The whole barter section proceeded like that, with Beth spending a lot of time searching. Not everyone posted what they wanted, or contacted someone even if they had something another person had posted as being desired, so it was a lot of digging through the system and calling people. It was also a lot of going and talking to people, as some people preferred in person negotiation, though the trading firm had plenty of staff on hand to facilitate the trades, making sure no one had to meet in person if privacy was preferred.

Beth got another two items for them, or two lots of items, though one was a bit short for Sera. Right at the very end she secured a lot for Blood that had too many items, but they could always resell the excess or use them in crafting. It was another difficulty with rebirth materials, especially as one progressed, as they overlapped very heavily with crafting materials. She reviewed their current status as the rest of the participants left the venue, Beth anticipating getting some visitors once things had quieted down. She looked at both their stat screens and their current rebirth lists to see where they were.

Name

Elizabeth Anne Bell

Class

Crushing Hierophant

Level

300[5]

Strength

5380

Dexterity

2700

Endurance

3596

Intelligence

1010

Wisdom

1010

Free Points

0

Mana Physique

True Flame Mana Physique[Platinum]

Titles

Silver Flame Empress' Inheritor

Monster-Slayer

Skills

Ancient World Gate[3]

Beastly Tyrant Platinum[5]

Blacksmithing Journeyman[1]

Celestial Annihilation Gold[5]

Corruption Resistance Gold[2]

Elemental Resistance Gold[1]

Focused Meditation Silver[9]

FrostFlame Eye Gold[2]

Indomitable Heart Gold[5]

Lordly Reconstruction Gold[8]

Monstrous Blow Gold[5]

Pain Tolerance Gold[9]

Spatial Mana Detection Gold[3]

Spatial Obliteration Platinum[5]

Spatial Resistance Silver[5]

Spatial Step Platinum[0]

Swift Gold[5]

Swords Expert[7]

Unarmed Expert[8]

Wealth

1o 95m 2d 55p 8g 46s 1c

Emblems

CRA Silver Emblem (700CP)

Bonds

Blood

Name

Blood Bell

Race

Red Wolf Queen

Level

300[5]

Strength

5800

Dexterity

8960

Endurance

3530

Intelligence

540

Wisdom

540

Free Points

0

Titles

-

Skills

Blood Queen's Claws Gold[9]

Corruption Resistance Gold[1]

Elemental Resistance Gold[1]

Eyes of Hallowed Truth Gold[6]

Leatherworking Apprentice[9]

Meditation Gold[0]

Pain Tolerance Gold[7]

Regeneration Gold[5]

Rending Blood Wave Platinum[2]

Spatial Step Silver[9]

Stealth Silver[8]

Swift Gold[9]

Unarmed Expert[5]

Wealth

19m 7d 8p 1g 56s 22c

Emblem

CRA Silver Badge (700CP)

Bonds

Beth Neph

Name

Seraphinalla Narzareen Andromeda Schwarzdracchen

Race

Black Dragon Ruler

Level

300[5]

Strength

6400

Dexterity

3280

Endurance

6130

Intelligence

580

Wisdom

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

573

Free Points

0

Titles

-

Skills

Blacksmithing Journeyman[2]

Body of Heavenly Thunder Silver[5]

Corruption Resistance Gold[0]

Deathblow Silver[9]

Deep Meditation Silver[7]

Draconic Reconstruction Gold[6]

Dread Dragon Body Gold[9]

Endless Consumption Gold[0]

Elemental Resistance Gold[1]

Eternal Movement Gold[2]

Overwhelming Pierce Gold[4]

Pain Tolerance Gold[7]

Spatial Step Silver[6]

Spears Expert[6]

Splitting Strikes Gold[4]

Void Pocket Gold[2]

Zero Flame Eyes Gold[2]

Wealth

1o 1m 32d 18p 75g 1s 63c

Emblems

CRA Silver Badge (700CP)

Bonds

-

Beth:

75 Tier 4 cores

50 Level 250 epic weapons

20 Star fragments

15 Vein inclusions

5 Singularity cores

10 Space-aspected Monster hearts

Blood:

75 Tier 4 cores

20 Blood Monster fragments

10 Blood Ruler hearts

50 Blood cores

25 Blood jewels

10 Star hearts

Sera:

15 Tier 5 cores

20 Void blocks

5 Void Ruler hearts

25 Void jewels

50 Void-aspected mana crystals

20 Void-aspected Monster hearts

They had all the cores, the weapons, the blood jewels, the void blocks, the vein inclusions, the void ruler hearts, and some of the mana crystals, which was the lot Beth only got part of. That still left them with quite a bit to get, including some very strange and likely rare things, like a singularity core. Beth was really hoping that those weren't what she thought they were, but in this crazy universe, they were likely to be exactly that.

The rest of the guests had filtered out while they were reviewing their status and organizing things between themselves. They still had to wait a little bit for the other two to be free, but first Alex, and then Selene, joined them in their booth, though they didn't stay there long. Blood retreated to their suite in the CRA, which they still had multiple days on, and Beth and Sera joined Selene and Alex at their home, the first time all four of them had been there together. They spent three indolent days there, Selene pushing off some of the post-auction work she still had on her plate to spend time with them.

All good things had to come to an end, and they left the ladies' shared house and reunited with a slothful wolf in their CRA suite, though they weren't going to be going anywhere for a bit. It didn't really matter where they were, as they had to work on their crafting for more than a bit before using Mortaine's gift to learn from the high-level crafter.

"How far should we push it?" Beth asked the other two.

Blood remained uninterested, but Sera answered, "We should really try to get to Expert, though that'll take a long time. I know we have some free time right now, but we do have some pressing things slowly losing time in the background."

"That's true," Beth said with a frown.

"What about your box," a lazy, naked Blood growled from the couch.

"My what?" Beth said, not connecting the dots right away.

"That relic thing that your hero or whatever is in," Blood grunted.

"My what…" Beth said, then realized. "Oh, you mean the reliquary? What about it?"

"Aren't there thirteen really strong people in there? Didn't they say they'd train you?" Blood asked.

"Oh," Beth said eloquently. "Let me ask."

She summoned Liveria first, the woman being very real and tangible, still surprising Beth at not at all being ghost-like, before asking her about training. "I can teach you the blade, or about the Purifying Flame."

"That flame thing sounds interesting," Sera commented.

"Yeah, but we need a tutor for crafting professions," Beth said with a sigh.

"I am an enchanter, and not a particularly good one," Liveria said with a shrug. "What are you trying to learn?"

"We're smiths and Blood's a leatherworker," Beth said. "We need a smith at the least, and that lazy ass does need to practice with leather."

"Erosh," Liveria said.

"Huh?" was Beth's witty retort.

"The huge musclehead," Liveria said. "He's a Sage smith. Odorra is a Grandmaster Leatherworker."

"Who's Odorra?" Beth asked, making note of the various Empyrean's names.

"She's the white phoenix," Liveria explained.

"The one with bright white feathers for hair?" Beth asked.

"Indeed," Liveria said. "Is there anything else you need?"

"Sorry, not from you right now. Still haven't had much progress on anything," she said.

"You've made plenty of progress," Liveria disagreed. "It's not even four full months and you've hit level three hundred. That's impressive progress and dedication."

"Well, I'm glad you think so, but we can't help with your issues for fifteen or twenty rebirths, at a minimum," Beth said with a shrug.

"I miss her and yearn for her, but Joanna has survived for many years. Another ten, twenty, or even a hundred should be survivable. I just urge that you not forget about it. Spending two hundred years to learn to make a decent sword is a little too much time," Liveria said.

"Trust me, I understand," Beth said, giving the woman a quick hug before she suddenly vanished and two of the others appeared.

"You need something, girl?" asked the musclehead.

"Training in smithing," Beth explained. "And she's a leatherworker."

"This we can do," Odorra said calmly.

"Can't smith in a living room," Erosh said with a grunt.

"In here," Beth replied, opening her gate to their living quarters. "Should be safe enough to do from a CRA suite."

"Oh, a dimensional boundary," Erosh muttered before sticking his head right in.

"Don't just stick your head in like that," Odorra chided, pulling him back out.

"Yeah, what if the gate suddenly closed?" Beth asked with a frown.

"Eh, wouldn't matter," Erosh shrugged. "Losing my head isn't enough to kill me. Not if nothing else follows up with an attack right away."

"Okay, good to know, though not a picture I wanted before lunch," Beth said, shaking her own head.

"Anyway, it's your gate, huh?" Erosh said, sticking his head back through.

"Just ignore him; he's a dolt," Odorra said.

"Speaking from long experience?" Beth asked her.

"Yes, far too long," Odorra answered with a heavy sigh.

"I feel sorry for you," Beth said.

"It's more a pain being locked in this state, neither dead nor truly alive, than having to deal with the others. By far," she said.

"Well, let's get started!" Erosh boomed, now fully stepping into the gate.

"Well, come on then," Beth said, gesturing the others into the gate before walking over and picking Blood up off the couch and carrying her through the gate, the wolf grumbling the whole time.

They moved into the workshop area, Erosh nodding at everything before grabbing one of the forges and not just turning it on, but powering it so hot the bricks started groaning just by pumping mana in. Satisfied with the heat, he looked around, frowning at the lack of equipment, but Beth quickly corrected that, putting down a bunch of tools she had in her necklace. They had already stored a lot of their excess stock in the room, as keeping all the excess metal and leather and beast cores and such in their storage spaces was rather foolish.

"Well, that'll do," Erosh said, looking at the hammers and tongs and calipers and such. "A good smith doesn't need the tools to do the job, but it sure is damned easier to get good work done if you have nice tools. I would tell you to make your own, which I still recommend, but you got money, you can afford to buy 'em."

"I'll try to source some better stuff soon," Beth grunted. "I'm still working on stuff for our next rebirth, which is priority. We've got a bunch of feelers out right now."

"Hmm, we've got some stuff in that damned box," he said, giving her a coarse look, though she realized it was because he was trying to glare at the box, sitting inside her soul, rather than at her. "But you should just try and grab stuff yourself. Most of us ain't got much; we didn't get locked in there with all our possessions or anythin' like that."

"Yeah, yeah, tools. I hear," she said.

"Good," he grunted, picking up a piece of mana copper and twisted it around in his hands. Beth would say she was surprised, but she and Sera and Blood all had more than enough stats to twist around metal like that with their bare hands. The giant bear of a man then shoved the piece of stock into the furnace, humming to himself for a moment as he tested two other pieces, looking them over thoroughly and twisting at them before also placing them in the forge. "You've got some nice metal in the room, kid."

"We raided a titan facility a while ago," Beth explained.

"Hmm, can't have been happy about that. Didn't know you were on the outs with them," he said.

"Uh, we're not," Beth said.

"Yeah, they're gone," Sera added as they watched him finished setting up and then pull one of the bars of copper out, feeling the slightly glowing metal with his hand to test its temperature.

"Huh, what does that mean?" he asked, frowning before putting the bar back in the fire.

"Giants and titans both just disappeared," Sera said with a shrug. "It happened a long time ago, thousands and thousands of years. Just how long have you been in that box?"

"Too long," he grunted, leaning against the sturdy workbench, which groaned ominously under his weight. "Judging by what I can tell, and what little we pried out of Liveria, I prolly been in there about four hundred thousand years. Maybe a little more."

"Wow," Beth said, blinking in shock. "That's, uh, a really long time."

"A gift and a curse, though damn more curse," he said. "Doubt any of us in the damn box would've lived that long, since we all basically were desperately trying for Exalted and not reaching it."

"Not the only way to live a really long time," Sera interjected.

"No, no it ain't. Other ways can have problems, though," he grunted. "Not all of 'em, but a lot need you to keep feeding 'em. Can be a really big drain on resources just to keep yourself alive."

"Well, that's not great," Beth said, sharing a look with Sera.

"So, we're alive, but we're trapped. Least you can let us out to play," he said, giving Beth a bit manic of a grin.

"Don't go too crazy," Beth reprimanded.

"Oh, I won't," he said, refocusing on the forge. Beth glanced over to see Odorra at a workbench, patiently walking Blood through something with multiple pieces of leather. At least her gaining of the reliquary would have benefits for their whole group and not just her.

"Now, pay attention," he said, pulling a bar out with his bare hands.

"Wonder if I can do that," Sera said, grabbing one of the other bars without gloves. She didn't even blink, pulling the bar out of the fire and holding it without taking any injury.

"Don't play around, kid," Erosh grunted at her.

"Sorry," Sera said, putting the bar back in the fire.

"Now, I'll start simple," he said.

The empyrean started working, though he went slowly and showed them what he was doing, hammering the metal and then tilting the bar to show them the hammer marks. Beth was amazed to watch a real expert forge a simple piece, Erosh hammering out a simple hinge as they watched. He used very few hammer strokes, demonstrating how to do the most with the least effort while not overstressing the metal. It was like magic to watch him created a hinge in just under a minute, before the metal had even fully cooled, Beth just shaking her head as he easily sheared the part from the rest of the bar with just his thumb and index finger and tossed it into a barrel of water.

"See, you don't have to destroy the metal," he said. "Most people try to hammer the metal into shape when they're new, which is fine, but people try to use force without technique. Even swinging the hammer, you don't need to use every muscle in your body; swing the hammer down and let gravity help you. Fifty thousand points in STR just means you can annihilate the lighter metals and alloys; hitting it harder isn't going to save you time, it's just going to destroy the bar."

"Hmm," Beth said, pulling out a bar. She certainly didn't need gloves; her fire immunity from her Mana Physique applied to basically any kind of heat. Plus, she had many thousands of points in END and she had very good resistances, meaning that fire couldn't even mar her skin at all. She copied what Erosh had just done while he watched, towering over even Sera, his arms crossed while they watched Beth make the same hinge. She even copied him in snapping the piece off with her fingers and tossing it into the barrel with a little hiss.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.