine nodded again. "Then, the next step that the old lout and I have been dancing around; your Ideal. That is what lets you break through the ceiling of Ascended and assume your place alongside us as Exalted. Your Ideal is something that incorporates the true nature of your soul into your physical presence in reality. With that, all three are united; body, mana, and soul as one. Each of them is still, to an extent, a separate entity. Having your body destroyed will not destroy either your soul or mana, the same for mana. Soul is trickier because it is who you are; damage to the soul will damage the other two. You can encounter things or beings capable of dealing soul damage before Exalted, so you must always be wary."

"Right, so the 'early' rebirths are all about building up the body, the mana, and the soul, as well as locking them solidly together," Beth said. "Then, after all three are strong and united, Manumitted does something…more? Else?"

"Indeed. All we should say for now, and you don't really need to know more, though you could research it, is that Manumitted is learning to attune yourself with the universe. You are freed from the previous bonds that held you," Mortaine answered.

"I don't even know what that means," said Beth, shaking her head.

"There's one Manumitted among all the dragons in the galaxy," Sera added. "We could seek him out for advice later, if we need it."

"Good to know," Beth said with a nod.

"Ah, he wasn't counted among my two Exalted or higher people," Mortaine said. "That would make that group be three that I know about currently being in the galaxy at one time for any period. There are two others that left a long time ago and rarely come back; they haven't been in the galaxy in nearly a millennium, so I don't count them."

"I didn't realize that level of power was so…rare," Beth said.

"Here, it is," Mortaine said. At her look, he continued, "The Milky Way is poor. I'm sure you've heard that before, but we don't have the kinds of resources and mana that other places have access to. There are reasons for it, many reasons for it, but it is the lot we currently have to deal with, though that may change in the coming couple centuries."

"We're almost there," Baelvyr grunted out, cutting into the conversation, likely intentionally, though Beth knew he wouldn't directly keep things from them. Not if they really pushed or he thought they should know, he just didn't want to clutter them with too much at a time.

"Flying over now," Blood said. Beth brought up the cameras from the underside of the ship on the front screen.

They saw a large camp laid out, slightly sloppily, in the foothills of a long mountain chain. Beth estimated, from just a quick look, that the camp held about two hundred people, give or take a dozen. The scanners on the ship confirmed that a moment later, with it registering two hundred ten people in and around the camp, though there could be more further out that they weren't picking up. They were flying high enough that Beth doubted many below would even notice them, especially with it being a partially cloudy day.

"This is it?" she asked Baelvyr.

"Naw, this is just one camp. Blood's got all the coords," he said. "They're tryin' to pull together a whole little kingdom out here in the backwaters. Just one camp with a couple hundred isn't their whole strength, not by a long shot."

"How many are we dealing with?" Beth asked, a little concerned.

"It'll be five thou' at least," he answered. "But I suspect a lot more, which is why we're scoutin' them out right now. I don't believe the numbers I read in them reports earlier."

Blood continued to pilot them across quite a bit of ground, taking almost a full day to fly over all the places that Baelvyr wanted to check. None of the five of them needed any sleep, as they all had the stats, skills, and mana to allow them to go for at least a few days before starting to get tired. Baelvyr was quiet the whole time, either working on something or just not one for much idle conversation, while Sera and Mortaine engaged in a bit of chatter back-and-forth, mainly about skills, though Mortaine did ask about how the dragon clans were doing. Baelvyr contributed a bit to the skills discussion, but Mortaine was just as knowledgeable as him, so he didn't really have to jump in, while Beth was very interested in the dragon clans.

Blood took them back to the annex, where Beth packed the ship up before joining the others inside. The annex had only three people tending to it, and they didn't see any of them on the way in, which certainly had Baelvyr frowning. They took up the same conference room as they had used the day before, giving Baelvyr a few minutes to organize his thoughts and get everything ready.

"We're gonna do this the easy way, though some might think it's the hard way," he told them.

"What do you mean?" asked Beth.

"They're gonna attack the largest city on this world, which ain't that large, in another two days. I think that's accurate, so I'm gonna get Jaq and Tazeen in and we're gonna handle everything," he explained. "And by handle everything, I mean we're gonna kill them all. Or almost all. It ain't gonna be very pretty."

"Sometimes, needs must," Mortaine said, nodding slowly.

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.