"Beth, are you alright?" Sera asking about her was the first thing she experienced when she came to, the Path removing its altering of space around her.

"I'm fine," Beth said with another laugh, hopping up.

Well, she tried to hop up, but even with her level set to one, the new power brought about by her Mana Physique was truly astonishing. She lifted off the ground and rocketed upward, slamming into the reinforced ceiling of the training room at an appreciable speed. Her head and shoulders smacked into the rock the room was made of, not leaving a dent, and even though she exclaimed "OW!", it was more from force of habit than anything else. Her newly increased defenses from her Mana Physique made such a hit less than nothing.

"What was that? Did you…?" Sera asked, catching Beth when she fell from her quick meeting with the ceiling.

"I certainly did," Beth said with a big laugh, kissing Sera firmly on the lips.

"It must be an impressive one," Blood commented from the side as the two made out. "Considering the mana I'm seeing around you."

"Your eyes can see mana flow at Gold?" Beth asked after breaking off the kiss.

"Yes. I can see rebirths and mana flows with my eyes now," Blood answered.

"Awesome," Beth said. "How did you two do?"

"I didn't even try," Blood said with a shrug.

"Lazy," Beth scolded lightly.

"Eh," Blood shrugged. "I wasn't confident enough to try yet. I just analyzed where I was at and what the Path provided, then moved on."

"What about you?" Beth asked Sera, jabbing her in the ribs lightly.

"Same, basically," Sera said with a slight shrug. "I've had some training from my family, and I have an idea of what I'm doing, but I didn't want to try yet."

"Even with the boost from the Path?" Beth asked with a raised brow.

"I'll get it again at rebirth nine, at worst," Sera said. "Otherwise, I could still do it without the boost at any time. Don't you have a friend that did that?"

"It's gotta kinda be a worse attempt, right?" Beth asked. "The Path's help does matter."

"Not that much," Sera said, shaking her head. "I bet you didn't really focus on the status readout from the Path once you started. I bet you also didn't really notice or need the changes to the mana around you to complete your Mana Physique build just fine."

"Well, now that you say that…" Beth said, trailing off as she tapped at her chin and stared off into the distance.

"People rely on stuff from the Path too much to get by," Sera said. "It's better that you did it without having to use all that assistance. It'll be beneficial much further down the line."

"Sweet," Beth said. "What did the two of you get, otherwise? Anything?"

"Better humanization," both said at the same time.

"Jinx," Beth said.

"You can't say jinx," said Blood. "You weren't one of the ones that said it."

"I can still jinx it," Beth said.

"I think she's right, my love," Sera said, still holding Beth and now carrying her out of the training room.

"Are you removing me from the room to stop the argument?" Beth asked slightly indignantly.

"I'm removing you from the room so we can make out somewhere more comfortable," Sera replied simply.

"Oh. I approve," Beth said, kissing Sera on the neck as the dragon carried her to the gate back into their suite.

"Did you guys succeed?" Neph asked happily, bouncing up on the couch.

"More than you know," Beth said with a laugh, closing the gate behind her after Blood had walked out.

"What's that mean?" Neph asked, happily leaping on Blood when she flopped on the couch.

"These two increased their humanization by at least a bit," Beth explained. "And I built my Mana Physique."

"Congratulations!" Neph bubbled happily, bouncing over on the couch and kissing Beth and Sera on the cheek along with giving them hugs before flopping back on Blood and kissing her cheeks and hugging her.

"How much was it?" Beth asked the other two.

"At least four or five points per level," Sera said. Blood grunted in agreement at that.

"That'll be over a thousand more points by the time we hit our new max," Beth said with a nod. "What are our stats at now?"

"You can just look," Sera said, having allowed Beth to see her stat sheet whenever she wanted.

"Right. Let me check," Beth said.

Name

Elizabeth Anne Bell

Class

Crushing Hierophant

Level

1[5]

Strength

2345

Dexterity

1186

Endurance

1572

Intelligence

410

Wisdom

409

Free Points

0

Mana Physique

True Flame Mana Physique[Platinum]

Titles

Silver Flame Empress' Inheritor

Skills

Ancient World Gate[3]

Beastly Tyrant Platinum[3]

Blacksmithing Journeyman[1]

Celestial Annihilation Gold[1]

Corruption Resistance Gold[0]

Elemental Resistance Gold[0]

Focused Meditation Silver[7]

FrostFlame Eye Gold[0]

Indomitable Heart Gold[2]

Lordly Reconstruction Gold[2]

Monstrous Blow Gold[2]

Pain Tolerance Gold[9]

Spatial Mana Detection Silver[9]

Spatial Obliteration Platinum[2]

If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

Spatial Resistance Copper[9]

Spatial Step Gold[9]

Swift Gold[1]

Swords Expert[2]

Unarmed Expert[3]

Wealth

2o 21m 90d 41p 33g 8s 66c

Emblems

CRA Silver Badge (300CP)

Bonds

Blood

Name

Blood Bell

Race

Red Wolf Queen

Level

1[5]

Strength

1756

Dexterity

2461

Endurance

1426

Intelligence

288

Wisdom

283

Free Points

0

Titles

-

Skills

Blood Queen's Claws Gold[8]

Corruption Resistance Gold[0]

Elemental Resistance Gold[0]

Eyes of Hallowed Truth Gold[5]

Leatherworking Apprentice[9]

Meditation Silver[9]

Pain Tolerance Gold[5]

Regeneration Gold[2]

Rending Blood Wave Platinum[1]

Spatial Step Silver[9]

Stealth Silver[6]

Swift Gold[9]

Unarmed Expert[2]

Wealth

18m 90d 71p 84g 96s 45c

Emblem

CRA Silver Badge (300CP)

Bonds

Beth Neph

Name

Seraphinalla Narzareen Andromeda Schwarzdracchen

Race

Black Dragon Ruler

Level

1[5]

Strength

1940

Dexterity

1180

Endurance

2330

Intelligence

376

Wisdom

373

Free Points

0

Titles

-

Skills

Blacksmithing Journeyman[2]

Body of Heavenly Thunder Silver[1]

Corruption Resistance Silver[9]

Deathblow Silver[9]

Deep Meditation Silver[6]

Draconic Reconstruction Gold[4]

Dread Dragon Body Gold[9]

Endless Consumption Silver[9]

Elemental Resistance Gold[0]

Eternal Movement Gold[1]

Overwhelming Pierce Gold[3]

Pain Tolerance Gold[6]

Spatial Step Silver[5]

Spears Expert[2]

Splitting Strikes Gold[3]

Void Pocket Gold[1]

Zero Flame Eyes Gold[1]

Wealth

1o 1m 15d 1p 4g 3s 7c

Emblems

CRA Silver Badge (300CP)

Bonds

-

Name

Nephianna

Race

Golden Blood Bee Empress

Level

120[1]

Strength

560

Dexterity

280

Endurance

510

Intelligence

70

Wisdom

70

Free Points

2

Titles

-

Skills

Blood Siphon Sting Silver[1]

Corruption Resistance Copper[9]

Daggers Apprentice[8]

Elemental Resistance Silver[1]

Eyes of True Ruin Silver[1]

Golden Sting Silver[5]

Pain Tolerance Silver[3]

Swift Silver[4]

Spatial Step Silver[0]

Wealth

12p 23g 5s 31c

Emblem

CRA Copper Emblem

Bonds

Blood

"Interesting," Beth murmured. "You're only a few hundred behind me in STR but way ahead of me in END, Ser."

"And Blood's raw stats are starting to really balloon," Sera commented. "It'll be even crazier the next rebirth."

"We shouldn't have much problem even hitting level two hundred rapidly right now, apart from Neph," Beth added. "I think we should just level with her for a bit, help her get to rebirth two, which will be a big boost."

"Sounds like a plan," Sera agreed, arms and tail around Beth while she nuzzled the shorter girl's neck.

"What other boosts do we have from the titans?" Beth asked, going over the stat sheets in more detail.

"We got the END like you did, and I got a boost to my body skill," Sera said. "It's already high tier, but I boosted it from Silver[9] all the way up to Gold[9]. It'll make me so much more powerful now and, combined with the new body skill, it'll make me insanely tough. Well, not as tough as you'll be now, but still…"

"Rending Bite's gone," Blood grunted. When Beth prodded her with her foot, she continued, "Upgraded it to a blood-based ability, only slightly related. Was lucky. Got it to Platinum[1] on top of that, too."

"Lot's more power," said Sera with a nod. "And your new skill is that Spatial Obliteration?"

"Yeah. I hit Andrea with it in the dueling ring and it vaporized her arm," Beth said. "And that was before I built a Mana Physique."

"Yeahhhhhh, there's not going to be much that can challenge you for a long while," Sera said with a slight shake of her head. "You're going to absolutely dominate the CRA ladders until we start encountering Enlightened, as well. Other than total, absolute freaks like Veren."

"You think I would still not be able to take Veren?" Beth asked with a slight frown.

"I think it would be closer. A lot closer," Sera replied with a light chuckle. "But I think you still don't really understand what it means to be a Grandmaster."

"I guess not," Beth grunted. "Speaking of which, we haven't had a whole lot of progress in our weaponskills lately, either. We really need to do some work on that."

"We could train with the Seniors, a bit," Sera suggested, to a groan from Blood.

"It's necessary, Blood," Beth chided.

"Eugh, I know, I just don't wanna," the wolf girl whined.

"Well, let's rest for tonight, after that excitement, and get rolling tomorrow," Beth said. "We'll train our levels in the gate, which shouldn't take any time at all, and we'll help Neph a bit while we're at it. I'm so glad that the Path doesn't consider rebirths when analyzing if people should be fighting together, just level."

"It is one advantage when looping back around. You can effectively train with those in earlier brackets than you for a while," Sera said with a slight nod, absentmindedly scratching at Beth's exposed stomach with her fierce claws.

"I almost expect to see sparks when you're scratching me now," Beth muttered with an amused lilt to her voice.

"You're becoming tough enough," Sera muttered into her hair, enjoying breathing in Beth's scent more and more the longer they were together. If anything, the two of them were falling even more for each other the longer the two of them were a couple.

"Sleep," commanded Beth, though Sera picked her up off the couch and carried her into one of the bedrooms, having something other than sleep on her mind.

Early the next morning, they were all up and ready to go, and Beth started them in the gate. They would have to go for just a bit before including Neph, as Beth was still restricted to a hundred levels in either direction from her current level, meaning she had to set it at level one hundred and one to start. With the kind of insane speed the three could move at, however, they wouldn't take very long to get levels, killing up a hundred-plus levels.

They spent two hours, and that was in the gate, so more like a dozen minutes, to get twenty-five levels, putting them in the twenties, at which point they reset the gate quickly. Beth set it to one hundred twenty-six, and all four now dove in, with it being a challenge for Neph, though the other three just blazed through the beasts without even trying. It wasn't good to get sloppy, of course, but they were so powerful now that Beth could block an attack of a beast a hundred levels above her with her bare arm without her skin getting cut. She hadn't even used any skills yet, either, as she was so powerful now that these low-level beasts couldn't withstand a single strike from her just using the current strength of her physical body. Beastly Tyrant also gave her increased power just passively, and the upgrade to her body from having a powerful Mana Physique also made that skill far stronger. Its passive effect was now far more powerful, meaning Beth didn't have to circulate any mana at all and she was punching so hard she was ripping limbs, and heads, off the enemies without her fist even contacting them.

Leveling proved to be incredibly easy, not that they hadn't experienced that before, but the level of power they had now meant anything below two hundred, or really three hundred, just wasn't much of a challenge. If they were trying to fight beasts at level two hundred fifty or so as level tens, that might still be too much, but Beth wasn't even sure about that. When she was at max level, about to undergo her third rebirth, she had only had eight or nine hundred stat points more than when she completed her fifth rebirth and was level one again. It might sound like a lot, but it was the difference between six and seven thousand total stats, and now she had multiple Platinum-level skills as well as a Mana Physique. And her class gave her more than twenty stat points per level, meaning that even by level fifty, she had made up that gap and had more stats than what she had at the peak of her second rebirth.

She also found she wasn't really getting tired. It wasn't just that she had some more stamina or anything like that; in fact, the night before, she and Sera had made love for over an hour before the dragon girl was content and had fallen asleep sprawled on top of Beth. But Beth had lain awake all night, enjoying the feelings and sensations of Sera's body pressed against hers, even enjoying the smell of her lover. She hadn't felt a need, even after losing so many stat points and having had quite a long day, to sleep, and had pulled a book up on her communicator, idly paging through it while Sera snored away on top of her. Now that they were fighting, she found that just using her physical body didn't even use stamina; not for the level she was pushing herself to right now. She would have to monitor her progress over the coming days, but it appeared there was a lot more to having a Mana Physique than she had truly realized.

"Copper for your thoughts," Sera said as they finished off a large group with ease.

"I'm not tired," Beth replied. When Sera gave her a strange look, she explained, "I mean, I'm not getting tired. After we, uh, made love last night, you fell asleep, which is more than fine, but I didn't. I didn't feel at all tired, and I stayed awake the whole night. And now, we've been fighting for hours, and I don't feel even the faintest twinge of tiredness."

"What, uh, exactly is your Mana Physique?" Sera asked. When Beth showed her, she exclaimed, "Hot dragon snorts! What the fuck?!"

"Is it really that crazy?" Blood asked lazily from the front as she led the way to the next group.

"Look," Sera said, tossing Beth's Mana Physique information at Blood.

"This looks cool, but it's vague. I don't know what I'm looking at," Blood said after a second, shrugging.

"It's a very powerful Mana Physique. Not a whole lot of people have or could even get True Flame. On top of that, hers is at Platinum, which is insanely strong. No wonder she's not tired," Sera explained. "Beth, you might need to sleep once a week at this point, given your crazy stats combined with this Physique."

"Well, damn, I kinda like sleeping," Beth said.

"There are skills for that," Sera said. "You can either meditate or get a sleeping skill."

"What the hell is a sleeping skill?" Beth asked, confused, as she picked a flailing hobgoblin up by the neck and tore its head off without even looking.

"Just what it sounds like," Sera replied. "It's a skill that puts you to sleep. That's usually not the whole point, you usually do something while asleep, like heal faster or something, but there are skills like that."

"Am I lazy enough to get a sleeping skill?" Beth asked with a strange frown on her face.

"I don't know, are you?" Sera replied glibly.

"Well, I'll look into it," Beth said with a shrug, finishing the last beast.

"You might want to. Now that I know your stamina is like that...well, let's just say I'm gonna get more aggressive," Sera said, showing Beth a very toothy smile. Beth's response surprised the dragon girl, if only a little, as she stepped right up to her and kissed her firmly on that grinning mouth.

They kept going for a few more hours, the lower-leveled three getting a few dozen levels, bringing them up to level sixty. Beth had them take a break, as Neph was getting pretty tired. Since they weren't in a rush, she had them just return to the suite and rest there, taking a few hours to relax on the couch before they were ready to keep going. She, of course, wasn't tired in the least, and it was something she was going to have to take a bit of time to get used to.

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