Beth woke first the next morning, only needing a couple hours sleep even when she was tired, using more than that only when she was truly exhausted or had suffered some kind of soul damage such as from using her gate power. She held Sabs for a while and relaxed, not even bothering to open a book to study as she just enjoyed the warmth and the feeling of her girlfriend pressed against her.
The older woman eventually stirred, and they got up for the day, cleaning up and eating before leaving the apartment. Beth dragged Blood out with them, the wolf having wanted to laze around longer but Beth insisting on an early start for the two of them. They separated with Sabs at the lounge, with Beth once again walking down to the lobby to talk to Tazeen. She found the room empty save for both Tazeen and Lyrissa behind the counters.
"I always wondered why you guys have two people out here when we're not that busy?" Beth asked as she leaned against the counter.
"Appearances, mainly," Lyrissa answered with a lazy wave. "Tazeen can handle things alone, obviously, but it would look sloppy if we only ever had him out here."
"She is largely correct," Tazeen commented. "It is standard practice to have multiple people behind the main counter. Depending on how busy the Hall becomes, it is also practice to have the side counters manned, but we are not at that point."
"Cool. I had a couple questions for you," Beth said.
"Of course," he said.
"First, do either of you mind exchanging contact information?" she asked. Neither objected, it seemed, as both stretched their hands out to shake, doing so for both herself and Blood. "Next, we have a full picture of the underground, though we haven't solved the mystery part with the shielded area. Is that enough, or do you want us to clear the mystery part?"
"No, it won't be necessary," Tazeen replied after reviewing their mapping data and reports. "You don't have to fully clear and do everything for an exploration mission such as this. Having everything explored and most things documented is enough. I will mark it complete and award you contribution for it."
"Contribution?" Beth asked. "I remember Jaq talking about that. Is that like some kind of merit point?"
"It's just an internal currency we use," Lyrissa answered with a shrug. "You get it for doing missions, mostly. You also sometimes get awarded some for arena fights and, though it's sometimes frowned upon, you can bet contribution on fights. People don't really do that often, though."
"Indeed," Tazeen said with a bit of a raised brow. "You will mainly get contribution for doing missions, but you also will get some for arena fights at times, depending on various circumstances. You will also get some for doing work for the CRA, such as what Lyrissa and I are doing right now, but that work is typically not handed out until gold rank or above."
"Awesome. So, how do I check how much contribution I have?" she asked.
"It's linked to your emblem," Tazeen replied calmly.
Beth pulled her emblem out of her status page and checked it, seeing that it now displayed a small counter tracking her contribution points. She put the emblem away before turning back to Tazeen and saying, "I think I'll work through Jaq's mission next. Anything else, other than the diplomatic mission, come up?"
"Unfortunately, not," Tazeen answered. "I will inform you if we get any other missions of silver rank."
"One other question," Beth said.
"Of course," Tazeen replied.
"Is it possible to power-level people? Like, can I go into a dungeon with somebody who's level twenty and quickly get them to level thirty?" she asked.
"Hmm, yes and no," Tazeen answered, holding his hand out and wiggling it back and forth. "The experience you receive from killing beasts and monsters comes primarily from the conversion of their mana and lifeforce, as you may know. This is distributed largely based on who contributed the damage that led to the death. There are other factors, of course, but you cannot just go into a dungeon and kill a bunch of beasts with a low-level companion and expect them to shoot up in level. You can game it just a little bit, however, in that you can have someone deal a moderate amount of damage to beasts and finish them off. You can also simply trap low-level beasts and have the companion you are trying to level kill them, but that's much the same thing, if not worse. Your having trapped the beast counts a significant amount towards contribution to killing it, likely in some kind of built-in feature to prevent just what you are seeking to accomplish."
"So, what you're saying is that I can power-level people, but it isn't super-efficient," Beth said.
"Essentially, yes," he replied. "You can speed someone's leveling up by a certain amount, but the best way for them to level is make sure they've trained their skills well, and then go out on their own and kill things. Going with a group at their own level works, though it is slightly less efficient. It depends on a number of factors, but it likely isn't worth your time to 'power-level' someone, as you put it."
"Well, that's disappointing," she said.
"Apologies we couldn't help you more," Tazeen replied.
"I appreciate all the information regardless. Thanks guys," she said before leading Blood back down the hallway to the lounge. They found Sabs already gone and only one or two people in the room, most people that had gotten memberships seemingly busy with actually fighting and exploring rather than spending too much time hanging around. Still, many people weren't the kind of workaholics that Beth was and there were more people in the room more often than not. They made their way to their usual table with Baelvyr in his usual seat, the big ogre standing before they even got there.
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They followed him down to their typical training room, going through several hours of training until it was time for lunch, when they often stopped these days. Beth had informed him of their successful completion of their first ever official CRA mission, which got an approving grunt from the massive ogre. She then pulled out the weird envelope to show to him.
"Hey, found this out there, wondering if you know what it is?" she asked.
He took it from her hands and looked at it for a moment before flipping it over. As soon as he saw the sigil imprinted in the wax, he let out a grumbling curse and handed the envelope back to her. He turned and started walking away, saying, "I can't fuckin' actually believe yer luck."
"Hey, wait! What is this?" Beth called after him.
"Just fuckin' open it and look at what's inside," he said as he walked out, mumbling something about "fuckin' lucky first timers," as he went out the door and walked down the hall.
Beth exchanged a look with Blood, the wolf woman shrugging while one ear flicked rapidly, before turning the envelope over and gently prying up the wax seal. She tried to keep it intact, which was fairly easy considering how thick the wax was, lifting the top flap of the envelope to see what was inside. She found four items within, including a letter, a little square of metal that looked like some kind of token, a coin, and a crystal. She pulled all four items out and inspected them one-by-one, starting with the letter first, as she figured that would likely explain at least some of what was going on.
Greetings Wayfarer!
I am the esteemed Reginald Mortaine Adelaine Maelodon, otherwise known as the Lord of Traversal. I hope that this letter finds you well. I have a request for any promising young Wayfarers to perform certain tasks for me and complete certain challenges in my stead. Worry not, young adventurer, you will be amply rewarded for your time.
Within you will find enclosed several items that will aid you on your journey and in reaching myself. Firstly, I know the life of a young wayfarer can be expensive, so I have included a small bit of remuneration to assist you. Second, I know that starting out on your travels involves quite a bit of personal risk through battle, tough to do when you don't have the levels or the skills, so I have included a little present to help you improve. Lastly, you will find within the component that actually makes this invitation work. It is a token that will allow any long-distance teleporter within the Milky Way to align to a teleporter within my home. With the included bit of pocket change, you should have no problem paying the fee for such a teleport.
I look forward to our first meeting.
Sincerely,
The Lord of Traversal
"What the fuck?" Beth said with a frown and slightly widened eyes.
Her eyes widened even further as she examined the first of the other three items. It wasn't anything complex, but it was certainly incredible. Holding it up, she pinched it between her thumb and forefinger, something she hadn't done in quite some time, seeing the symbol appear above it. The reason was rather simple; she was holding a diamond coin in her hand. After confirming its authenticity, she flicked it into her status screen, seeing a new notation of '1d' appear in her money line.
"Was that a diamond coin?" Blood asked, slightly shocked.
"Apparently, the guy who wrote this letter, who calls himself the Lord of Traversal, by the way, considers a diamond coin 'pocket change,'" Beth replied.
"Shit," Blood breathed.
"I know," Beth muttered before checking the second item, the crystal she had noted earlier. She examined it using her enhanced eyes, those same eyes again widening greatly at what they saw:
Spatial Step Skill Crystal
{This skill crystal teaches the Spatial Step skill, allowing the user to step through space and appear at an area nearby. The teleport activates instantly and has a starting distance of thirty feet. This crystal is reusable but cannot be used more than once per week or it will degrade.}
"Holy. Fucking. Shit," Beth swore after reading the description. "Sorry, Blood, but I'm taking first dibs."
After saying so she held the crystal to her forehead and immediately experienced the same thing as she had with the Celestial Annihilation skill. She experienced using the skill as someone who had advanced understanding of it, moving through space at just a thought, and saw the skill from the outside as others used it. It was a more in-depth lesson than what something like the Swift crystal had given her, though it still only took a handful of seconds in real time to complete. It also left her with just a slight headache as she became aware again in the training room. Blood had clearly inspected the crystal while she was using it because she looked quite impressed.
"Gave me a bit of a headache, but I gotta try this," Beth said as she put the letter, envelope, metal square, and skill crystal in her necklace.
Stepping up onto the training stage, she moved to the center before looking around, picking a point about ten feet away. She cycled her mana through her body and staggered slightly as she found herself instantly standing at that point. Even though she had only moved a third of what the skill's max distance at level zero could do, she felt like it took a bit over a twentieth of her mana to cast. It was definitely not something that she could spam with her current small mana reservoir, but it was an immensely valuable tool, nonetheless.
"That was crazy," Blood commented with a bit of a growl. "You were one place, then you were just another."
"Kinda how it works," Beth replied with a shrug. "It's pretty difficult to use, even with it being a more advanced skill crystal. I'll need to practice it quite a bit."
"Looking forward to learning it," Blood said as Beth stepped off the stage.
"Put a note in your communicator for a week from now. That's how long the crystal said to wait between uses," Beth said.
"I know, I scanned it," Blood replied, eyes going distant for just a second as she set herself a reminder.
Beth grunted at that and pulled the last item back out from her necklace before giving it a quick examination. It was exactly what the letter had stated, a key that would allow her to set a destination in a long-range teleporter. She wasn't sure exactly how to use it, but she figured it wouldn't be too difficult, and she could always ask one of the seniors how it worked.
They returned to the room for now, making and eating a huge lunch before working on studying for the rest of the day. Sabs returned much later that day, having pushed hard both in training and hunting beasts. She was rather tired, and the two of them went to bed after Sabs ate and showered, though Beth did take a little time to show Sabs a bit of love, which she seemed to appreciate, even tired as she was.
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The next morning, they were up and prepared rather quickly. Beth had no idea what they were in for in pursuing Jaq's request, but it would definitely involve moving about quite a bit. She was also pretty determined to follow through with trying to get a Silver Emblem before anything else, as she had thought before.
Speaking of Jaq, though, that was Beth and Blood's first stop of the day, diverging from Sabs in the hallway as she headed upstairs. The two of them continued down to the shop, entering to find it totally empty. It wasn't a great surprise considering that it was quite early in the day, but it was interesting that very few people were ever in the shop. It couldn't be that the shopkeeper's prickly personality had anything to do with that.
Said disgruntled shopkeeper emerged from the central door with a slightly exasperated frown on his face, stopping at the counter and saying, "What."
Beth made the teleportation chit appear and placed it on the counter before saying, "This is what."
Jaq picked it up with a sigh before looking it over and, surprisingly, rolling his eyes before handing it back to her. "One of his tokens, yes. What of it?"
"So, you know him? Or know of him?" Beth asked.
"Yes…" he replied, drawing out the word. "One of Baelvyr's contemporaries, in power if not actually in coming up together. I know a little about him, as does likely everyone in the Milky Way. He's a bit of an…odd fellow. He has reached, while not the pinnacle of power, certainly a great height, nonetheless. It is rumored by many that he has reached immortality, which is not as shocking as you may find it, but not guaranteed, even at his level of power."