"Well, I don't know that we can stop you, not when you can carry around a thousand pounds like it’s a spare rag. Just be careful, particularly since cell service is becoming patchy. Experts are saying we'll have to adapt all our technology to keep working as more magic shows up, but they think it will be possible to preserve cellular phones and such. If you can't call us, come back by the late afternoon," her mother said to her, the last part in a no-nonsense tone.
"Right, right. I've got it covered," Beth responded.
She moved into the mudroom, followed by both Blood and Sabs. After she threw on her gloves and boots, Sabs grabbed her in a in a hug, wrapping her arms around Beth's neck and burying her face into her shoulder. Beth returned the hug with a squeeze that made Sabs let out an, "Eep!" noise before letting her go.
"Stay safe out there," Sabs said with a blush before darting in again and pecking Beth on the cheek. Beth swiped at her again but wasn't quite fast enough to grab her before she disappeared back into the house.
"Brat," Beth muttered, stepping outside with Blood.
"You ready?" she asked her companion.
Blood responded with an affirmative bark and Beth hopped up, tightening her legs and digging her hands into Blood's mane. The two of them took off, Blood leaping from the center of the backyard to across the trench in a single movement before flitting through the woods like a crimson ghost. It took them barely moments to circle the neighborhood and arrive at the highway.
"Let's head left and go for about five or so minutes. I think the road curves back north, so we'll have to get another road or something. I'll check the badge again and see where we are," Beth said. Blood barked and leapt to the far side of the road, starting to run along the embankment to the side.
They sped along for a little less than five minutes, blurring past fields and a few houses and businesses along the road. They passed two cars heading the other way, the occupants of both vehicles having shocked expressions, seeing a girl riding a wolf along the road. When they reached the curve where the road swept northward, they stopped, Beth pulling out the emblem and focusing on it.
Nearest CRA Hall 2.2 miles south by southeast.
"Alright, looks like we have to go almost directly south," Beth said, patting Blood's neck. They had seen surprisingly few beasts along the way, a single large deer with impressive antlers being the only really notable creature. Beth guessed the beasts either didn't like the minimal traffic that was using it or just didn't like the road overall for some reason.
The two turned southward, heading through an empty lot between a large warehouse and some kind of heavy equipment rental place. Both were closed, with the gates in the fences closed and locked, while there were no cars present in their parking areas. It looked like anything not directly related to food production and distribution wasn't really operating still.
Blood plunged ahead through a patch of woods, moving at an impressive speed, the terrain offering her little hindrance. They darted by a small group of seemingly normal deer, startled into panicked flight by the girls' passage. Blood darted through a clearing a moment later, the two girls turning their heads in passing to stare right at a massive bear, sitting on its haunches while devouring what appeared to be a whole farm's worth of berries. The bear just grunted as they passed, not concerned with two little creatures that weren't after its food.
The girls continued on, moving out of the woods and into a section of farmed land, passing through a large area that had been used for simple hay, only a few of the bales remaining. There weren't any ants in this farmer's field, though Beth did see what looked like a giant praying mantis far off to their east. Fucking creepy, she thought, seeing the insect slide its scythe-like arms together while tilting its head toward them, somehow detecting their passage even at this distance.
The two were soon skirting the edge of a nearby town, the unimpressively named Middleton. They were likely getting fairly close, skirting the edge of town before Beth asked Blood to halt for a moment. "Let's check," she said, pulling out the emblem and focusing to bring up the locator functions.
Nearest CRA Hall .7 miles south.
Beth looked up, the sun to her left and forward, making sure she was facing as close to south as she could estimate without using a compass. There were a few more houses to the side and a large old building in front of them with a big patch of trees behind it. Looking over the tops of the trees Beth thought she could see the top of what might be a dome of some white material, but she wasn't entirely sure. "Through the woods ahead, baby girl," Beth said to Blood, ruffling her fur.
The two moved forward again, going around the old storage building and into the wooded area. It wasn't a very large area of trees, just a couple hundred feet in total, and they traversed it in no time at all. They emerged into an open area on the other side to see the CRA Hall before them.
The building was four stories tall, made of some kind of shining white marble that contained veins of gold and ochre within. The front part of the building was to their right, with intricate carvings on the edges of the roof, the front corners, and around the windows, which were a deep blue tint and evenly spaced across the face of the structure. Further to their left the building expanded out wider, while the roof was a huge oval dome. It reminded Beth of the big sports arenas that could seat a hundred thousand people, only seemingly even bigger and made entirely of the glimmering marble.
"Well. Damn," Beth breathed, the sheer footprint of the building combined with the beauty of the building materials and carving presenting an incredibly impressive sight.
"Let's go around front girl," she continued, scratching Blood between the ears.
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Blood barked in response and moved around the building, revealing even more of the impressive grounds. The front entrance was huge, the doors standing two stories tall, swung outward at more than ninety degrees so their inner sides were visible. They were covered with much more intricate carvings, seemingly telling some kind of story while also conveying some kind of great knowledge. Beth's eyes started to water after half a minute and she had to look away, only then noticing the statues. There were fourteen of them, lined up along a white and black marble path leading from what looked funnily enough like a parking lot up to the front doors.
Each statue stood on a plinth, intricately carved around the base in strange whorls and loops, while the rest was a large, solid block of the white marble. The fourteen statues varied greatly, being of several different races and genders. There was an impossibly beautiful elven looking woman with long, tapered ears that had a truly massive greatsword held in both hands, embedded into the plinth in front of her. Her hair was carved in such detail that it seemed to wave in the light autumn breeze, her eyes gazing down at the walkway imperiously.
There was a man that looked like he had some type of reptilian heritage, some scales carved into his statue around his wrists, neck, and temples. He held a massive book open in his right hand while his left held a scale, an air about the statue as if it weighed the whole world in judgement and found all wanting.
There were more statues, but Beth shook her head, hopping down from Blood at the entryway into the building, walking inside to see a huge room that was clearly a reception area of some kind. The whole area was made of white marble, with silver-chased mounts made of a black steel holding warmly glowing orbs attached to the walls. There were four large light fixtures hanging from the ceiling spread equally into four sections of the room, and much carving across the rest of the ceiling. The floors were marble, but there were a number of huge, thick black rugs with gold embroidery across their surfaces on the floor. In several areas stood chairs of a dark wood with small tables beside them, a place for people to sit and rest while they waited.
As to what they were waiting for; the room had three long counters on the three walls that didn't house the main doors. There were doors on either side of the counter that stretched along the back wall leading further into the building, but it looked like this lobby was where many would conduct their business with the Association. Only the rear counter had anyone behind it, and Beth belatedly noted the two individuals as she finished gawping at the impressive entryway.
On the side to Beth's right behind the counter was a tall man, muscular, but in a trim, athletic way. He had to be close to seven feet, and as Beth observed this, she noted his long ears sticking out of his shoulder length black hair. His face was very well defined, with a firm jaw, long and well-proportioned nose, and large eyes set the perfect distance apart. His lips were full and even, and one of his two smooth, glossy eyebrows was arched as he looked back at her. She approached the counter, noticing not just his bronze-colored irises, but the fact that it looked like they contained some kind of green sigils etched into the entire ring of the iris.
As she got closer to the counter the woman who had been to his right stood up. She was also rather tall, at least by Earth standards, being about a head shorter than the man, which still put her over six feet. She had an incredibly beautiful face with full, red lips, a perfectly shaped, slightly long nose, large and expressive eyes, nicely curved jawline, and high cheekbones. Her hair was a dark red, deeper in color than Bloods fur, like the deep heart of a smoldering fire. As the woman walked over to lean on the counter next to the man, Beth noticed her eyes, which she had thought orange at first, contained fiery red cracks across the iris, looking like a blazing sun was ringing each of her pupils.
As the woman leaned forward against the counter, exposing even more of her impressive cleavage, Beth noted what they were both wearing. The man (Elf?) was wearing a set of dark pants that looked like they had some kind of thin armor plating. He had what looked like a long-sleeved shirt on of a dark blue, but Beth noted what seemed like thin armor plates in that as well. The provocative woman was wearing something that resembled a cheongsam, though the cut across the bodice and shoulders was somewhat different.
"I am Tazeen M'Tun, welcome to the Combat Ranking Association White Hall. How may I help you?" the man (Elf?) spoke in a deep, mellifluous voice.
"Yes, um, I was wondering what exactly having one of these, uh, means?" Beth stammered, nervous under the two imposing figures' stares, though she silently thought her accelerated heart rate had more to do with the woman. She withdrew her copper badge from her stat page and showed it to the two of them.
"Ohhh, a copper badge already. Aren't you a pretty little go-getter," the woman spoke up in a husky contra-alto, giving Beth a wide grin.
"Behave," the man said calmly to the woman, who immediately started pouting. "That is a copper badge. The basic privileges given to you are the ability to requisition training at a reasonable price, the ability to participate in a limited number of the sanctioned Combat Ladders, the ability to purchase items from our commissar, though not at any discount, and finally, the ability to stay within one of our halls for a minimal daily fee."
"OK, uh, cool. Um, how can I understand you, are you speaking English?" she asked, still flustered by their gazes and the woman's returning grin.
"Lyrissa and I both act as Enforcers for the Association. As such, we are required to possess a language assessment and understanding skill. We can learn any common language at a reasonable level in a matter of a few minutes," he explained, gesturing to himself as well as to the woman, who smiled a dazzling smile showing large, straight, perfectly white teeth. Teeth, Beth noted, that included canines of rather exceptional length and sharpness.
"Lyrissa Fera. A pleasure to meet you, my dear," the woman added, still beaming at Beth. Beth might have thought the smiling a little creepy except for the genuine warmth the woman seemed to exude.
"So, I can train here? What about information? And what's an Enforcer?" she asked a series of questions rapid-fire, causing the man to blink.
"Yes, though training requires a fee. There is a library here with a standard stock of informational books and crystals, as well as limited Datanet access. You would need to improve your badge rank to access further materials," he responded, ticking off the answers to her questions. "As for Enforcers, we are higher ranked members of the association that work as law enforcement, working in conjunction with local police and justice officers. We also act as impartial arbiters in disputes, as well as legal consultants. Finally, we are sometimes called on to cull monsters and beasts or clear dangerous trials beyond the means of others. In this way we act to fill what you would think of as many separate traditional roles including police, legal consultants, judges, and special response units."
"We fight bad guys and stop arguments," the woman, Lyrissa apparently, added, still grinning widely.
"How do I raise my rank? And I can buy some better gear here? What about selling stuff?" Beth continued, peppering them with more questions.
"Gaining a higher tier badge is complicated. It requires a monetary payment, a certain level within the Ladders, an assessment by a team of higher ranked members, and a test, written or oral. And that is just for the lower ranks, higher ranks past gold have even stricter requirements," Tazeen dutifully explained. "We have a commissar that will both sell you gear and materials as well as purchase anything spare from you. Unless you have found some great treasure as part of the initial integration, I doubt you would have much he would be interested in."
"OK, I'll have to check that out. What about Identifying people? Is that considered rude or something?" she continued.
Lyrissa cut in as Tazeen was still opening his mouth, "No sweetheart, run your eyes over me as much as you want."
"Behave," Tazeen reprimanded yet again, this time with a lash of suppressive power that made Lyrissa roll her eyes but felt as if the world collapsed to Beth. "Apologies, I did not mean to startle you. She gets unruly often, you may ignore her at your leisure."
"No, it's fine. I, uh, just need a second," she replied, reaching over to ruffle Blood's fur, who was still staring at Tazeen with wide eyes. After a few moments Beth felt her pulse starting to stabilize and asked, "So, uh training? How do I sign up? Actually, wait a minute, how much is it?"
"We have a few other members in the Hall at this time, and you would be trained by one of them. Many senior members will come to a newly integrating world while the galaxy they work in is relatively peaceful to rest, but they will also take the chance to look for a few promising prodigies to mentor. If someone decides to pick you for mentorship, payment would not be necessary for a certain length of time dependent on your trainer. Come, Lyrissa will show you to training areas," Tazeen answered before gesturing at Lyrissa.
"I would love to escort such a cute young lady," Lyrissa said, bobbing back up with much jiggling, to Beth's flushed embarrassment. "Come along now."
Before following Lyrissa, Beth Identified Tazeen.
Tazeen M'Tun, Level 300 Elven Sword Ruler.