"Congratulations," Sera said to Blood as they returned to the small room that had led into the larger room with the crystal.

"Huh?" Beth asked, looking between them.

"She increased her humanization," Sera said simply.

"Oh wow, really?" Beth asked, looking at Blood.

"Not that much," the wolf said with a casual shrug.

"Don't be so modest," Sera chided.

"I'm not. It's not," Blood grumbled.

They came up to the passage that led back into the bottom of the lake and Beth sighed, "I really don't want to dive in blood again."

"I'm right here," Blood said.

"Not you," Beth sighed, rolling her eyes.

"Don't be a baby," Blood growled, diving into the water.

"She's a bit touchy," said Sera.

"Nah, she's fine. She's enjoying herself, she's just focused on the environment right now," Beth replied.

"Better Val than us," Beth heard Sera mutter as she dove into the blood.

Fortunately, or maybe unfortunately, all things considered, they didn't discover anything else too crazy in their time in the caves. It turned into days of just following Blood around, their faithful treasure hound, as she sniffed out one juicy morsel after another, including tons of blood cores. They did encounter a few very strong enemies, including a beast they absolutely had to run from, as they could not deal with something at level five hundred as they were now, despite the gains they had recently made. That put a bit of a damper on Beth's desire to hang around as long as they were getting loads of resources rather easily, and they were a bit more careful over the next few days.

Eventually, after a little under two weeks, Blood had gathered all fifty cores, which was rather fast, considering the environment and the dangers. Beth was sure they had taken a pretty sizeable chunk out of the available supply, which was a rather good thing, as a lot of excess mana in the area would be siphoned off creating more such treasures. It wasn't a requirement by the Path or anything that they be created, but was natural, forming when certain flows and wavelengths of mana overlapped. Denuding such a mana rich area of resources would cause an almost explosive growth of new treasures as the mana crashed into the spaces in a particular way and there wasn't anything there, other than a few beasts, to absorb it. The treasure, of course, would be rather immature and take time to achieve any real level of value, needing a long period soaking in the mana to grow stronger, but such would happen, and the diverting of so much mana would help stabilize the area and keep it under control.

None of that was for them to worry about, however, as they were out and away. The first thing they did was deploy the airship as it had one thing they desperately craved; showers. A bath was the first thing in order, though Blood did so only reluctantly, insisting she was still fine, which might overall be true, considering her capacity to absorb and redirect blood. Still, Beth wasn't having anybody track anything all over the ship, and especially not on her perfectly clean bridge, if they wound up there, and so it was showers and baths for all, followed by food. The galley was put to work, both Sera and Beth cooking to try to get enough whipped up to satisfy them all, a tall order even not considering Sera's gluttonous skill.

Afterward, the ship was packed up, Blood not being eligible to fly, and they were off through the wilderness. It was daytime but dark as twilight, with a heavy snowfall that had a thick cloud cover overhead and was leaving an appreciable blanket of the white stuff stacked on the ground. The cold and snow didn't bother the three of them at all, and they plowed through the slowly worsening weather, reaching the city in the heart of a blizzard, but they were able to get back in the city gates and get to a teleporter in short order. From there it was a good handful of hops to get back to where they intended, which was the only place they ever really frequented these days.

Beth wanted to check on their orders first before anything else, hoping that at least some of her stuff had come in. If they were lucky, everything they were missing was in and they could just spend some money (as if dropping dozens of mithril coins was 'just' anything) to bring themselves square. Blood was all ready for her next rebirth at this point, but she wasn't going to do it without the other two, both to not get ahead of them and also because them all rebirthing together created a resonance that could lead to new insights, depending on a few factors. No reason to rush, especially for the lazy wolf, when waiting was likely to bring about more benefits than being in a hurry would grant.

They checked into the CRA Hall that they were well used to at this point, renting a nice suite for a couple days before heading into the city. The destination was the same as always, and they had more for it this time than normal. Most of what they had Blood had on her and Beth generally considered to belong to the wolf, so they insisted on her tagging along, though the lupine woman did grumble about having to sit and watch the others all flirt with each other. Beth had just cleared her throat and insisted it wasn't that bad, which only produced a truly incredulous look from the wolf, replaced by her own embarrassed denial when Beth started poking her about the wolf and Val's little bits of public affection the last time the two were together.

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Making their way into a familiar lobby, one of the attendants at the main desk recognized them, a first even for this place, and immediately called backup. At least, that's how Beth thought of it, considering as soon as they were spotted a discreet call was made and a much higher-level manager was swooping down on them. A higher-level manager that they very easily recognized, one with white wings and golden hair, one who very graciously escorted the three of them upstairs to a private room. At which point they were safe enough to engage in a round of hugs, even the standoffish Blood getting a warm, wing-wrapped embrace.

"It's good to see you all again," Alex said. "Though, it hasn't been that long."

"Well, we're getting close to the end on this stuff," Beth said. "Blood's done, Sera's got a moderately easy piece to get, and then there's my two impossible asks. We figured we'd stop in and check before going off yet another place and potentially wasting a lot of time."

"Well, I have good news and bad news," Alex said with a sober look.

"What's the bad news?" Beth asked with a frown.

"The bad news is that Selene isn't here right now," Alex answered, her whole face shifting into a massive grin.

"Alex," Sera said with a sigh and shake of her head.

"Come on now," Beth said, though she did laugh a bit.

"Sorry, sorry," Alex said. "The real bad news is that we haven't got all of your items."

She had looked at Beth when saying this and Beth sighed in frustration. "I figured that would be the case."

"Well, there's the good news," Alex offered with an apologetic look and tone. "We have the hearts for Sera, so good you stopped for those. We also have almost all the hearts for you and a line on the last two, so you're almost there. We just haven't been able to get a line on the singularity cores."

"Again, I figured that would be the case," Beth said, shaking her head. "We might have to contact some people we know about that. I did ask Mortaine to look into it, and he said he would help with them, but I haven't heard anything since then. Maybe we can get a line on them from someone else."

"Mortaine has quite a lot of resources," Alex said calmly, a single brow delicately arched. "Knowing him, however, he quite likely has lost track of time, or where he is, and needs a reminder. If he has a resource that can secure what you need, I would make sure you're dropping him occasional reminders to keep him looped in and, well, focused."

"That's…actually a good point," Beth said, tapping her chin for just a moment out of reflex. "I know Mortaine can get…distracted rather easily."

"Knowing him, he likely wouldn't source them himself, if you see what I mean," Alex continued. "He would draw on his rather vast web of connections to have someone get them for you. I can't say for sure, but I even suspect I know exactly the two people he would go to get those cores, and better him than me. Selene knows one of them, but we have no connection with the other, so if he can get some or all of what you need, I would use him."

"I'll message him," Beth said with a nod. "In the meantime, she has some stuff for you."

Beth had gestured at Blood with her thumb, the wolf grunting and leaning forward to dump a massive, disorganized pile on the table. "I shudder to think what it looks like in your necklace right now," Beth commented.

"It's clean," Blood replied, quite defensive.

"Of course," Beth said, in a tone that said she absolutely didn't believe that.

"Lots of blood," Alex said with a raised brow. "Very much on point for your namesake."

"We were getting the last of her items," Beth explained, considering it didn't look like Blood would bother. "Found a place with the blood of a Legendary Beast pooled underground. Blood's affinity with blood let us get a lot out of there, and we don't need the stuff that's on the table."

"This is just part of what you retrieved?" asked Alex, sounding rather impressed.

"Yeah, we're keeping the blood cores and a couple other bits and pieces that might be useful. This is the excess from two very long, annoying weeks underground," Beth answered.

"Well, let's get you settled first," Alex said, completing the transactions with Sera and Beth. "The hearts for Sera, at standard market rates, are twenty diamond coins each, meaning a mithril coin for five. The hearts for Beth are fifteen diamond coins each, and we have secured eight, which means one mithril and twenty diamond coins."

The two girls were happy to hand over the coin to receive some of the last components. Sera was now also complete and needed nothing else to rebirth, while Beth still needed two hearts and all five singularity cores. The girls put their items away after handing over the coins and chatted pleasantly with Alex while she went through everything Blood had dumped on the table, analyzing type, quality, and quantity.

"Well, this is a good haul," Alex said finally, sitting back and sighing. "All of it's valuable right now, and we'd be willing to buy all of it. Is there anything on the table you're not sure about or want to keep?"

"Not as far as I know," Beth said, looking between the other two. "I don't really know, though, this would be Blood's area of expertise."

"Nothing I need right now," Blood said. "Not anything I will probably need for a while. I have some extra blood cores, and we can get more. The rest is just extras."

"Very well," Alex said, sitting forward and resting her forearms on her knees. "For everything on the table, as a full lot, the firm would pay one mithril and ten diamonds. Keep in mind, I don't think that's the full value of what's here, but we're not going to keep any of this stuff; we have to resell it, so I think that price is more than fair."

Blood looked at Beth who said, "Don't look at me. You found all this stuff; it's your show now."

"Then that's fine," Blood said, waving dismissively over the now neatly sorted and stacked items. "I don't need it. Just give me the money."

"Alright," Alex said with a very genuine laugh, reaching forward to clear the table off. She then tossed the eleven coins over to Blood, who effortlessly snagged them out of the air and made them disappear in the same motion.

"Is there anything else I can help you with today?" Alex asked, giving both Beth and Sera a very knowing look.

"Not today, thanks," Beth said, grinning at the woman as she rose. "However, we will likely be in town for a few days. Maybe we'll stop by and get a little more assistance from you tomorrow or the day after."

"Well, that sounds lovely. I'll make sure my calendar is clear," Alex said, rising to escort them out. Blood padded out ahead of them, well familiar with the building by this point, and Alex walked behind with one arm around Beth's waist and the other around Sera's. Despite being a kind of angel and having a very prim and proper appearance and first impression, Alex was more than a bit wicked, and Beth very much noticed when the woman's arm and hand dipped lower than the small of her back. She didn't say anything, but she did walk just slightly closer to the angel, making sure their hips brushed together as they moved down the hall.

The walk ended all too soon as they arrived in the lobby and Alex let them go, wishing them well with a saucy wink the people at the counter behind her couldn't see. Beth and Sera responded to that gesture with broad smiles before hurrying out of building to catch up with Blood, who had left them behind and headed back for the suite. The two followed her back, taking some time to just enjoy a little sun, nice after two weeks in a cave far underground full of blood. Beth enjoyed holding Sera's hand as they walked and didn't even mind the tall girl wrapping her tail around Beth's waist when they were in public, though she was a bit shy about any more. Beth really did not have any exhibitionist tendencies, not when it came to anybody outside a very small circle that she trusted.

Back in the suite, they took the rest of the day and the night off, though Beth did follow through on Alex's suggestion of sending a ping to Mortaine. Selene was out somewhere, looking for Beth's needed items likely just part of her business, and Beth didn't really have any other leads on what she needed. It was up to somebody they knew to pull through for them or she would either be not doing the true rebirth or would be waiting an awfully long time, likely relying heavily on luck.

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