Limitless Path

"A silver?" he asked, voice squeaking just a bit on the end of the word silver. "Isn't that a lot?"

"Nah, I mean, you can clear a simple dungeon like the ones near our family's house once a day and get a silver, and my room is a lot nicer than the cheaper ones, which are still pretty good."

"Hm, still seems pricey," he replied, scratching the side of his head. "Where are we going now?"

"Gonna take the elevator," she said as they came up to the area with the elevator banks, gesturing at the closed double-doors.

"Wait, wait, wait," he replied. "They have elevators? Isn't this place, like, magic and junk?"

"They could be magic elevators," Beth replied with a shrug. "Also, there is technology still, too. It's not all magic and enchantments and stuff. You know that guy that you just sold the stuff to, Jaq?"

"Yeah, the asshole," James replied with a grunt as Beth pressed the call button for the elevator.

"Yeah, he's not really that bad, just gotta get used to it. Also, don't call him that where he can hear you; I'm pretty sure he could wipe out New York with a punch, and I mean the state, not the city," she said as she gestured for James to enter the elevator with them.

"Is he really that strong?" James asked as she pressed the button for the second floor.

"Yeah, definitely. You don't have Identify?" she asked.

"No, I do have Identify. Wouldn't it be rude to use it on people?"

"Nah, not really," she replied. "The people here are strong enough to sense it, but it's not really considered rude. You should try it in a minute when we get to the lounge with the senior members." She led the way out of the elevator only a second after pushing the button for floor two.

"Did that elevator even move?"

"Yeah, they're all like that."

"And it's not magic, it's like a regular elevator system?" he asked.

"I dunno," she said with a shrug as they walked down the second-floor hallway. "There's a bunch of stuff I've seen with both technology and magic in this building alone, so I have no idea. Better to ask somebody like Jaq about that."

"Ask the rude guy about the elevator?"

"Well, he will answer questions," Beth replied with a frown. "And other members will answer questions. Like I was saying, Jaq’s denoted as a cyborg when you use Identify on him, and he’s also an engineer. He offered to make me a single cybernetic boot once. Anyway, you can ask Tazeen stuff-"

"You mean the guy who signed me up?" James interjected.

"Yeah, that's him. He's also super strong and knows a shit ton of stuff. Anyway, we're here," she replied, opening the door to the library and leading the way inside. Blood was still silently padding along in the back, just listening to the two talk.

"Where's this?" James asked, eyeing the room with a slight frown and his eyebrows slightly scrunched.

"It's called a library, James," Beth answered with a chuckle.

"I fucking got that," he huffed in reply.

"I'm giving you a little bit of help here before going any further," Beth answered with a laugh, leading him to the row with mainly crystals of languages and general knowledge. "The rest of the galaxy and even universe uses a language they just call Universal Standard. There's a primer type thing right…here."

She stopped in front of the Universal Standard crystal and picked it up, handing it to James. He looked down at the crystal in his left hand, then back up at her. "Uh, it's a cool crystal?"

"Just press it against your forehead," she replied with a laugh, shaking her head as she grinned at him. "It's not gonna bite. You'll know when it's done."

James gave her a very narrow-eyed frown while weighing the crystal in his hand. After getting nothing from Beth but her continued grin, he sighed and held the crystal up to his forehead. He got the glassy-eyed look that came with absorbing knowledge from one of the crystals, only coming out of it after a minute, blinking as he lowered his left hand before rubbing at his forehead with his right.

"That was…an experience," he said a little hesitantly.

"Don’t use any other crystals in here for a day or so," Beth replied as she grabbed the crystal and placed it back. "Before you're really strong, they stress out your brain. Don't want to fry that walnut with too much info."

"Yeah…" James nodded before sputtering, "Hey, wait!"

Beth had already moved back to the end of the aisle and just lazy waved as he grumbled, signaling him to catch up. She led him back out into the hallway and down to the elevators before taking him down to floor one again and leading him to the lounge. She pushed the far door to the lounge open and led the way inside, James stumbling to a halt at the sight. Whether he was overwhelmed from the opulence on display, or from the people, it was a little hard to say. Beth's sisters and girlfriend were also present, it not being that late but the group seemingly done with their training for the day.

Beth led the way to Baelvyr's table as the other enforcers present got up and circled the wagons. She sat to the side, a few seats down from Baelvyr and to Sabs' left, taking off her gauntlets and letting them thump on the table before grabbing the petite girl's small hand. James just stood to the side a little awkwardly at first before Beth pointed at the seat directly across from Baelvyr and said, authoritatively, "Sit."

Blood was still standing behind James, unnoticed by the young man, and bumped her massive head into his back, which caused him to stumble a step and squeak in a most undignified manner. He recovered himself and straightened his shirt, which had not at all been mussed in the encounter, before striding over to the chair with all the joy of a prisoner on execution day.

"Relax, boy," boomed Baelvyr. "We're not gonna kill ya."

"This another one of your little finds?" asked Lyrissa with a smirk.

"Not one of my finds," Beth answered with a wave of her hand. "We bumped into him some time ago and gave him a little help. He managed to get something worth enough to that robot miser to buy an emblem."

"Right then, how about an introduction?" Lyrissa asked, turning her smirk on James. Beth was able to immediately notice a reddening of his cheeks, not surprised by that reaction to the stunning vampyr.

"R-right," he began hesitantly. "M-my name is, uh, James Gordons, and, uh…I want to train?"

"Need to train some assertiveness first," muttered John to a glare from basically everyone but James. "What? I'm just sayin'."

"Alright, anyway," continued Baelvyr with a rumble in his throat that sounded like a hive of bees the size of horses had gotten loose. "How d'ya fight, boy?"

"Well, I mean, uh, I use a long knife and a sword. I'm not really married to it, I guess…" he trailed off at the end, shrugging.

"This is the most whiffle-waffle answer…" John muttered before everybody else, including even Blood, shot him a look. "Fine, I'll shut up."

"So, uh, what exactly is happening?" James asked.

"Well, I guess we should've explained that," Beth replied with a shrug. "For the first handful of people that come to one of the Halls on a newly integrated planet, the senior members will take some of them as trainees. Basically, one of these people, who are extremely strong and skilled, will teach you how to fight better for a few months, no charge."

"Oh, I see. Does it matter that I don't know what I want to do?"

"Nah, we'll sort ya out," Baelvyr responded. "Ya ever have any kind of fight trainin' before this?"

"Nope," James shot back immediately.

"You ever think about using a shield with your sword?" Elana asked.

"Uh, I guess?" James replied. "I hadn't really thought of it, but it might be better than the knife. I, uh, I'm not real good with the knife, if I'm being honest."

"Ya got a winner, 'cept if anyone else objects," Baelvyr nodded at Elana before panning his gaze across the table. Upon receiving shrugs and shakes of the head in response, he gave Elana a nod before leaning back, saying, "Alright, now piss off my table."

The rest of the enforcers dispersed with chuckles and shakes of the head while Elana practically captured James and dragged him over to her usual table. Beth's sisters stood and turned to move to the far door before noticing they were one short.

"You staying?" Kim asked simply, looking at Sabs.

"Yep," she replied, just as simply.

"Don't have too much fun," Kim responded with a wink.

"Ugh, gross," was Soph's singular, brilliant contribution before the two hustled out, eager to get back home and fight over their shared bathroom.

"Alright ya love birds, when I said 'piss off' a second ago, I meant it," Baelvyr grumbled, waving his hand at the two young humans and wolf still at his table.

"Right, right, I'll check in tomorrow before I go out," Beth replied lazily as she stood, putting her gauntlets in her pouch as she grabbed Sabs' hand and led her to Elana's table.

"And what can we do for you," the dwarf raised an eyebrow as she interrupted the speech she was currently directing at a dazed James.

"I wanna borrow him for a few more minutes before you melt his brain," Beth replied, trying to point with the hand that Sabs was holding before grunting in annoyance and pointing with her left hand.

"Show him where the forge is too," Elana said with a nod.

"Already recruited him to the smithing program?"

"I'll make a proper battle crafter out of both of you afore long, just mark my words," she replied, pulling out a screen to start paging through some kind of document. Beth, meanwhile, grabbed James by a shoulder and picked him up from his chair, setting him on the ground with a thump before motioning him to follow. He fell in alongside Blood as Sabs and Beth led the way out of the lounge room.

"Where the hell are we going now?" James grumbled.

"Before Elana convinces you to spend what silvers you have left on a series of smithing courses, I figured you might want new weapons," Beth replied with a glance back over her shoulder, seeing James slouching along after them.

"Don't get anything for signing up?" he asked a little petulantly.

"Free training from some of the best fighters in the galaxy, practically free use of the basic facilities including the cafeteria, and the ability to practice against any opponent imaginable," she answered with a grunt. "But no, other than that, you don't get anything for signing up."

"OK, OK," he said, holding his hands up, though Beth had already turned back around. "I just thought I might be able to get an introductory sword or something."

"Yeah, if you have the silvers for it," Beth shot back.

"That's so-" he started to reply before stopping, both verbally and physically. Beth and Sabs stopped and glanced over their shoulders in unison, smirking as James took in the arena area for the first time. After a minute of gawping, Blood poked him in the side of the neck with her nose, eliciting a slightly high-pitched squawk in response.

"C'mon," Beth said as she and Sabs resumed walking, cutting across the arena floor and heading under the stands. They made their way to the elevators, Beth working the buttons before they all stepped in.

"So, uh, are you two, like, dating?" asked James, scratching the back of his head while looking towards his toes.

"We are, in fact, girlfriends. And not in the female friends sense, if you see what I mean," Sabs responded, holding their interlocked hands up to demonstrate.

"Right, well, uh, that's cool," James responded a little lamely.

"Got a problem?" Sabs returned, her tone picking up a slight edge.

"No, no, no. It's totally cool. I was just wondering, that's all," he replied, holding his hands up defensively as the elevator's doors swished back open.

"Good," Sabs replied definitively, striding out of the elevator and practically tugging Beth along.

Beth rolled her eyes as they walked down the hall, James and Blood following along. They made their way to the commissary, Beth throwing the door open carelessly before they walk in. She sauntered up to the counter and finally disentangled herself from Sabs, reaching into her pouch to pull out her recent finds, having to set her gauntlets to the side first. As she was fishing items out, the central door slid open silently and Jaq emerged, giving them all a narrow-eyed glare.

"Baelvyr and the others aren't enough? I have to babysit as well?" he asked in his usual deadpan manner.

"Always good to see you, too," Beth replied with a big grin. James had spent a minute wandering the displays, but he moved over to the counter now. Blood was sitting off to the side, and Sabs knelt down by her and started scratching her neck.

"Got some goods for ya," Beth said, doing her best Baelvyr impression. It earned her a raised eyebrow and nothing else from Jaq, so she crossed her arms under her chest and stared him down. With a sigh, he started looking through the items, holding each up to inspect before setting them down and labeling them.

"Mana potion. Not worth my time," Jaq said, setting it down.

"Mana restore? And how effective?" asked Beth as he was already examining the next item.

"Small amount restored. You'll feel like you swallowed acid and get a mild headache," he replied, setting the next item down. "This is an inscribing cube used in enchanting. It's a basic model that would suit an apprentice. I would value it at fifty silvers."

"I'll give it to Soph," she replied, putting the potion and the cube both in her pouch.

"An elixir, of all things," Jaq said with a blink, setting it down before her. "I recommend you use that, but not until you're back in your room."

"Uh, what does it do?" she asked with a slight frown.

"It'll reinforce your body," he replied with a sigh. "You'll likely get a few points of END, depending on what yours is at. The more important changes are that it will reinforce your body by rebuilding your bones and adjusting your blood. That is why it's called an Ironblood Elixir, after all."

"I take it that it hurts?" Beth asked with a sigh.

"Extremely," he replied with a very slight smirk. "It will also cause you to…hrm…sweat some rather noxious substances, as well as a few other minor things I will let you discover. I would recommend sitting in the bath."