It wasn't really a problem, so she just squeezed a bit tighter and enjoyed the sensations, including several quite soft sensations pressing against her torso. It took almost an hour for the other two to stir, though Beth suspected a bit of foul play. There was no way two Ascended needed so many hours of sleep, hours and hours more than her, an Awoken. The two did stir, however, and lavished her with more attention when they awoke. Beth enjoyed a leisurely morning with them, including enjoying Alex's cooking, before she left for home.

She found Blood and Sera in their suite in 'their' CRA Hall, lounging around and doing a lot of nothing, or so it appeared. Neph was still in the gate, which was open in the middle of the room, and Blood looked like she was sleeping while Sera was watching the wallscreen. Beth tossed herself through the air, slapping down into Sera's lap with a meaty smacking sound. Sera's arms immediately twined around her, followed by the dragon girl's very long tail, the tall woman leaning down and burying her face in Beth's hair.

"You smell nice," Sera commented.

"Selene and Alex have very nice shampoo," Beth replied with a small giggle.

"You should take me next time," Sera said, kissing Beth's ear to show it wasn't a reprimand.

"Absolutely," Beth said. "I'm still sorta feeling out this whole thing, ya know? But both Selene and Alex are really accommodating, and there aren't any problems or anything. Alex said she was disappointed you weren't there this time, so I think we're all good. Still don't know their story, though."

"Selene is very powerful," Sera muttered. "It's hard to judge, with how weak we still are, but she is almost too strong for an Ascended. She seems like one of those one-in-a-million geniuses like Tazeen or someone. I would bet she could fight evenly with an Exalted, even a strong one like Laselle, even though she hasn't done her fiftieth rebirth yet."

"They said they'd tell me about it later on," Beth said with a small shrug. "I'm sure we'll eventually learn who they really are. It just takes time."

"Well, you've made some very good inroads," Sera said with a throaty chuckle.

"I don't mean to abandon you or anything, just so I say it," Beth said, leaning back and firmly kissing Sera on the lips.

"I'm not the jealous type, my love," Sera said with another small chuckle, squeezing Beth tight and kissing her again, more passionately this time.

"How's Neph doing? Progressing alright?" Beth asked the next time they came up for air.

"She's leveling quickly," Sera replied with a grin. "It doesn't strain you to leave the gate like that, though? You were a quarter of the way across the galaxy…"

"Nope, didn't feel it," Beth answered, shrugging. "Everything felt normal. Well, as normal as they could feel, you know, based on…"

"Based on the fun times you were having," Sera laughed, giving Beth another quick kiss.

"How long do you think it'll be for her to hit two hundred?" Beth asked.

"Well, based on her speed, and access to your gate, it'll be at least a few weeks, but likely more than a month of objective time," Sera said with a slight shake of her head. "And that's a little on the optimistic side, that guess. It might take her a bit longer. You also have to remember other people enjoy taking longer breaks than you, my dear, so it could be even longer."

"Oh, I get it, but that gives us some time to work on our immediate priority," Beth said.

"Which is…?" Sera prompted.

"Well, for Blood and me, we have to go through this kinda tedious process for the combined resistances," Beth said. "Then, our next goal is rebirth five, I think. Unless I'm forgetting something."

"I don't think so," Sera said. "I think we got everything covered. You did give the flower to Kris, right?"

"Oh, fuck, the flower," Beth cursed, quickly pulling up a menu on her communicator. "Hold on. Just a second."

It had only been a day and that hadn't been long enough for Kris to get tied down with anything, as she was back in their suite in a few minutes. The tall phoenix did blush rather a bit of the state of dress, or undress, that the occupants were in, but she also didn't seem bothered by it. If anything, she was rather appreciative of the sights, if her expression and body language were anything to go on.

"B-Beth," Kris said after she was let into the suite. "You said you h-had something?"

"Yeah, sorry, totally forgot," Beth said. "Also, I can make them dress if it bothers you."

"N-no, it's, uh, nice, actually," Kris said, shuffling a bit and looking down.

"Come on," Beth said with a grin, pulling the tall woman over to the couch and setting her down in between Sera and Blood, the latter of whom was sprawled out fully on her stomach.

"So, what-" Kris started.

"This," Beth interrupted, making the orchid appear and tossing it to her.

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"Whoa, th-this is…ohmygodwhat-" Kris said, holding the flower and staring at it.

Blood reached up lightning quick and pressed a finger over Kris's lips. "Take it down a notch."

"Oh, r-right, sorry," Kris said, taking a deep breath and calming down. At least, calming down a bit compared to her having just been totally freaking out. "S-so, how much do you w-want for this?"

"Uh, nothing? You can have it," Beth said with a shrug.

"N-no way! It's way too valuable!" Kris insisted.

"Kris. Put it in your storage power," Sera said firmly.

"O-okay," Kris said, staring at the flower for a few moments before putting it away.

"You need help finding somebody for that?" Beth asked, looking at the blushing woman while quirking one eyebrow.

"No, I can get someone from my, uh, c-clan to do it," Kris said quietly.

"You don't always have to be so nervous," Sera said with a light laugh, reaching over and stroking Kris's head.

"S-sorry, I just, uh, am not really good with, uh, people that much," Kris stammered. "And I, uh, c-can't really speak so well. My, uh, tongue always winds up all t-tied up."

"I think it's kinda cute," Beth said, patting the phoenix on the knee.

"Y-you're very c-c-cute," Kris hastily returned before covering her face.

"Well, thanks, but you're more than cute Kris. And don't let Bjorn give you too hard of a time, he's a real blockhead," Beth said.

"H-he's not bad," Kris replied firmly. "We, uh, really get along well."

"So, we're kinda in a holding pattern and you're welcome to stay," Beth said. "Or go back to whatever you were doing. Sorry, I was gonna give you the flower when we were all together and forgot, but I thought it was important enough to call."

"Th-that's alright," Kris said, leaning over and hugging her. "I'm really glad that you th-thought of me."

"It's what friends should do," Beth said warmly, hugging the phoenix back.

"Th-thanks," Kris said again before standing up. "But I have stuff to do, so I have to go. A-and I need to take care of the flower. S-sorry."

"It's no problem. You're always welcome, Kris," Beth said, standing from Sera's lap and escorting Kris to the door. "Come by any time."

"I will. I-it was nice, seeing your home. Thanks," Kris said, making to step out the door. She stopped herself and turned, leaning down a little and giving Beth a quick kiss on the cheek before turning and darting out of the suite.

"You're such a player," Sera said from the couch in a joking tone.

"I'm really not," Beth said with a small laugh, returning to her lap. "I might keep my options a little open, but if I were with someone else, I wouldn't even think about anyone else."

"So, you're saying I'm not enough for you?" Sera teased, nipping at one of Beth's ears with her fangs.

"You know that's not it," Beth said laughing. "You're the one who's practically picking me up and tossing me at other women."

"Well, that's true," Sera admitted, nuzzling against Beth's neck. "You really do have to take me to Selene's place next time."

"Yeah, sorry, I am kinda dense. I just didn't think it would really turn into that, especially with Alex back," Beth said.

"You're dumb, but you're honestly dumb," Sera said, caressing Beth while talking.

"Thanks, I think?" Beth replied, giving Sera a little glare over her shoulder.

"Any time, my love," Sera said, kissing her firmly on the lips.

Days passed, as Neph leveled. Sera and Beth found some time to work on that absolutely massive stock of, well, stock that they had. Hammering away at some mana copper and mana steel not only occupied some time, it got them each a profession level in the process. Blood continued to pretend to be one of the couch cushions, an admirable act, though Beth knew the wolf was almost always putting on a front. Neph popped out after a couple days, which would have been a few weeks to her, taking a long rest in the suite. While it wasn't totally efficient, their suite in the main building was far more comfortable than resting in the portal, giving her a good break. She was slowly working through the levels, and Beth and the rest were content to wait for a bit. Mortaine's business wasn't pressing, the titans and giants weren't going to suddenly get discovered after tens of millennia, and their business with Liveria and her missing wife wasn't anything they could progress on for quite a few years.

Neph was back at it and so were they, in a sense, as Beth continued her studies as well as worked on the combined resistances. She and Blood were both ready to undergo the process of merging their resistances, it would just take some time and effort. They had to train all of the resistances they currently had to the peak of Silver, which took a bit of time, even using the gate power to help. After they had trained the resistances, they had to then undergo the skill merge ceremony, which was a tedious pain in the butt, but they had all the materials for it, it was just about getting it done.

Time passed and a few weeks went by, objective time. They had finished their skill merge ceremonies, and now Neph was approaching level two hundred. Beth felt it was a good idea to keep an eye on her, as the first time or even two through the levels, a person's strength was going to be lacking once they hit that level one-fifty mark and up. They had one of them keeping an eye on Neph for the last week and a half of objective time, which did technically cause a very small experience loss, but they also technically had infinite experience at their fingertips with Beth's gate. A little loss to keep someone safe while using the gate was more than acceptable.

When it was finally time for Neph to undergo her rebirth, they then had to worry about getting all the materials for the True Rebirth. Beth and the others had gone over rebirths with Neph, mainly just focused on how they were pushing to always do True Rebirths every time, and the young bee monarch had agreed. Beth was able to secure what Neph needed quite easily, despite the rarity of one of the items, thanks to certain connections. She also hurried back this time, letting Neph undergo the rebirth right away.

What followed was a bit of time of just letting Neph farm, but the others would be joining her soon. They let Neph get to level one hundred ten or so before they joined in, the other three heading way out into the depths of the gate to find something to fight. Beth did have the gate set to the lowest setting she could for now, which was level one hundred fifty, meaning Neph had some hard fights for a few days while she cleared around the gate. At the same time, the other three had to really book it for quite a while to make it to somewhere that they could fight up-level.

They had thirty levels to go, which didn't sound like a whole lot, but levels in the two hundreds were slow, even fighting higher level beasts. Days turned into weeks as they leveled, eventually stopping for a bit to rest in the suite and reset the gate. That let Neph get a bit more fighting in, as she had had to stop after just a few days, as the enemies were too high-level and she wasn't able to level fast enough to keep up with just what was near the gate. It was the same this time, Neph leveling for a couple days before heading out into the suite to rest and practice a bit of alchemy.

It took a month or more of objective time, but the others had finally hit level two hundred and eighty, ready to do their next rebirth. They would need a copious amount of very high-rank and expensive materials, procuring which would take even Selene and Seven Lights quite a bit of time. That was just perfect for Beth, however, as she had some studying to do in the meantime. She really wanted to finish looking up some things on Mana Physiques while they waited, though her research of the past couple years had progressed very far. She had also been inspired by some of the memories of Liveria, accessing just a bit of the information to learn a bit about what Liveria had understood of Mana Physiques.

When they finally got all the materials, Sera brought up a point to Beth, saying, "We need somewhere to do this rebirth."

"Yeah, it's called a training room," Beth replied with an underwhelmed expression on her face.

"This rebirth is gonna be special," Sera responded. "We need somewhere better isolated and more secure."

"Okay, if you say so," Beth replied with a shrug, glancing between Sera and Blood. "You know, I've got just the place."

"I thought you might," Sera said with a small grin.

"We can use the living area of the gate," Beth said. "It's entirely isolated, and there's a room in there that can be used as a basic training room. It can withstand whatever is going to happen, no problem."

"Good. It shouldn't be too much of a danger, just that we should be isolated from anyone else," Sera said.

"I can close the gate behind us," Beth said then.

"What? I didn't know that," Sera said with slightly wide eyes.

"Oh, yeah, we can sock stuff, and people, away in there and they're fine," Beth said.

"Okay, good information. We should absolutely do that," Sera said. "Not that I don't trust the CRA, but we need to be as isolated as possible. Also, again, not that I don't trust the CRA, but the more people that know or suspect about something, the less advantage we might have."

"Well, we'll use the gate. It won't be a problem then," Beth said with another shrug.

"Let's do it, then," Sera said. "You retrieved everything from your little rendezvous?"

"Yes, though Selene and Alex aren't exactly little, and I'm not sure what you mean by rendezvous," Beth said.

"Never change, Beth," Blood growled, leading the way into the gate after it was open.

"What does that mean?" Beth asked, looking at Sera with a confused expression.

"Never change, my love," Sera said with a grin, walking into the gate.

"What's happening?" Beth asked disgruntledly.

"I think you're doing a rebirth?" Neph replied.

"Are you going to be fine out here, Neph?" Beth asked.

"Yeah, sure. Just go do your thing," Neph said, waving from the couch.

"I will, in fact, do my thing," Beth said, walking through the gate before it disappeared behind her.

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