Limitless Path

Beth and Blood returned to the city, finding their way out of the mountains quite quickly thanks to their improved skills. Blood had achieved Gold in Swift shortly after the fight with Veren, and that boost to her speed let her more than keep up with Beth. Even though Beastly Tyrant was a platinum skill, much of its utility was focused on STR and defense boosts. STR still turned into greater speed, but lacked the finesse and control that DEX or a speed-centric skill brought.

"Hope Val and them are making it okay," Beth said as they came within sight of the city.

"Ah, they'll be fine," Blood replied. "What could they encounter on the surface stronger than us?"

"True, true," Beth said with a laugh.

The first thing they did was make their way back to the CRA Hall and their rented room, still having plenty of time left before they would need to renew. Beth was seriously considering looking for some kind of mobile camp or something that was a lot better than their simple tents, and where better to look than a planet that had so much commerce? Regardless, the thing they desperately needed now was to get clean, taking a long hot shower before spending a little time in the bath. Once that was done, Blood insisted on them get a hot meal, something far better than ration bars, before they did anything else.

Now comfortably clean and fed, Beth set out into the city to conduct a little business, noting how busy everywhere was in the late afternoon. She first made her way back to the fifteen-story building she had shopped in the day before, remembering there were two shops that dealt in gems, minerals, and jewelry in that large mall. She also remembered the place had a floor and a half dedicated to bazaar space where people could set up their own stalls and sell anything they wanted, but she had little idea what the gems and minerals she had were worth. That, and she doubted anyone casually browsing the bazaar would be able to afford even a tenth of what she and Blood had managed to acquire. She found the first shop she was looking for rather quickly, and that's where she encountered a problem.

"Ma'am, how can we help you today?" a salesperson asked when she entered.

"I'm actually interested in selling some raw materials. Is that something you guys do here?" Beth asked.

"Certainly, ma'am. Let me see what you have," the shop clerk replied.

"Well, this is just some of it," Beth said, making a hunk of rock filled with gems nearly the size of her torso appear on the counter.

"Ma'am, this…" the shop clerk had very wide eyes, rendered speechless by the amount of mineral wealth Beth had plopped on the counter. She recovered after a handful of moments, saying, "Ma'am, we can't handle a purchase of this size."

"Really?" ask Beth, eyebrow quirking. "You're saying this is too much for you to buy?"

"Yes, ma'am. My apologies," the clerk replied contritely. "We purchase small amounts of raw gems which we cut to order or for inclusion in our pieces, but an amount such as you have is far more than we would normally purchase. And if you have far more than this, well…"

"Well, sorry to ask this, then, but is there someone who could buy this much?" Beth asked then.

"That's not a problem, ma'am. I can actually point you to the firm we use to conduct our wholesale acquisition of gems," the clerk said.

"A firm?" Beth asked.

"Yes, ma'am. We use an interstellar Trading Firm to handle all our resource purchases. Such firms deal in large bulk orders and could easily purchase any and everything you've collected without batting an eye," the clerk explained.

"Well, where can I find this shop?" Beth asked.

"They don't have a shopfront in the market," the clerk answered, shaking her head. "They have their own private location, and normal people aren't allowed entry. You need a recommendation to even get in the door. Fortunately, we happen to be capable of giving a set number of recommendations per year. I can recommend you to the firm, if you so wish?"

"How much?"

"No cost," the clerk replied with a shake of her head. "For having recommended someone in good standing, we get a certain commission from the initial business you bring. Based on the amount of minerals you have shown me already, just this one recommendation could get us a commission worth a month of sales, at least if what you said about having more than what you showed is correct."

"No need to worry there; I have a huge pile of stuff to sell," Beth said with a slight shake of her head.

"One moment," the clerk said excitedly, darting through a door into a back room. She returned a moment later and handed Beth a small token. It was about the length of Beth's thumb which, considering Beth had quite long fingers, made it close to three inches long, an inch and a half wide, and nearly a quarter inch thick. It was made of solid mana platinum; a particularly valuable metal considering its ability to absorb and store mana in dense patterns made it harder than steel. Not only was it good for armor, its ability to absorb, store, and discharge large volumes of mana made it ideal for enchanted jewelry. Just this little token was likely worth dozens of platinum coins, considering its purity, not to mention the small amount of enchantments woven into it. The token had a design resembling a set of hammers embedded in a forge on the front, with a design like six interlinked rings and some words printed on the back.

"Let me give you the location," the clerk said after Beth accepted the token, passing a file to her communicator with the location details for the Trade Firm.

"Thanks a lot. Is there anything I should know before heading over? They're open now, right?" Beth said.

"Yes, of course. They're open at all hours, day and night. The day makes no difference. Just head over and present that token at the reception desk inside the front doors. The token's marked as one of ours, but you can just tell them that Rahn's Jewels sent you if they ask," the clerk explained.

"Thanks," Beth said again with a nod and a small smile before turning and leaving the shop.

She made her way across the capital, not having to go far as the Trade Firm was located at the edge of the city center. What was more impressive was this one institution, despite this certainly not being its headquarters, had a building that covered over half a city block and stretched thirty stories into the air. It was also the sole property of the Seven Lights Trading Firm, as no other signage was present on or around the building and checking the net revealed only Seven Lights listed as occupants at this location. Beth had thought she might be going to a small shop, or maybe some offices that took up one floor of a building, but what she was dealing with here was clearly a beast of a different stripe.

Walking into the large, glass and steel double doors at the front of the building, she found herself in a large lobby. Intricate lights cut from high quality crystal hung overhead while the black and gold marble floor was polished so thoroughly it shone brighter than a mirror at noon, reflecting an eerie inverse of the lobby. There was a single, large counter at the back of the room with three staff waiting behind it while the rest of the space was occupied by seating arrangements. Despite having three staff on hand to see to visitors and guests, Beth was the only other person in the lobby apart from the three. She approached the counter and got a nod from the middle staff person, stopping in front of him.

"This is the Seven Lights Trading Firm, ma'am. Do you have some business with us today?" he asked in a calm, if slightly superior, tone of voice.

"I was given this over at Rahn's Jewels and told to come here," Beth replied, holding out the token to the man.

"Ah, a platinum token? Please hold on for one moment, I will have to contact someone senior to handle this," the man said, suddenly far less smug, giving Beth a small bow and then activating a panel on the desk.

Beth waited a moment, observing that the three desk attendants were still busy working, though she was a little suspicious if they were actually doing anything. After a few minutes, a tall woman with three sets of white, feathery wings walked out from one of the two doors that stood to either side of the counter. She walked up to Beth and gave her a short bow, introducing herself as she straightened up.

"Good afternoon, ma'am. I am Alexandria Invictia, but you may simply call me Alex. If you would follow me, please?" The woman gestured with an arm before leading Beth back down one of the hallways.

Alex led Beth back down the hallway to a section of closed doors that she easily recognized as elevators, and they got in one at the press of a button. Alex pressed the button for the thirtieth floor, and they rode the elevator in silence. They reached the floor in a few seconds and Alex exited first, gesturing for Beth to follow with another small bow. Beth felt a bit awkward with the special treatment after having taken a second to Identify the woman.

Alexandria Invictia, Level 324 Angel Sword Lord

Alex led her to a rather fancy room that had a large, low wooden table in the center made of some kind of very expensive wood with the sides and legs carved in exquisite detail. It was a corner room as well, with both outer walls nothing but glass, giving a very clear, breathtaking view of the city and its surroundings. There were several large chairs in the room around the table, but it wasn't crowded with seats like most conference tables Beth had seen. Alex sat at one of the seats and gestured for Beth to sit across from her.

"I understand you have a platinum token from Rahn's Jewels?" Alex asked softly.

"Yes, right here," Beth said, presenting Alex with the token.

"Indeed," Alex said after accepting the token and verifying it. "This is their token. They only give their yearly platinum token to those who have a large volume of business. Can you tell me what you have for us?"

"I discovered quite a large amount of gems and minerals with my companion on a recent trip underground. I have everything we grabbed of interest with me right now, if you'd like to see?" Beth said.

"Certainly. We use this room to appraise finds and, despite its looks, the table is very sturdy and capable of holding anything you might have to display."

"Alright, let me show you," Beth said, before pulling out everything she and Blood had found underground. Well, not everything, as Blood had held onto all the cores and beast materials she had harvested, but it was still all of the gems and minerals. She did notice the powerful angel's eyes widening as she unveiled piece after piece, with the piece de resistance being the huge sections she had carved out of the hidden cleft that had multiple different types of stones buried within them.

"This is…quite a lot," Alex said, standing and starting to move around and inspect the pieces. "A massive load of deep amethyst, deep topaz, deep citrine, deep ruby…Blood Stars, you even have crystalized mana titanium in here."

"Is that valuable?" Beth asked with a raised eyebrow, unable to stop from chuckling lightly at Alex's slack-jawed expression of surprise.

"Valuable? Valuable?! What you have on the table here represents at least forty diamond coins worth of value, just for the raw materials. It will take months, if not more than a year, but after all of this is processed, it will sell for several mithril coins. This is one of the largest single hauls of deep gems and minerals I've ever seen, and I've been appraising gems for the firm for thirty years now," Alex explained a little breathlessly.

"So…it is valuable," Beth said with a small grin, widening into a big smile at Alex's continued expressions of shock and awe.

"I'm sorry, Miss Elizabeth, but this will take us some time to properly value. If you wouldn't mind leaving it with us, I can get you an accurate assessment of its value by tomorrow morning. I promise you we will take good care of all pieces and guarantee their safety and the value of our assessment," Alex said.

"That's no problem," Beth said with a nod. "I've recorded everything, anyway, so I don't expect anything to go walking off under your care."

"Oh, of course, before you go, let me give you this," Alex said, turning reluctantly from the minerals and handing a token to Beth. It was different from the token she had received from the Jewel shop, as this one was made of a type of gem, likely emerald from the deep green color. It had two different symbols emblazoned on it, both of which had text above and below them. It was the same general size and shape as the token she had previously had, but there was one other key difference. As soon as she picked it up, it asked if she would like to bind with it.

"This is a soulbound item?!" Beth asked incredulously.

"Yes, of course. Only the best for our Emerald Members," Alex replied with a nod and a small smile.

After binding the token, Beth asked, "So, what does being an Emerald Member entail?"

"All members, regardless of rank, have the right to buy directly from the firm, which is something that individuals typically cannot do," Alex explained. "Furthermore, for being an Emerald member, you will receive a ten percent discount on any and all purchases made through the firm. You will also have priority rights in having items analyzed and valued, with us charging the bare minimum evaluation fee, which is one-point-five percent of the total value of goods being assessed.

"Furthermore, our Seven Lights Trading Firm holds monthly and yearly auctions. These auctions are exclusive to members of at least gold rank, and will often contain unbelievably valuable weapons, armor, consumables, elixirs, pills, magic artifacts, recipes, rune diagrams, and so much more. With your status as an Emerald Member, not only can you attend both our monthly and yearly auctions from any branch on any planet where we have a presence, but you are also guaranteed access to one of our third-floor private viewing rooms. Furthermore, you can bring up to six guests with you to the auction, and none of those guests will have to pay a fee or be members of the firm. Finally, last but certainly not least, if you consign items to us to sell during the auction, we only charge Emerald Members a five percent processing fee, which is the lowest fee we charge for consigned items."

"Wow, that's…a lot," Beth replied with widened eyes. "Tell me, Alex, when's the next auction?”

"The next auction is the monthly auction and occurs four days from now," Alex replied quickly.

"So, the day after our meeting with the governor," Beth said with a nod.

"You're meeting the governor?" Alex asked with a quirked brow.

"Well, one of her lackeys, at any rate. We're here to clear up the issue with the trade unions. At least, that's our goal. You wouldn't happen to know anything about that?" Beth said.

"I'm afraid we have little information," Alex replied. "As an interstellar trading firm, our mandate is at a much higher level than what a planetary governor could interfere with. Especially one of such a…well, if you'll forgive me, backwater place."

"Not my homeworld, doesn't bother me," Beth said with a shrug.

"Yes, well, it is still a bit out of turn for me to say," Alex said. "However, I don't know that everything is exactly pristine with this move by the governor's mansion. Sorry, that's just a hunch, we don't have anything concrete the firm could give you on that."

"Well, thanks for explaining, at least. I'll come back over tomorrow morning to check in, yes?" Beth said.

"Of course, of course. Let me escort you downstairs," Alex said, putting word to deed and taking Beth down to the lobby personally. "Please don't worry about anything, we'll take care of all the logistics. We'll have an accurate tally of everything by tomorrow, and you can decide if you want to sell then or wait for the auction."

"No problem. Thanks for all the help," Beth said, giving the woman a dazzling smile before turning and leaving the building. She made her way back to the CRA Hall, satisfied that their gains were being properly evaluated.