After reviewing the information, they looked over what the first packet had on Presences. It was largely as Beth had already started to figure out; a Presence was basically, at lower levels, a berserking skill. It provided a big boost in power in exchange for rapidly depleting the person's stamina and, if pushed too far, could leave injuries that might take weeks to heal. The aspect that Beth hadn't really explored herself yet was the suppressive effect of a Presence, something she had already seen demonstrated before. The times that Tazeen and even John had used their power to suppress others was an example of just such a thing, though it was a technique at a higher level, considering that they didn't need to actually manifest their Presences physically to utilize the restrictive effect.
It was a bit ironic, given that the whole reason they were called Presences was that they were a physical manifestation of the person's soul, a form that could make manifest a person's desires through nothing but sheer will. At higher levels it was capable of exerting physical force simply at a thought from the person, or even manipulate the matter or mana in an area around the person. It was also as Baelvyr and Tazeen had explained to her some time ago in that the number of a person's rebirths were reflected on their Presence and, though there were ways to hide that display, there weren't any reliable ways to fake having more rebirths than a person actually did. For Beth, she already suspected that the empty eye sockets of her crown would be playing a role in displaying her rebirths, but she would just have to get there to see.
With their heads stuffed with some new information, Beth decided it was time to move on and tackle the next stage. They made sure to fully gear up, with Blood grumbling a little about her pack, though it looked like it fit just fine to Beth. They did their fairly typical routine of stopping by a restaurant to gorge themselves before heading into the array room. Beth told the lady working at the counter that they were ready for stage fifteen and that they wanted it private and, after a momentary check, she directed them to one of the Warders. The Warder directed them to a portal opposite the doorways that was a very dark yellow before indicating almost right away for them to jump in. The two girls experienced a moment of pseudo-falling and whiteout before they arrived in stage fifteen.
They found themselves in a massive hall that had all the hallmarks of a trade guild, with massive wooden pillars supporting a vaulted roof and heavy, red stone tiles coating the floor. There were a ton of tables set up in the area with various goods laid out across them, many halls leading out of this central room, and several heavy tables and counters at the back of the room. The room was also packed with people and even a decent number of beasts that appeared to be companions or sapient beings in their own right.
As Beth and Blood took it all in, a tall woman with blue skin and four horns on her head walked up to them. She was dressed in comfortable clothes with several pouches on her waist and a bandolier with several knives draped over her right shoulder looping down to her left hip. She stopped in front of them and gave them a warm smile before speaking excitedly.
"Good to see you! Glad the two of you could make it, and just in time! I wasn't sure you'd be able to sneak in before registration closed," she said. "But where are my manners? I'm Teritha, and I'm here to help all the participants in the competition."
"Good to meet you," Beth replied, holding her hand out, both as a friendly greeting and to exchange contact information. "I'm Beth and this is Blood. Could you go over some of the details of the competition? I'm afraid we got the most barebones talk about it…"
"Of course," Teritha replied, shaking Blood's hand as well. "This is a month-long competition covering every crafting discipline. You can do just about anything you want as long as you aren't wasting resources excessively, and you need to submit a single piece as your final product for review. The professions are further broken down into groups based on tier, so apprentices will compete against apprentices, journeymen against journeymen, and experts against experts. We don't have enough masters to actually have them compete, so they'll be here both to offer advice and to help with judging at the end of the month.
"We have only a single grandmaster in the city, Roberta, who just recently made the grandmaster rank in alchemy. She left last month on one of her journeys to gather ingredients, which used to last a month or two when she was a master. Now…we might not see her for a year, so I wouldn't count on her popping up during the competition. Apart from that, do you have any questions?"
"So, what if we happen to level up to the next tier during this month of crafting?" Beth asked with a quirk of her left eyebrow.
"Then, unfortunately, you get put in the next bracket up," Teritha replied. "We've had issues before with people, particularly at apprentice, waiting for the competition at the peak of the tier and then hitting journeyman during the month. It's really not fair to the other apprentices, so they get judged in the journeyman group. The problem is much less severe at the transition to expert and the transition to master, as those walls are much tougher to climb, so the apprentice group is the one that has much more attention."
"Got it," Beth said with a nod. "Second question; what about somebody with no crafting skills?”
"They're still welcome to compete," Teritha answered enthusiastically. "We have whole teams of trainers ready to instruct anyone who wants or needs it. Of course, I do have to say, someone just picking up a crafting skill is unlikely to get one of the top five prizes."
"I think we understand that," Beth replied with a glance to Blood, who nodded as she ran a hand through her hair. "What are you interested in, anyway?"
"I think I want to work with leather," Blood replied. "Well, at least I'd like to try picking it up…"
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"Leatherworking stations are in the northeast hall," Teritha said, pointing to one of the far corners of the room. "There are also several shops surrounding the Main Hall that are open for anyone to use during the competition. We just ask that all competitors be mindful of the spaces and clean up after themselves."
"Got it," Beth said. "And where are the smiths?"
"Forges are northwest hall," Teritha replied. "There's also an ironworks to the east that has rooms available. Just head out the main entrance and turn left."
"Alright," Beth said. "And last question; where do we sleep?"
"There are quarters on the second floor that you can use," Teritha began. "There are also a number of hotels that are fairly close to the Trade Hall that you could stay in."
"What about a CRA Branch?" asked Beth.
"Ah, yes," Teritha said, eyes widening just slightly. "It's on the other side of the city and I can't guarantee that they'd have any rooms available."
"I think we'll check there first," Beth said. "Any other things you think we should know?"
"Nope," Teritha said with a shake of her head and a grin. "Just work hard and try to enjoy yourselves."
"Alright, thanks for the help," Beth replied with a nod. "We'll find somewhere to stay first and then get to work."
"Just let me know if you need anything. Anything at all," Teritha replied with a broad smile before sashaying away.
Beth led the way out of the Trade Hall and down the street, pulling her emblem out as she walked to check. The emblem returned that the nearest CRA Hall was nearly two miles away to the south, so they set off in that direction. The city they found themselves in was a bit of a wonder, a combination of old meets new, with massive, ancient buildings of stone and oak and heavily carved marble nestled amongst towering skyscrapers. The roads in the city center were designed entirely for pedestrian traffic, with vehicles limited to the very edge of the city other than tunnels under the city that were used for the transport of goods. The tunnels also contained a tram system, but Beth decided not to mess with it. They were here for a month, plenty of time for her to grow used to the sights, but for today she actually wanted to experience her first time in a non-Earth city.
The walk was extremely pleasant but, even taking it slow, they made it to the other end of the city all too quickly. The CRA Hall was just as large and imposing as the one by Beth's house, though it was an awful lot busier. People practically flooded the place, and they learned from the passing conversations as they entered that there was a big show match today which everyone was coming to spectate. Beth was quite tempted to spectate herself, but she focused up, walking up to the back counters with Blood in tow.
She was greeted by a man that seemed entirely human, apart from his odd eyes with a strange circuit pattern within. "How may I help you?" he asked once the few people in front of Beth in line had been served.
Beth pulled her emblem back out and placed it on the counter before asking, "Do you have any open rooms right now?"
The man did a brief scan of the emblem before saying to Beth, "We have a few open rooms right now, but they're all in the underworks…"
"Oh, I don't mind," Beth replied with a small smile.
"Alright then," he said. "We have a few for fifty copper a night, and a few for a silver a night. Unfortunately, we don't have any higher-class suites available at this time."
"We'll take a one silver a night room," Beth said, paying out the thirty silvers for the month.
"Excellent," the man said, going through the motions the same as Tazeen had done months ago to prep a key, though this time he made two, giving one to Blood. "Please enjoy your stay."
"Thanks, we will," Beth replied, taking one of the keys while Blood grabbed the other. She walked back down the hallway, finding the layout of the building quite similar to what she was used to. Even though the lobby was crowded, the hallway they used was nearly empty, as one hallway was used to allow people back into the arena while the other remained members only. The arena's other external doors took care of the rest of the foot traffic and there were times when they wouldn't open any of the halls in the front building, only either selling tickets or just allowing free entry through the other entrances. Today's big match was a bit of an exception, but they still left paths that were restricted to members only, which Beth followed down to the underworks. This area was entirely restricted, as always, and they made their way to their room on the third basement floor before dropping their packs off.
Having now found their way to the Hall, they knew the path and could freely move back and forth. Blood also didn't need Beth to hold her paw anymore, now that she had hands instead, so the two could split up and go about their own business without Beth having to worry about stiffing Blood. They left the room together anyway, walking back across the city to the Trade Hall before therein splitting to their separate areas. Beth found the forging area to be rather spacious, though there were quite a few people using it at the moment. The only good thing about the crowd was the presence of several masters in the room, giving advice and overseeing the work. Beth had been tutored by a quite skilled smith already, but she was always open to learning from a variety of people. Different people taught in different ways and had different perspectives and she hoped to learn as much as she could in this simulated month.
Beth wasn't sure if there was some kind of requirement they had to meet to pass the stage, but she hoped getting a high place in the competition would count enough to get them the passing grade. She wasn't really that worried about it as, even though she was Apprentice[6] currently, she figured she could get another level or even two during the month. If she could manage to really push herself and hit Apprentice[8] before the end of the competition, she would likely have a very good chance of placing quite highly, even if she wasn't necessarily likely to get first, or in the top three at all, for that matter.
The first day passed in a blur, with Beth working on her own just to get the feel of working with the metal again after having not done it in so long. There was a massive pile of mana copper stock for the apprentices to work on while the journeymen were mainly using mana steel, and Beth used just a few pieces of what was available of the mana copper to get her feeling back. She was focused on her own work and didn't really pay much attention to what was happening around her, and the masters left her alone as they could see she was concentrating and not currently open to help.
She returned to the CRA Hall in the late evening, ready to get a few hours sleep. She found the suite empty, Blood having clearly become absorbed in learning her profession. It didn't matter much either way, and neither of them needed all that much sleep these days, with just four hours more than enough to suffice if they weren't pushing themselves to the limit in battle. She was sure Blood would show up eventually, so she took care of her evening routine and went to bed.
The next morning, she woke up to find no one else in the bed, but discovered that was because Blood had passed out on the couch, likely not wanting to wake Beth late at night. It was pretty early in the morning, likely the sun just now rising, and Beth let Blood sleep as she got ready. The wolf was, quite literally, a big girl now and could largely look after herself, so Beth left her snooze in peace and made her way back to the Trade Hall.
She spent the next two days practicing on her own before she asked for the help of a master, getting some detailed guidance on making a basic short sword of mana copper. It was interesting to have a different perspective from a different crafter, and he focused much more on walking Beth through sensing the metal, as well as the mana embedded within, before talking about strikes or shaping. Beth felt she learned quite a bit just from the hour she had working with the man and, though she didn't get a level, thought it was some decent experience towards the next level of smithing.