"Satisfied," she spat at him, frustrated as she had to blow some hair out of her face.

"Immensely," he chuckled. "Much as I would like to stabilize my breakthrough, I will leave you to heal."

"Fuck. You," Beth snarled, already running Lordly Reconstruction. She also pulled out two potions, snapping the cap off each with her thumb and downing them. One was a powerful healing potion from her small stock, while one was one of the calm mind potions, allowing her focus to sharpen while also greatly enhancing her mana regeneration. That had been why her body had felt heavy; she had run out of mana, or very nearly so, and so suddenly couldn't use her boosting skills any more. She would have to be careful of that for a while, likely needing a couple rebirths to catch up with her new skill.

"What was that wonderful little cube you used?" Veren asked as he sheathed his blade.

"Why the fuck would I tell you?" Beth growled, glaring hatred at the man.

"Please, your companion isn't that weak," he replied with a roll of his eyes, gesturing at where Blood had collapsed. Beth looked over and watched as the lupine woman sat up, her armor obviously still cut open, but the massive chest wound was at least partially healed. Blood had taken a high-grade healing potion and also started running Regeneration after she had been knocked out of the fight, able to do so because Veren wasn't interested in either of their deaths and had simply dismissed her, other than to make sure she wasn't far more resilient than he had estimated and tried to leap back up and ambush him with his focus elsewhere.

"Blood! Are you OK?!" Beth asked, struggling to stand before the wolf held her hand up.

"I'm fine, Beth. He avoided anything super vital like my heart and then didn't follow-up. I was able to take a potion right away. It'll just take a while to get back to one hundred percent," Blood explained.

"See?" Veren asked with a slight tilt of his head and a raised eyebrow. "Now, what exactly did you do?"

"Fine, but only if you stay for an hour and let us heal. Plus, tell me in plain terms what that was actually fucking about," Beth retorted with some serious heat in her voice.

"Deal," he chuckled. "I'll even show you how to get out of here."

He flicked a finger at Beth, which sent a packet to her communicator. She was a bit suspicious, but hacking wasn't her forte and she didn't really think using some kind of trojan would be much Veren's style, so she accepted the message. It contained his mapping data from his communicator, though only for the parts of this mountain range that he had explored. Still, that was an immense amount of data, as it looked like he had spent weeks down here and, considering that there was likely very little in the depths that could challenge the man, he had covered a huge territory in that short time.

"Thanks," Beth said grudging after analyzing the data. "That metal cube was an 'Ephram's Cube of Skill Improvement,' if you must know."

Veren got a faraway look in his eyes for a moment before nodding. "I see. Quite a powerful item. It is good to see you pushed yourself."

"Yeah, well, I wouldn't have normally hastily wasted something like that, but you didn't leave me a lot of fucking options," Beth snapped back.

"You consider it a waste?" Veren asked with a slightly raised brow, reminding Beth of Tazeen.

"Yeah, well…actually, it might be nice to see what I got," Beth said, pondering if it was an issue before bringing her skill info up. She was still running Lordly Reconstruction the whole time, which might have been a contender for the cube, but it was still only in Silver, and it wasn't something that really made her stronger in combat directly, which she considered a better use of that item.

Beastly Tyrant Platinum[0]

{A ruler with power to dominate beasts. Your body has the overwhelming strength and extreme toughness of a true tyrant. Using this skill, infuse your body with mana to assume the form of the tyrant, dominating and shattering all before you.}

"Holy fuck," she breathed, both Blood and Veren shooting her question looks. "Uh, I upgraded a tier three Gold skill to a tier four Platinum skill."

"Well, now, that's something," Veren said, both eyes slightly widening at the revelation.

"Beastly Body?" Blood asked, Veren's eyebrows climbing, as clearly he recognized the skill without having to search for it.

"Yep. Beastly Tyrant now," Beth replied. Veren got that look in his eyes again like he was using his communicator and then refocused on her. "How are you doing that?"

"What?" he asked, seemingly nonplussed by the question.

"We're miles underground. How are you using your communicator to talk to the network?" Beth asked.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

"I used relays, of course," he replied calmly. At Beth and Blood's blank looks he sighed before continuing, "I bought network relay devices from the CRA before coming down here. I always keep some in my spatial power. I set them down at a certain distance as I go. They're small and have a slight stealth function, meaning most beasts leave them alone. They let you connect to the surface even when you're miles underground, as long as you don't enter a separate space such as a dungeon or gate."

"Oh, yeah," Beth said with a wince. "We, uh, we don't have any of those."

Veren rolled his eyes before asking, "You are members, yes?" Beth flashed her Silver Emblem and he continued, "Your emblem will still work from here, as it has great magics woven into it, but that's emergency only, as I'm sure you are well aware. You should, however, invest in relays, for all those times that aren't emergencies."

"Yeah, well, noted," Beth said, rolling her eyes before refocusing on her efforts to heal her wounds. She studied the map in greater detail as she did so, sending a copy to Blood to make sure she hadn't been left out.

"Anyway," Beth continued after a few minutes of silence, her wounds now much better. "Why exactly did you start a fucking death duel out of nowhere?"

"For the gains," he replied primly. He continued when he saw her narrowed eyes, "Surely you gained quite a bit out of it as well?"

"For the love of-" Beth snapped back. "I had to use a super precious item just to still get my ass kicked. How is that a gain."

Veren sighed lightly before replying, "Firstly, that improved skill is a total gamechanger, even as you are now. Secondly, that was certainly not your only gain."

"Wait, what?" Beth asked, confused.

"Look at your stat screen, you buffoon," Veren snapped at her crossly, causing her to bring it up. "There's no way for someone of Journeyman talent to create sword lights and such, but you created them in our final exchange. Ergo, you are no longer a Swords Journeyman."

"Holy shit, you're right," Beth breathed, seeing her Swords sitting firmly at Expert[0]. Her Unarmed, unfortunately, hadn't followed it to the next level, but she felt like she had an even better understanding of what the Expert level was now. She had always been better with Unarmed anyway, and was positive she could push it to Expert much easier now.

"As to why I started that deathmatch, I sensed the two of you have great potential, far more than your current strength shows," he explained. "I have been a thread away from Grandmaster for some time now, and thought you would be just what I needed. It turns out, as usual, my intuition was not wrong."

"Wait, wait, wait," Beth said, holding up a hand. "You used us to reach Grandmaster?! And you succeeded?!"

"Inelegantly put, but yes, I needed that final touchstone to improve, and you proved apt," he replied with a nod.

"Sounds like you still owe us, then," Beth said, pulling out another healing potion and dumping it over her torso.

"I will help you with your own moment of clarity in the future," he said. "I will also clear the path you have taken so far so that you may return the way you came without fear."

"Don't happen to have an extra skill enhancing cube in your back pocket?" Beth asked with a slight grin and a quirked brow.

"No," he said coldly, his face deeply stoic.

"Okay…" Beth replied slowly, noting his expression didn't change. "What does it mean to be a Grandmaster, anyway?"

"An Apprentice is someone who has just learned how to hold a weapon," he explained slowly. "A Journeyman is someone who understands the strength of the weapon and can use it to defeat an opponent. An Expert understands using the weapon to its fullest and can begin to take advantage of the environment to adjust their movements. By this, I mean you will understand how the air, the terrain, even space can affect using your weapon.

"A Master is someone who exists at the pinnacle of what a mortal can achieve. This is true for both weapons and crafting, as both share some similarities. Getting to the peak of Master means achieving the greatest possible understanding of the capabilities of the form, weapon or art, and the ability to utilize it to the greatest possible extent. Someone at Master[9] is a person at the very peak of skill and understanding of a weapon and can control that weapon to the limits of a mortal standard. This is where someone without the changes brought about by the Path would stop, though hardly anyone in all of history has reached this. Even the greatest in the history of your world were likely no more than Experts before the Path.

"Then, there is the realm of Grandmaster. Someone who has reached Grandmaster has pushed their understanding of the form beyond the mortal. Grandmaster is often thought of as the pinnacle of what a person can achieve without entering the territory of the extraordinary; this is not true. Grandmaster is the beginning of transcendence, of stepping beyond what a normal person can comprehend and into the realm of what an extraordinary talent can achieve. A Grandmaster is one who has reached a level of understanding, a level of skill, that transcends what a normal mortal could ever achieve. It is not the pinnacle, but the time that a person begins to step beyond the ordinary and into the extraordinary. To move past Grandmaster and into Sage is to step out of the realm of the mortal and into the realm of the transcendent fully. A Grandmaster can fight in a way that bewilders others, performing feats that go just a little beyond what should be possible. A Sage fights in a way that a mortal cannot understand, performing actions that seem impossible to someone who has not transcended their limits."

"It's a little hard to follow, but I think I understand what you're saying," Beth said. "I'm not at that point, but you're saying that a Master is the best a 'normal' person could ever be, a Grandmaster has started to understand more than a 'normal' person could, and a Sage is no longer in the realm of normal, they’re beyond the realm of the normal."

"Yes," he said. "I was at the precipice of extraordinary, and your final attack pushed me to start to transcend my limits. The journey through Grandmaster is the journey to go beyond what is normal into the abnormal."

"I like talking about it being extraordinary better. I think abnormal might have a few negative connotations that you don't want," Beth said, rolling her right arm and shoulder to test how far the healing was progressing. It was a bit difficult to judge with her current skill level with the effects of two potions added in, so she was settling for the good old 'does it hurt when I do this?' tactic.

Veren nodded in acknowledgement and then lapsed into silence, watching the area while the two girls healed. Both of the girls were eventually back on their feet and fully healed up, though their armor was still in…less than stellar state. Luckily, they had armor with repair built into it, but it was a stark reminder of how nice the systems in the arenas that restored gear after fights ended really were. A number of their pieces only had minor repair, and even though they weren't totally destroyed, the level of damage would require days to fix. Even after a couple hours to heal, they still needed some more time, so they decided to take a bit of time in the cavern to camp and restore themselves.

Veren, in the meantime, had decided to move on, slowly wandering through the underground as he refined his swordsmanship. As he had said, he needed time to adjust to the new level he was operating at, and also wanted to challenge the Devourer that had driven them away. There was little chance of him having any trouble, despite the rather large level gap and startling power of the beast, as one who had achieved a Grandmaster level with a weapon was simply on an entirely different level.

Beth and Blood rested for about seven hours, both wearing their armor the whole time, allowing it to repair while they slept. The pieces weren't totally fixed, of course, but they were in a better place than they had been a handful of hours ago. Beth took a few minutes to scan the area and have Blood do some scouting, finding that they were in a total dead zone, largely due to Veren having slaughtered his way through the area before their fight. When they had confirmed they were all clear, Beth opened her gate, this time to the special forging room she now had access to. She didn't want them to be at any kind of disadvantage at all in an area where they might run into level three hundred and fifty beasts.

She spent a couple hours doing a bit of work in the forge to make some repairs to their equipment, the time also allowing the minor repair and normal repair functions to continue working. The better part was that she was working under ten-times speed, meaning that just under an hour passed in the real world while they were in the gate. This also gave them a good bit more time to rest, with Blood sleeping for part of the time while Beth worked.

They left the gate once their armor was mostly patched up, the repair feature being able to take care of the rest, mainly fully correcting around the areas Beth had fixed, over the next hour or two. Beth had decided not to follow in Veren's footsteps, but instead take advantage of the massive amount of mapping data he had passed to them to explore further while making for an exit back to the surface. She still hoped they could find some gem hearts, not thinking anything they had dug up so far qualified, but she wasn't holding out too much hope.