Limitless Path

The two woke the next morning without any need for an alarm, going through their daily tasks before gearing up and heading out. They made their way to the lounge, meeting up with Beth's sisters as they got ready to head back and check the ant and wolf dungeons. Beth stopped by the center table and let John and Navere know that they would be back later for training, the two acknowledging the comment with nods.

The group moved out through the lobby, finding both Tazeen and Lyrissa at the desk. Beth repeated the message to Rissa so she would know to expect Soph later before following the others out the front doors. They turned northward, heading back to the development in the early morning light. They spent only a few minutes on the trip, arriving while it was still quite early.

They didn't bother entering the neighborhood, instead turning back to the south to cross the field towards the wolves. They encountered one group of wolves, Beth noting that there was a level one in a group that was otherwise composed of level eight-plus beasts. The girls dispatched the beasts with some grace, the wolves dead in but a second. They entered the Breeding Ground otherwise unchallenged, moving towards the first clearing at a jog.

They tore through the dungeon at great speed, finding that there was another ring of rooms adding another layer of depth to the dungeon. It was also starting to be more complex as, while the rooms were still arranged in rings, the rooms had more complex interconnections. Trails twisted and meandered, not necessarily leading to the 'next' room in the ring, but sometimes moving forward or backward through the dungeon.

The levels, too, were greater than they had experienced. The rest of the group had cleared the two dungeons much more recently, so they were less surprised at the numbers, but Beth was a little to startled to see all the wolves into the double digits. The lowest were at around level twelve in the outer ring, while the boss had hit level nineteen. In just a little more time the boss would cross the next minor threshold in strength at level twenty, making the dungeon even more dangerous.

Despite the danger that the dungeon would pose to other, less well trained and leveled people, Beth's group had the skills and strength to make the clear almost a joke. They remained serious during the fights, but they cleared the whole dungeon with only two very minor scratches spread across the whole team. Beth was interested to see that she and Blood didn't get a silver coin for participating, while the others still noted they got the standard reward. She would have to ask Tazeen when they made it back to the Hall, as it would be nice if there was a known level difference where rewards stopped.

They left the dungeon at a jog, making their way up to the ant dungeon at a fair clip. Beth found much the same here, with the ants all being of a higher level and the dungeon itself having grown more complex in its internal layout. The princess was in the high teens as well, and they found that Beth and Blood also did not receive any rewards when the dungeon was completed. Beth waved it off with a shrug, not particularly concerned with the lack of rewards. She figured that she had at bare minimum one more good run of the labyrinth and, if it dropped things just as valuable but not as useful for her, she could make quite a few coins. Hell, if the dungeon grew in level as all others still were, she might get several runs out of it before she managed to out-level it.

The whole group returned to the CRA Hall, the rest heading back to the lounge alongside Lyrissa as Beth stopped at the front desk. Tazeen gave her a nod before very slightly cocking a single immaculate eyebrow.

"Is there something I can help you with today?" he asked.

"Two things for now," Beth replied with a nod.

"Go ahead."

"Number one: what's the level difference where you no longer get rewards from a dungeon?"

"Well, that can vary," he answered with a small frown. "In general, at lower levels, you need to be within no more than twenty levels to receive a reward. There are other times where it can be even lower; fifteen levels is another commonly seen gap."

"OK, because Blood and I are now more than twenty levels over the dungeons by our house and they didn't give us any rewards this morning when we were there during the clear."

"Understandable," Tazeen said ambivalently. "And the second question?"

"Can you give me a little more concrete information on what I'll need to do to get a Silver Emblem?" she asked with a bit of a grin.

"You've shown to be reliable enough in your attendance at the Hall and efforts to train and patrol that I would be comfortable letting you know the full requirements," he replied. "Firstly, you will not be considered for Silver until you hit level one hundred for the first time. You will understand more once you reach that point.

"Next, you will need to complete three Silver-level missions before you can be upgraded." Tazeen paused as Beth held up her hand. "Yes?"

"What are 'Silver-level missions?'" she asked with a raised brow.

"Copper Emblems do not get assigned missions," he began to explain. "As I have told you previously, a Copper-level rank is considered more an apprentice member that has a few basic accesses, and most simply get that emblem to be allowed to participate in most of the Ladders.

"Once you obtain a Silver Emblem, while there are still not necessarily hard requirements for things you must do, you will be able to begin taking missions certified by the Association. These missions are categorized by both emblem level and a difficulty rating, and you will eventually be required to complete so many missions per year or to perform so much service per year. That will not, however, be until you acquire a Gold Emblem at the least."

"Are missions restricted solely to your emblem level?" Beth interjected.

"No, but you may only take missions of a single rank above you at up to a maximum difficulty threshold without special permission from a senior member or Hall Master."

"Thanks," Beth replied. "But I think I interrupted your explanation."

"It is no bother," he said stoically. "To continue, the final requirement is a test. While the requirements will become more numerous and more complex, the last requirement is a review and test by a panel of more senior Enforcers. They will make a review of the other requirements, making sure that they have all been completed, before administering a test. For Silver and Gold levels, these tests are standardized, but from Platinum level on, there are more complex and stringent requirements for the tests that cause them to vary.

"The test you will need to pass will involve a written test that consists of one hundred questions followed by a combat test. The questions are pulled from a larger pool of questions updated every so many years, and there are many study materials that you can find for such tests. The combat test will be to defeat a certain number of enemies in simulated combat, or hold out for a specific amount of time against a single much superior enemy. You can find some information in the library about the Silver and Gold combat tests, it is usually included with the study materials for the written test."

"Do you have any of the names of the books I should study?" Beth asked, quirking a brow.

"I will give you a list," he replied calmly, making a piece of paper and pen appear with a twist of his wrist. He proceeded to write nearly a dozen lines on the paper in Universal Standard before handing it to Beth. "I have written a number of books on here for you to study. The last two items are links to places on the Outernet where you can find resources that will be helpful not just for our emblem tests, but for your life in general as a Wayfarer."

Beth took the list and read through it carefully, committing it to her enhanced memory before pocketing it in her belt pouch. She would hang on to it, but her much clearer memory meant she could memorize the list and only need it as a fallback. She said to Tazeen, "Thanks for the explanations and the list, Tazeen. I'm going to try to find Baelvyr to get some training in."

"He should still be in the first-floor member's lounge at present."

"Is that what it's called?" she asked with a small smirk.

"Indeed. When there is both a main building and an arena, we refer to member lounges in the main building by floor. We refer to the lounges in the arena sections by their room number. At least, that is how it is typically done," he explained.

"Thanks, Tazeen," she replied to him with a genuine smile, waving over her shoulder as she walked away into the hall leading back to the lounge.

She entered the lounge to find it almost empty, the rest of the group having disappeared to their own training. Even Elana was absent, likely in the forge with her own apprentice. It was only Baelvyr at the table he had claimed as his own, with Blood sitting to the side and watching one of the screens. Baelvyr was deep in his cups, drinking from a massive tankard, though Beth had never seen him even tipsy. She sat at his table, receiving a nod from him as he continued to drink.

"I think it's time for some training," she said to him as he set his tankard down.

"Finally," he grunted. "I'll walk ya through what ya need to know for Journeymen."

"What about making it to Expert?"

"Let's just focus on not choppin' yer own feet off still," he grumbled as the mug disappeared. "I'm gonna walk ya through some finer points for swords and fists. I ain't some kind of crazy expert with those two, separately or together, but I know enough to make yer fundamentals really solid."

"Well, I'm ready whenever," she replied, waving a hand. Baelvyr stood and motioned her to follow as he left the room.

"Still fixin' yer gauntlets?" he asked.

"A work in progress. Lot of work, not a lot of progress."

"Ain't gotta rush shit," he rumbled as they headed to the elevators.

They made their way down to their usual training room, Baelvyr having her take a standard training sword and leave her own armor on. Beth dumped her pack with her own blade in the corner before getting on the platform with the practice blade. Baelvyr himself stepped up across from her, the massive, blackened blade he had used previously appearing in his hand again. Beth would have described it as blackened steel, but she was almost positive it was made of some other, much denser and stronger metal.

"Alright," Baelvyr started, "here's what we're gonna do. We're goin' slow today and gonna cover strikes and counterstrikes with the sword. I'm gonna walk ya through everything one by one, then we'll do a little practice at the end."

"OK, I'm ready," Beth replied, taking her stance.

They spent the whole day practicing sword forms, Baelvyr walking her through several more complex movements with her sword. One of these included countering a strike and running her own blade down the length of the opponent's before ending with a chop to their arm. Not something that would be particularly effective against an armored opponent, but the movement wasn't something Beth had even thought of before. She also practiced some redirects and other movements to counter standard strikes that others would use against her.

They finished with some light sparring, Baelvyr coaching during the exchanges. She wasn't able to keep up with all of his movements but, on the other hand, even moving slow he was still a Grandmaster-level swordsman, so it wasn't really a surprise that she was totally outclassed. She felt the improvement from the day's coaching, though she didn't gain a level from it. There was perhaps an effect that the more you knew, the more you had to learn and the more you could learn. The better her foundation was in a skill, the more she felt she learned whenever a skilled teacher gave her instruction.

"I feel a little bad leaving Blood out. Can we include her in more practice?" she asked as they cleaned the room up.

"Best to leave her mostly to her instincts," he replied. "For now."

"What does that mean?"

"Get to level one hundred and ya'll see. Best to do it in the same place, at the same time, if ya can manage that."

"I don't really like all the mystery around level one hundred people seem to have," she replied with a deep frown.

"Ya can look it up if'n ya want, but it's better for ya to experience it yerself and then get some trainin' on it."

"Well, we'll see," she replied non-committally. "Should we be pushing for that right now? Tazeen told me that we need to hit it to get a Silver Emblem."

"To be young again," he grumbled. "Ya got time. Lots'a time. Don't gotta rush it. Still some stuff ya can do before the first time ya hit a hundred."

"I guess so. I just like getting stronger. Though, my weaponskills getting much better has definitely increased my strength."

"Yeah, it's what I been tellin' ya."

"Yeah, yeah. You're always right, I get it."

"Glad I never had kids," Baelvyr rumbled in response as he left the room, Beth guessing that that was supposed to be under his breath, even though she could hear him from the hallway as he said it.

The girl and the wolf returned to their room in the bowels of the CRA Hall, finding it empty when they entered. Now that Sabs had her own key she was free to enter and join them at her leisure, so Beth moved with her companion into the bathroom to clean up. Blood sniffed at the shower stall after Beth entered and turned away, apparently deciding spending the day watching in an air conditioned room didn't necessitate a bath.

Beth finished fairly quickly, not luxuriating in the hot water today, before drying off and heading out through the main room wearing only a towel. Sabs walked out of the kitchen as Beth crossed the room and stumbled upon seeing the tall girl lacking any clothes, and Beth took and extra two steps and easily caught her girlfriend. She stole a quick kiss on the cheek before darting into the bedroom, laughing at the squealed "Beth!" behind her.

Once she had some underwear on, she joined Sabs and Blood in the living room for some dinner. Beth insisted on cleaning up after they were done eating before sitting on the couch and pulling Sabs into her lap. The two spent a couple hours watching some shows on the projector in the living room before retiring to the bedroom for the handful of hours of sleep they needed to be fully refreshed.

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Beth spent the next day training with Baelvyr starting from the very beginning of the day. The other girls cleared the dungeons by their neighborhood first before coming back and training with their instructors. They were waiting a few days before heading back to the kobold area, as it seemed the kobolds outside the dungeons respawned a little slower than what the beasts inside the open dungeons did.

Beth couldn't stop overworking, it seemed, as she headed down to the forge after spending until late afternoon training her weapons. She worked on her gauntlets some more before changing over and working on some of the simpler components that Elana had shown her, including the hinges. She was spent after several hours, shutting everything down and cleaning up before heading back to the room and cleaning off. She heated something up as Sabs had already eaten and fed Blood before joining her girlfriend in bed.

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