Limitless Path

"Well, it seems that my products are again to the customer's satisfaction. If they please you, I would be happy to sell them to an aspiring young member," Jaq commented, seeing that Beth was clearly taken with the armor pieces and sword.

"And how much does this fine service cost?" asked Beth with a raised eyebrow, easily recognizing a conniving sales pitch.

"I would let you have it all for the low, low price of fifty contributions," he responded coolly.

"Uh, what the hell are contributions?" she asked.

"Right, let me explain so he doesn't scam yer shirt off. Ya know we do a lot of work, like enforcement and such? There's a lot more complexity to the whole thing and a lot more we're involved in than most people think. Suffice it to say, the short answer is that the CRA has its own internal system for tracking work. It's a pretty simple points system, called contribution points. Ya earn them for a whole slew of things and can spend or trade them in just as many ways for even more things.

"Since this is literally her first day," Baelvyr rumbled, giving Jaq a glare, "I don't know why someone would expect ya to have any points, let alone fifty of 'em."

"Fine, fine. How about twenty silvers for the lot?" Jaq asked, seemingly undisturbed by the massive ogre's glower.

"Uh, I don't have that much," Beth replied sheepishly. "Can I just get the sword maybe?"

"Here, I won't get it for ya, but there's ten silver. If I remember right, ya had more than ten on ya. Even after he scammed you fer fixin' that communicator, ya should have at least ten," Baelvyr said, ten silver just appearing on the counter. "Think of it like a first day introduction present."

"Well, I mean, thank you. Thank you very much," Beth replied, taking out ten of her remaining eleven silver and putting them on the counter. Jaq took all twenty without missing a beat, the silver gone faster than Beth could process.

"It was a pleasure, I'm sure. Is there anything you need, you uncultured brick-brain?" Jaq said, glancing at Baelvyr.

"Nope, go back to yer tinker toys," Baelvyr replied before turning and heading for the door, motioning for Beth and Blood to follow.

"Hmph," Jaq responded, moving back to the center door before disappearing from sight.

Beth followed her mentor back to the elevators, returning again to the ground floor of the arena area. They walked back to the waiting room, only the dwarven lady still present. Beth quickly used an Identify on her.

Elana Ironarm, Level 220 Dwarven Holy Shield-Wall.

Baelvyr resumed his usual seat, Beth sitting a little to his right, so her back was against a wall. She turned to him once he was settled, asking, "Is everyone here over level 200?"

"Hah, most of 'em. You gotta remember that's a little deceiving," Baelvyr responded, both hands resting atop his massive gut. "Ya know about rebirths and all that, girlie?"

"Ah, I’ve heard people mention it before, but I don’t really know too much. I only know it involves there being some kind of maximum level, correct?" she responded with a question of her own.

"Yeah, yeah. So, here's how it happens; most people will level up to a minimum level, where they'll unlock the ability to rebirth as well as their Presence."

"Presence?" Beth interjected.

"Now keep your pants on, girlie. I'm gettin' to it," he replied. "After unlocking this, you have a choice. Like I said, this is a minimum level to rebirth, which implies a maximum, right? So ya can basically rebirth at any time, but ya can also keep leveling up. There are three stages of rebirth, and they correspond to how much work yer willin' to level and work.

"The first stage starts as soon as you hit the minimum and goes till right before the maximum. This is just called a Rebirth," as he listed them out, Baelvyr began ticking the three off on his fingers. "This is followed by hitting max level. For anybody that does this, they can now undergo a True Rebirth. The main difference in these first two is that the True Rebirth lets ya keep more stats.

"Think of this; when ya hit level one hundred, ya can rebirth and keep ten percent of yer stats. If yer gettin' six points per level, plus some for when ya started, cuz you don't start with zero stats, ya got like six hundred something points at level one hundred. If ya keep ten percent of that, ya keep sixty points. Now, this is important, this is additive. Meanin', yer stats go back to base, just for example, ten in each of the five. Then those sixty points are added into them."

"So, wait, you're saying after a rebirth I'd have over a HUNDRED points?!" Beth exclaimed in shock, the dwarven paladin just shaking her head bemusedly at her continued outbursts in the room. "Sorry," Beth said to her.

"Don't mind me, girl. Takes more than ol' Bael telling you tall tales to bother me," she responded, eliciting a snort out of Baelvyr that sounded like a whole truckload of phone books getting torn in half.

"Anyways, yeah, girlie. That's why levels can be deceiving when yer startin' out. Ya can't see people's rebirths yet, though most species start with a max level of two-hundred, and it's increased twenty levels for every rebirth until they get to Enlightenment, which is ten rebirths," he continued explaining.

"So, like, Jaq showed as level two hundred and ninety-nine for me. That means he's done at least five rebirths, right?" Beth asked.

"Yeah, though I know for a fact he's done more. For now, ya don't really have to worry too much about all that, yer not gonna have to face off against other Wayfarers with a lot of rebirths for a while. Back to what I was sayin' though; just think about hitting level two hundred. If yer getting six points a level, that means ya'd be at one thousand, two hundred and fifty with our example fifty startin' points. Just keeping ten percent of that means carrying over one hundred and twenty-five points, plus your fifty starting. Ya'd be at one hundred and seventy-five points at level one, or thirty-five points in each stat with an even spread."

"So, it really, really pays to get to max level?" Beth asked, tapping her chin now.

"Ya, that it does. But it's hard, girlie, really damn hard. Every level over one hundred takes a huge amount of experience, meaning ya gotta fight tons of super strong beasts or monsters to get just one level. Most people just decide it ain't worth it, keepin' ten percent of the stats ya have at level one hundred or so is just fine for 'em. Now, if ya persist, a True Rebirth is way, way better, cuz ya keep even more. For most species it's fifteen percent, not ten, during a True Rebirth. Meaning that hundred-twenty-five from earlier becomes a hundred and eighty-seven."

"So, somebody who goes to level two hundred their first time before rebirth would have…let me check," Beth said, looking at her stat page, "three times as many points at level one as I have at level nine?!" It was a pretty jaw-dropping difference.

"Yeah, now yer seein' some of the complexity of the Path. It's one of the reasons it can be hard to judge people's strength, combined with all kinds of skills and abilities of all kinds of levels and types. Ya get a lot better at gettin' a feel for others if ya spend some time in the arena dueling people, but it's still tough," Baelvyr nodded at her, patting his gut with his left hand as he continued her education.

"So how am I supposed to deal with high level people if I run into them right now?" she asked him worriedly.

"Well, that's where ya get a break for a while. The only high rebirth people that should be here now are people from the different CRA Halls scattered around, and we're all thoroughly checked. People can get copper and even silver emblems without too much trouble, but once ya get to gold things change. The people with gold emblems are pretty reliable and trustworthy, and anybody that's got a platinum or better is a truly reliable and honorable person. Ya only got gold's and up here on yer world for now," Baelvyr explained.

"So, ya have a bunch of reliable members here across a decent number of CRA Halls. And what's the point of all that?" he asked.

"Probably a couple reasons," Beth replied, starting to tap her chin. "I imagine it's for our protection, but also for things like scouting talented people to join early."

"Basically right," Baelvyr replied. "Pretty much anybody can come to your world right now. That don't mean just anyone will. Ya see, anybody who's really strong or has really strong backing wouldn't really care at all about a newly integrated world. And conversely, someone really weak or with no backin' would have a tough time even gettin' here."

"And when they got here, you and the rest would be here waiting," Beth finished out the thought.

"Yeah, exactly," Baelvyr agreed with a nod.

"How long would a trip like that take though?" Beth asked. "Unless somebody has access to crazy FTL or something, their grandkids would die of old age before they got here."

"Nah, it don't really work like that, girlie. You keep leveling and rebirthing, you'll live hundreds and hundreds of years, easily. Ya can become immortal eventually, though nobody even among the senior members here is that strong yet," Baelvyr dropped yet another bombshell on her casually, like tossing out a silver to a beggar.

"Immortality…" Beth replied, her gaze becoming somewhat distant, the topic of invaders forgotten for now. "I never really thought about it all that much."

"Ya, just stay focused for now. Each time you rebirth, it'll add decades to your life. Getting to Enlightenment adds a few centuries, and just getting to Ascendency, at twenty rebirths, will add another millennium. Of course, there are a lot longer lived species out there that get even more time, like dragons. Even without startin' down the journey of the Path, they live for centuries or more. Even an Enlightenment level dragon can live for many, many millenniums," he continued.

"So, wait, can we go back? Let's put all that living forever stuff aside; that's just a pipe dream. What about the third rebirth type?" she asked him.

"Oh yeah, forgot to get to that. So, the third type happens when ya get to max level. This is just as much as a pain in the ass as gettin' to max level, but it provides just as much benefit. When ya get to max level, you basically get a quest to gather certain items and artifacts. I call it a quest cuz that's what it is, it shows up in the status screen and all. If ya can fulfill all the requirements, ya undergo what's called a True Perfect Rebirth. Yer still at max level when ya start it, it just gives ya a bigger benefit. What that is varies by species and sometimes even person, but it's always good.

"For example, an ogre like me might get an extra ten percent in STR or more. Imagine gettin' to two hundred the first time and having dumped a ton into STR. Ya might have four hundred or five hundred STR. And now ya keep twenty-five percent? Ya could have the same or more STR as somebody who spread their points evenly at two hundred when yer level one again. Pretty scary thought," he ruminated, giving his stomach a heavy thump.

"So, OK, wait. There could be somebody who shows up as level one who's only undergone a couple rebirths who has, like, four hundred STR or something?" she asked, trying to figure out the math.

"Yeah, somethin' like that. Ya learn quick not to make too many assumptions about people, might just be that scrawny whelp yer lookin' down on could vaporize the city yer in with a couple punches. Never assume," he said, his tone a little more serious now.

"Damn," said Beth, "That's a lot to process. Be careful of everybody. What about that other thing you said, you get a present or something?"

"Ah yeah, should probably go over that too, then I think we've had enough explanations for the day. That's a Presence, by the way, not ya bein' given a gift. It's like a symbol ya get, somethin' that's infused with yer soul. Ya can manifest it with a little effort, and when ya do it makes ya stronger. It also gives a lot of information away about ya; or, well, it can. Presence's manifestations make ya stronger, but they also have symbols on them showing how many rebirths ya've had. I hear tell all the time of some secret knack to get it to show less than what ya have, but it's a known rule that ya can't get it to show more.

"No rebirth yet? No symbols on the Presence. Can't make it show some when you haven't done any yet. Two rebirths? Two symbols that show up. And before ya ask, no, I ain't gonna show ya mine. That is something that's considered rude, asking people about their Presence, so reign in yer curiosity on that one," he explained, giving her a little warning glare at the end.

"Hey, I get it, don't need to tell me stuff twice," Beth said, holding her hands up in surrender at his glare.

"That trainin' earlier tells a little different tale," he muttered in a rumble like thunder before continuing.

"Now, ya gotta get movin' or ya gonna stay here?" he asked her as a massive tankard appeared in his hand from nowhere.

"Uh, I think I'll go home today. I'll come back over tomorrow if I can," Beth replied, standing up, causing Blood to stand as well.

"Don't let me stop ya, girlie. Head out the far door and take a right, that'll get ya back to the lobby. Should spend some time just wanderin' around the Hall in the coming days; get used to the place," he replied, indicating the far door with his tankard.

"Thanks, Baelvyr. For everything. I really appreciate it," she said, giving him a nod, to which he hoisted the tankard in turn before taking a massive swig.

Beth began retracing her steps, not too complicated since it had been almost a straight walk back from the reception desk to the waiting room with the instructors in. She emerged a minute or so later from the door to see a new person standing at the counter, Tazeen and Lyrissa both looking at him. Lyrissa wore something that looked like a mix of a puzzled and exasperated face, while Tazeen remained entirely stoic and unperturbed.