"How can we help you?" the woman in the center asked as Beth walked up to the counter.

"We'd like to talk to somebody about acquiring some items," Beth said, pulling out her Seven Lights badge just as the woman was opening her mouth to reply.

"Ah! You're an emerald member! Please, what do you need, ma'am?" the woman immediately exclaimed upon seeing the badge.

"We have a list of items we need to purchase," Beth explained.

"Hold on one moment. I'll get a senior representative right away," the woman at the counter said.

A minute later, a man appeared in the lobby, and Beth meant that literally. He was a tall elf with a kind of armored robe on that prominently displayed the Seven Lights emblem, a circle of seven different circles that surround a triangle and shone a ray into the triangle, which contained a rune that could be translated into Standard as 'dream.' The man took two steps forward and gave Beth and Blood a quick once-over before giving them a slight bow. Beth took a second to return the favor and Identified the man before he spoke.

Azael N'mok, Level 588 Elven Life Guardian

"Greetings," Azael said. "You are the emerald badge holders?"

Beth showed him their Seven Lights badge quickly before replying, "Yes, that's us. We were hoping to discuss purchasing some materials, if you have the time. We'll likely also be attending the monthly auction, but we'd like to try to get this stuff sooner rather than later."

"Of course. Not everything people need or want shows up in a random auction," he replied with a nod, gesturing with his right arm for them to proceed back into the building. He led them to a long stairway that stretched up three floors, the place having quite a grandeur about it. They stopped at the large landing on the second floor and walked down a long hallway before entering a large room that reminded Beth very much of the appraisal room Alex and Selene used, only a bit more ornate.

"Now, what can I do for you?" he asked as he gestured them to be seated.

"We're looking for rebirth materials," Beth explained.

"Ah, yes, a True Perfect rebirth. We do not see so many of those these days," he said calmly. "Show me your lists."

Beth passed him over their lists of items, and he briefly reviewed it before checking what they had in stock. He brought up several screens that were only visible to him and paged through them for a few moments before coming up with a list. He turned to them and asked, "Do you need everything on your lists?"

"We have basically all the beast cores, and I have several of the weapons, though I'll need a couple more," Beth explained.

"Hmm, the beast cores are the easiest," he replied with a slight frown. "The gems will not be particularly difficult, but they will be expensive, considering the volume you need. The hearts will be more problematic, but it is something we can source over the next couple months, if you are willing to pay the price. Finally, we come to the devil essence…which will be very difficult."

"What's the best way to get devil essence?" Beth asked.

"You must either use a special array to extract it from a devil over level two hundred," Azael replied. "Or, kill a devil of over level five hundred."

"Well, we're certainly not doing the second method," Beth replied with a frown of her own.

"The first method is expensive and time consuming," Azael continued. "You need a specialized array, which is not cheap, and they only last so many uses. They also have a very small chance of successful extraction, increased slightly by targeting a higher level devil or by using an even better array."

"Those arrays wouldn't happen to be something you sell, would they?" Beth asked with a slight smirk.

"We have a few in stock, but I will warn you, they are not at all cheap. I believe the last person who asked said something along the lines of 'ruinously expensive,'" he explained.

"We do have money," Beth said, glancing over at Blood. "Despite not really looking it."

"Each devil harvesting array costs two diamond coins. It's likely you will only get two or three essences from one such array," he said.

"Two dozen or maybe more diamond coins, and then we have to do basically all the work ourselves," Beth muttered with a deep frown.

"They sell at a premium," Azael replied. "Which is both good and bad news for you. If you want to directly buy them, it will be quite expensive; however, if you buy a number of arrays and harvest them yourself, any extras you acquire will net you a very tidy profit."

"But how much time would that take? Surely, this isn't something that's quick?" Beth asked, leaning back and crossing her arms.

"Well, that is true. Devils are not a common enemy, and the harvest chances of the arrays are vanishingly low. It could take a couple years for you to gather twenty-five essences in that manner," he acknowledged with a nod.

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"What are the chances of you guys acquiring twenty-five devil essences?" Beth asked.

"Hmm, we will check out connections and trade partners for everything you need. That may take a couple days, but I wouldn't hold out hope of getting all twenty-five. Not any time soon, if you're in a hurry," he answered.

"Well, we don't have too much to do until then," Beth said. "Can I buy two of those devil harvesting arrays for now? I have a location that I know that has some devil spawns that we could try to get an essence from while you're searching."

"Give me just one moment. I already contacted someone to pull them out of storage," he said. "They'll bring two of them up here as soon as they can, I am sure, run here."

"Thanks a bunch," Beth said.

"You're a valued Emerald Member of the firm," Azael replied with a slightly dismissive wave. "I read about what you did and brought in over on Luttraine; we would not want to turn away business from or disappoint such a distinguished partner."

"Well, speaking of distinguished partners, can I ask about the other ranks of membership? How's that for a segue?" Beth asked with a grin as she settled back in her chair.

"Yes, I can explain that quickly for you," Azael started before being interrupted by a knock. "Enter."

A young woman hastily entered, stopping short of the table to give quick bows to everyone in the room before walking over to Azael and handing him two things. She then bowed again, again to everyone in the room, before darting out the door, closing it firmly behind herself. Azael leaned forward and placed the two objects on the table in front of Beth, showing them to be two plates made from some kind of strange green stone. They were about the size of Beth's palm which, considering the size of Beth's hands, made them fairly large. They were also almost two inches thick and covered all over with runes.

"These are the arrays you requested," Azael explained. "To use them, you need to kill the devil, then place the array plate on what is left of the monster, preferably over their heart, and inject mana into it. The runes will light up and glow for a few moments and then either form the essence or flicker out; don't be surprised when your first few hundred activations result in nothing but a light show."

"Four diamonds for the two of them?" Beth asked and, at Azael's nod, produced the coins before making the arrays disappear.

"Now, as for your earlier question," Azael said. "There are, in fact, nine grades of membership for individuals at the Seven Lights firm. The first five follow the traditional tiers, with copper, silver, gold, and so on and so forth. The next stage after diamond is emerald, which is the badge you currently possess, of course. There are, then, three more tiers of membership at our firm after emerald.

"First is sapphire, which you could consider an enhanced version of emerald. You have the same privileges, with a higher priority on sales and purchases, as well as a slightly higher discount on certain fees and transactions. Second is ruby, which is considered our true premium elite membership. Ruby is where you qualify to sit on the fourth floor during auctions and can make special requests of the firm for assistance beyond the trading of goods. Third and last is Dream Gold, the highest of our tiers and the most prestigious of members. There have only ever been four Dream Gold memberships given to individuals, and the last was awarded seven hundred and eighty years ago."

"What, uh, exactly is Dream Gold?" Beth asked tentatively.

"If you research materials and tiers, you will likely encounter a small, sparse bit of information on it," he explained. "How much do you know of the tiers and of mythical metals?"

"Uh, after diamond is mithril, then orichalcum, and finally adamantine. As for different metals and alloys, I am a smith, so I've studied it a little bit, but at the same time, I'm still a Journeyman, so I haven't really had to study any of it. My knowledge is pretty weak, all things considered," Beth replied.

"I see; the basics then. Well, after Adamantine is Neutronium, followed by Black Ruby, and then after that is Dream Gold. They are all real materials, if exceedingly rare, and they are the next three tiers. In the systems of crafting and weapons, they correspond to Legend, Myth, and Sovereign ranks. The rarity of Neutronium, both the skill rank and the material itself, is several times that of Adamantine, which is already extremely rare. Black Ruby and Dream Gold are truly mythical materials and tiers; where the founder got enough Dream Gold to make several emblems, I do not know, nor do I want to ask," Azael explained.

"Well, learned something new today," Beth said. "I'd never heard of any of that before. Do any Ascended typically get to that level, if you know?"

"Hmm, not really," Azael replied, steepling his fingers as he pondered her question. "I have been an Ascended for more than a century now, and I can tell you that I do not believe I will reach Adamantine in any of my skills before reaching the transition between Ascended and Exalted. I would think, from my personal experience and what I know of Ascended in general, that developing to the level of Adamantine is rather rare. To reach Neutronium or Black Ruby as an Ascended would be quite a feat, moreso if one wasn't at the peak of the classification."

"And what about weaponskills at that level?" Beth asked.

"Hmm, one at that the level of Legend could do things that are incomprehensible to us," he replied. "Someone at Myth would be able to kill others with a gesture, their target never understanding what had befallen them. A Sovereign could totally annihilate space and return time to its origin with a single move."

"I don't even know what that means, so I'm definitely impressed," Beth returned with a grin.

"These are things you should ask your current sponsor about," Azael commented calmly. "Though I have heard getting answers about the deeper mysteries from the Lord of Traversal can be a…trying process."

"Yeah, I do need to check in with him at some point," Beth said with a lazy wave, dismissing the thought of her erstwhile patron.

"What else can the firm do for you today?" Azael asked.

Beth could take the hint, saying, "Nothing. You've helped us quite a bit already, and we have to go try our luck with these damn devil array plates now, which I'm sure will take quite a bit of time."

"Would you like me to contact you regardless of your availability?" he asked.

"Yeah, if you could just send us a message," Beth said, shaking his hand, followed by Blood also exchanging information with him with a handshake.

"Let me escort you back out," he said, gesturing for them to go first. He led them back down to the lobby, giving them a shallow, if still respectful, bow before seeing them out the door.

"What now?" Blood asked as they walked across the city.

"Now, we cheat," Beth said.

"What?" Blood asked, not quite catching on at first.

"Let's go back to the room," Beth replied with a back-and-forth waving of her fingertips at her neck, meaning don't speak.

They walked back to the CRA Hall and went down to their room before making sure everything was as secure as it could be. When Beth was satisfied, she explained the plan to Blood. The lupine woman had a couple questions at first, but was game to make the attempts with Beth. They decided to do a trial run right away, Beth opening the gate in the middle of the room, though she was opening the gate and leaving it open an awful lot lately. It also might not be a bad idea for her to take a little break soon as well.

They emerged onto a flat, featureless plain, the knee-high grass stretching away from them in endless waves. They had set the level of the enemies to two hundred and forty, the same as them, as Beth was concerned with setting it much higher. The two hundred and forties would be fine, overall, but there was another major turning point in beast strength at two hundred and fifty, and Beth didn't want to run headfirst into that wall until they had at least one more rebirth under their belts. She also wasn't really concerned about the amount of experience or money the monsters were giving, as they were here to try out something very specific, and they didn't need anything overly strong or fancy. Her only concern was that the level of the enemy being lowered did negatively affect their chances, but she didn't think ten levels was going to make much difference in the grand scheme of things.

She shaded her eyes for a moment and looked out, observing a very familiar monster just a short distance away from them. She couldn't have aspected them to anything but ice, a chilling reminder of the grueling, continuous fight they had had a number of months before. Blood led the way towards the nearest of them, finding its detection range to be fairly far. They engaged with the monster as soon as it focused on them, killing it after a short but brutal fight. They were just as tough as Beth remembered them, especially at the level she had set them to. As soon as it was dead, she pulled out one of the arrays and tried it on the monster, finding it to be just as Azael said. The runes lit up, stayed lit for a handful of seconds, then slowly petered out with nothing else happening.

"Are you sure this will work?" asked Blood, staring at the devil's corpse.

"I don't see why it wouldn't. Azael said it would take hundreds of kills, if not more, to get one. We're just going to have to get to work," Beth replied. She had, of course, set the gate to devils, the same kind as were in the special challenge they had fought through with the group that included Rell and Bjorn. She was hoping that this could be their little cheat method to farm devil essences, which could be a good source of income. Of course, they would still have to spend days or weeks farming each essence, so the efficiency might still be fairly low, but profit was profit.

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