Limitless Path

"Well? Are we going to stand around out here?" she said in a gruff voice.

"No, no, p-please," Rell stammered, hopping up and gesturing for them to follow him. He led them back to their table at the back of the seating area behind the hotel, where Itharion had been waiting.

"Now, what's this business about today?" Altera asked.

"Ancestor," Vallenna said in a pleading tone.

"Ah, right," the old woman said. She stamped her cane on the flagstones, creating a sound like a rifle shot before saying, "I'm Altera Sanguinia, the Honored Ancestor of the Sanguinia clan. This little waif, whom the two of you met already," at this she gestured to Beth and Blood, "is my many times removed great granddaughter and, apparently, the 'new hope of our clan.'"

"Ancestor," Vallenna said in an even more pleading tone.

"Fine, fine," Altera said. "You can just call me Tera. Anyway, that fight was rather impressive, girl."

"Are you talking about me?" Beth asked, glancing around confused before looking back at Tera.

"Yes, girl, who else? We keep an eye on these young louts as they're out and about, and I watched you demolish those three loudmouths with great aplomb. Couldn't have happened to three more deserving morons," Tera said.

"Well, it was fun, but wasn't that challenging," Beth said with a shrug.

"W-wait a minute," Rell interjected, sinking down into a chair slowly. "You fought the Young Scions?!"

"Ha, she didn't fight them," Tera interjected before Beth could reply. "She beat that little dragon boy, hothead demon, and ogre layabout into next week all by herself. Rather impressive. I'm guessing your boosting skill is at the peak of Gold and at least tier three?"

"It's tier four, actually," Beth replied with another casual shrug. She didn't really think that much of it, but she got sharp intakes of breath and outright gasps from everyone but Tera, so she guessed it was pretty significant. "Why is that such a big deal?"

"Do we have somewhere to be?" the old matron asked.

"No, ma'am, we have more than an hour before we need to even head out," Rell replied.

"Very well, then," Tera said, signaling the others to join her in sitting at the table. Beth noted she didn't put the cane, which she clearly didn't need, away, but kept it in hand as she sat. "Now then; skills. It has been a while since I last gave a little lecture, but heed me."

Beth noted that even Rell and Itharion perked up and focused on the ancient being. "Skills, as you know, are divided into tiers. A tier one skill is only capable of growing to a height of Gold, which is already a turning point. As you will have no doubt learned, particularly if that high tier skill you mentioned has reached at least Gold, Gold and Expert are the point at which skills really start to display their might. This is when you truly step out of the realms of the novice and become someone with some real strength.

"A tier two skill, on the other hand, is capable of progressing to Diamond, assuming you put in the work and spend the necessary time comprehending it. This is why many are willing to pay exorbitant sums for access to a tier two skill crystal, particularly one that is reusable. Even the use of a reusable tier two crystal can go for several dozen platinums." This was all news to Beth, and especially good news, as she remembered that little old, reusable Spatial Step crystal in her necklace. Spatial Step was certainly at least tier two, possibly even tier three, and was reusable, meaning she had been sitting on a bit of a gold mine without even realizing it.

Tera continued, "There is really no need to mention tier three or tier four skills, as they are priceless. A tier three skill is capable of easily reaching Mithril rank, and usually has the capacity to hit Orichalcum. A tier four skill will always be capable of growing to Orichalcum, and can even reach Adamantine, depending on the skill. Just as Gold is where skills really start to shine, entering the level of the mystical metals is where skills change. They become overwhelmingly powerful, capable of doing things and providing benefits that defy rational comprehension.

"This is why higher tier skills are highly sought after, and why lower tiered skills are often frowned upon. Also, an organization like your little CRA has skill crystals that one can use to learn new skills, but they are generally tier one crystals. Even Silver-level members usually only have access to the tier one crystals; only Gold-level members and up will have any hope of accessing higher-tier crystals. A single high tier skill, particularly when taken to Platinum, even just early Platinum, overwhelms all others. It is why they still say, 'The strength of tiers is absolute.'"

"Well, I certainly feel the difference in having a high-tier skill and at a high level," Beth commented, getting a nod from Blood.

"Well, that's enough of a lecture," Tera said with a wave of her hand, clearly dismissing the topic. "My granddaughter only gave me a rough brief; so, in that vein, what exactly is the problem?"

"Pretty simple," Beth answered. "Or, well, not really simple to solve, but I can describe it easily enough. There was an Ascended here that was helping protect the trade unions when they gathered mana crystals, keeping them safe, which helped everything run smoothly. The Ascended left, new governor came in and tried to throw her weight around, apparently, including raising taxes, and now the trade unions don't want to go mine crystals. They say it's too dangerous, especially with the amount the governor wants to charge them for the privilege. All of that's fine or whatever, but the Lord of Traversal needs stuff the trade unions, particularly the Silver Hammers, make, and so he sent us here to get this stupid fight solved. As to the real reasons the governor’s making strange demands and raising taxes and whatnot, I really don't know. We've been getting the runaround at the city hall so far, so we haven't made that much progress."

"I see," Tera said, flexing her grip on the head of her cane. She continued, "This is, fortunately, one of those times when being both extremely powerful and extremely well-respected can get everything we need accomplished."

"What does that mean?" Beth asked with a quirked brow.

"Power and prestige talk, girl," Tera said coldly. "Anyway, how long have we got?"

"We still have more than half an hour to burn," Itharion answered calmly.

"Ha! Is there anything else you kids want to know?" Tera asked.

"Yeah, one thing, if we could go back to skills?" Beth asked.

"Sure," Tera waved the hand not on her cane languidly.

"Why wouldn't people just get a bunch of tier one skills and merge them?" Beth asked.

"Ha! It's not that easy, kiddo," Tera laughed in response. "Merging two skills is an incredibly difficult process that takes ages. It's also a lot easier when skills are higher level, but who's going to sit there and devote the time to constantly using so many skills? Besides, it spreads you too thin; having that many skills isn't really an advantage over having fewer, stronger skills. It's also just easier to upgrade the tier of a skill you have, at least when you're talking about tier one to tier two, than it is to merge skills."

"Seems to make sense," Beth said with a shrug.

"Anything else?" Tera asked.

"Not for me," Beth replied with a shake of her head.

"Then shall we get this thing rolling?" she asked with a cackle.

"Sure," Beth said, standing and offering Tera a hand, which she graciously accepted. The old matron's long, six-fingered hands were surprisingly warm and smooth, though it was very clear from the strength Beth could feel through those hands that her old lady act was just that, an act. What not only Beth, but even the press people, had failed to notice to the side was Blood extending Val the same courtesy and, despite the kresnik's obsession with her image, she very eagerly accepted the help.

The group then made their way to the city hall, entering as a small knot of people which quickly resolved to following Tera. The old woman walked right up to the reception desk, her cane tap-tap-tapping away at the polished floor as she stared down the front desk workers. She gestured with her cane when she stopped, saying, "We're here for our appointment. It should be under one Rell Stonefist. Do be a dear and get that foppish governor of yours down here."

"Uh, ma'am, we, uh, can't make that kind of call," one of the two workers replied, visibly sweating while they glanced everywhere but at Tera. "We could, uh, schedule you a meeting-"

"Meetings, meetings, meetings," Tera scoffed, banging her cane on the floor. "With how many of those I hear you people schedule, it's a true wonder any work gets done around this place."

"Ma'am, we just-" the secretary tried again, sweating harder.

"You just want to stall me until someone with some brains can get down here and make a decision," Tera said with a light tutting sound.

"Ancestor!" Val exclaimed, though there was no heat in it.

"Now, now, if this young lady doesn't want to help us, I guess we'll have to help ourselves," Tera said with a cackle before turning as if to walk around the desk and further back into the building. Just as she did so, the arrogant little shit that Beth and Rell had argued with a few days before appeared in the lobby, likely called by the front desk workers.

"Ma'am, what seems to be the problem-" was all the arrogant twat got out before Tera's cane smacked the tile floors, the sharp report making everyone but Beth and Blood jump. The two were far too used to loud and crazy sounds to react to something so innocuous and simply chuckled at the various other reactions.

"Where's that lackadaisical boss of yours, kiddo?" Tera demanded, focusing the full weight of her attention on Jane, the undersecretary that had been so rude to Beth and Rell.

"The governor is busy with very important matters and can't see to every little thing-" Jane tried to explain, which sounded a bad tactic to Beth, proven when she earned the actual full weight of Tera's gaze. The old woman focused her attention on Jane and suddenly the lobby felt like they were at the bottom of the ocean. Tera had not manifested her Presence, at least, not fully, but the pressure she was exerting was enormous. For Beth and Blood it was merely slightly uncomfortable, but the desk workers and the two press people looked like they were about to pass out, and Val also looked rather discomfited. Jane was even worse, looking like she was barely remaining conscious and about to drop at any second. She did manage to rally herself, though it was only to turn tail and flee back down the hallway she emerged from as fast as she could half stagger, half run.

"Bad decision," said Tera coldly, the playful undertone that had been in her voice up to that point now missing entirely. She lifted her cane and pointed at the center of the woman's back when suddenly a force so strong it was visible appeared and stopped Jane in her tracks before hauling her back to Tera at an appreciable speed. The moment before Jane impacted the cane, and would have likely broken her back, she suddenly stopped, hovering in the air. She then turned, clearly not her doing but Tera's, still floating in the air and yet not quite at Tera's eye level.

"Let me explain what's going to happen," Tera said in the same cold tone. "In a moment, I am going to drop you. When I do, you will march directly to the governor, you will not deviate in your path, you will not call anyone, you will not say anything. You will then stay there as we have a nice, quiet conversation with her Ladyship," Tera emphasized the word in a very mocking tone overtop the ice in her voice, "and we will decide where we go from there. Do you understand me?"

Jane tried to speak, failed, and with wide eyes, a waxy complexion, and sweat pouring down her face, simply nodded rapidly. Tera then, true to her word, dropped Jane, the woman failing to catch herself and collapsing to the floor. Nobody bothered offering her a hand up, not under Tera's impressive glare, and the woman spent just a moment to scrabble to her feet and take off down the corridor, casting one nervous glance over her shoulder to see the others were following before leading them deeper into the building. They followed the woman in silence until they eventually reached a set of heavy, thick wooden doors with several reliefs carved on the front of them; clearly the office of someone of importance. Jane knocked and then opened the doors without waiting for a reply, stiffly marching into the planetary governor's office in front of the group.

This was Beth's first time seeing the governor, and she had to say…she was not very impressed. People could, of course, disguise themselves, hide their aura, make their level appear different from what it really was, and much more, but…Beth just didn't get that impression. The governor wasn't very powerful at all, nor did she really give a sense that she was some kind of evil mastermind controlling everything from behind the scenes. It really made Beth wonder exactly what was going on with this little farce, watching the short woman practically cowering behind her desk just from the fact there were other people in the room. Tera wasn't even exerting any energy into her surroundings anymore, and the governor had practically pissed herself as soon as the group entered, before she even would have had time to Identify anyone or get a sense of the situation.

"Now," said Tera in a commanding voice, pushing Jane forward with her cane to stumble and nearly fall in front of the governor's desk. "Shall we cut through the red tape and get to the heart of the matter?"

"I w-wasn't informed o-of a m-meeting," the governor stammered out, which elicited a sigh from Tera and a heavy eyeroll from Beth.

Before Tera could respond and further take control of the situation, four people ran up the hallway outside and burst into the governor's office, running in front of the governor's desk and confronting Tera. The four were clearly security personnel, but Beth was rather dubious of them, primarily because of how they were nowhere to be seen until things were already dire and then showed up quite late. It was also a bit suspicious how there were no security members with or even near the governor, but Beth was pretty sure Tera would be getting answers rather quickly. One of the security personnel had checked on Jane before turning to confront Tera with the other three.