Limitless Path Chapter Six Hundred Eighty-Five (Patreon)

The first run was important, but Beth had to admit it was mostly a snoozefest. They hadn’t had all that much difficulty with the maze, not with her able to reduce any confusion from the space twisting, and the beasts and enemies were strong, but nothing they couldn’t handle at this point. The biggest factor was time, considering they were under a time crunch at the moment, but even that wasn’t a huge issue. The real test would be once they rested a minute and Beth slammed a spike into the place. It was one of the few times she hoped the spike created a more dramatic change, as she really just hated labyrinths overall, and the rest of the group wasn’t far off her opinion.

The first spike produced mixed results, which was frustrating, as it was really rare for spikes to produce different results. Sure, there were minor variations every time a spike was used, but if a spike produced some specific layout, that was likely what it was going to be every time. The lava dungeon was also a good example of that, as the layout had only had minor variations, but it was a mountain range with lakes of lava in the valleys every time.

The spike made the dungeon a series of twisting passages and interlinked rooms in some kind of massive, twisted structure that was almost impossible to comprehend. The layout was more straightforward than it was in the non-spiked version, but it retained the strange, twisted qualities that had thrown the group off in the regular version. Once again, the fact that Beth was able to cut through the strange twisting made the dungeon far easier than it otherwise would have been. The enemies were strong enough that the group did have to take their time and be a bit cautious with clearing the dungeon, particularly the boss, or they could actually get into some trouble.

The spike made the progress slow, but the rewards were so good that it made up for the loss of clear speed several times over. Even still, a lot of what they were pulling out was going to be sold directly to trading firms or stores or even individuals, not be put up in the big auction. It was a lot of money, quite a lot of money, but they struggled for weeks to get a real, big ticket item that would wow, at least something on the level of the gems or the liquid they had found underground. Beth was starting to think it was a hopeless cause when they finally got their lucky break, and even that came with some caveats.

“What is it? Again, but simpler,” Beth said to Val.

“Okay, let me explain simply,” Val said, having tried to start with the technical terms first. “This is a skill crystal, right?”

“Following so far,” said Beth, crossing her arms as she looked at the crystal Val was holding up in her very long fingers.

“And it’s a one-time use crystal, yes?” Val said.

“Still following,” Beth said with a nod.

“But what’s the skill?” Blood growled.

“That’s what I’m getting to next,” Val grumbled, aggressively scratching behind Blood’s ears. “This is a crystal that can copy a single skill from a single person, up to a certain level. They’re really, really rare, as in, you find one of these once a century or something like that.”

“Rare means valuable,” Beth cut in to add.

“Oh yes, rare does mean valuable,” Val said with a grin. “In this case, rare means extremely fucking valuable, as in, so valuable you can’t really get a good sense of it just from talking about how damn good the item is.”

“Better than anything else we have?” Beth asked, only slightly skeptical.

“Much better,” Val said definitively. “It’s even better we have it blank. Sometimes, rarely, people find them and use them, injecting some mediocre skill into the crystal, then they try to sell that shit skill. At that point, it’s just a shitty, single-use skill crystal. Who would pay massive fucking money for that?”

“But, if someone bought it, and they had some Diamond or Mithril skill, some tier five skill or tier six skill, that they wanted to pass on to someone else…” Beth said.

“Exactly. Rich and powerful people who have kids or grandkids they want to pass some crazy good skill to can use one of these transfer crystals to do that without any loss. It saves tons of time and effort in teaching the person a skill,” Val explained. “Not only that, some fucking skills just can’t be learned by some people, or are extremely difficult and would require insane time and effort to pick up. The crystal can ensure that a skill that is thought impossible to learn can be seamlessly transferred to another person, like a damned cheat.”

“Then we’re done here,” Beth said firmly. “Back home and rest.”

Her proclamation wasn’t met with any great rejoicing, not from a team as determined and dedicated as hers, but it also wasn’t protested at all. Nobody wanted to stay out in the middle of nowhere doing this stupid maze any longer than they had to, being subjected to cold and frost infused with enough mana it could even aggravate them. The team was more than happy to return to Zephyr Prime a couple weeks early and rest, having twelve days or just under before the big auction. They weren’t going to do anything before or after that, so it was rest, though rest for this team still involved certain activities that included fighting. They had some distance yet to go for max level, so making use of Beth’s gate for a little level was the main activity.

Beth and Sera had errands to run, however, as this was not the kind of auction that one could show up, day of, and submit items for consideration. It wasn’t the kind of auction that one could just submit things to, period, without some kind of connection. They did have that connection in the Black Ships, fortunately, or they couldn’t even get anything they had reviewed and entered, even if they had twelve years, let alone twelve days. They wanted to enter four items, though Beth wanted to do it as three lots, but a lot of it depended on the auction house themselves, considering they had ultimate authority on both what went in and how it was organized. Isoldorra was only too happy to introduce them to the auction house, at which point Beth tilted her head at Sera, letting the dragon leave with the Black Ships senior.

“You don’t want them to stay?” asked the man that had been introduced to them as Tarvek, one of the three appraisers for the auction house.

“I’m sure it’s fine,” Beth said, reclining in her seat. “I don’t expect you to try any funny business, and I think I have a good idea of the value of what I have to present today.”

“Very well then,” he said with a nod. “Let’s see what you have.”

“Two items first,” Beth said, pulling out the crystals. “My team was thinking these would be interesting to auction together as one lot, but your auction house might disagree.”

“Hmm, let us see,” Tarvek muttered, picking up the first crystal and carefully inspecting it. “A rather rare find, though it isn’t anything extraordinary. I would normally say that it could be held for a smaller auction, but let me have a look at the other crystal.”

He carefully examined the second crystal, taking time to compare it to the first, and doing something with two skills to analyze both of them. He then said, “Yes, I think the idea does have merit. It won’t be a final item in the finale section at the end or anything too impressive, but if we bundled it, we could use these as an opener to get the crowd warmed up.”

“Not something great to hear, considering the crowd doesn’t spend as much when they’re cold,” Beth grunted, shaking her head.

“Well, let’s hope your other items are more impressive,” Tarvek said, though there wasn’t recrimination in his tone, just a mild manner that spoke of having done this tens of thousands of times.

“I have a small sample of the next item,” Beth said, making a vial that Kris had given her appear. The phoenix had crafted a vial, with Val’s help, to contain the special liquid they had found, making sure it didn’t lose any potency or anything. Beth didn’t want to show off the medallion all over the place without a care, nor that she had so much of the liquid. Based on the auction house’s interest, she would decide just how much she was willing to offer for sale.

“Now this…” Tarvek said when he saw the vial and the contents, but trailing off as he held it himself and inspected it. It was clear he was much more interested in this than the two crystals, and he spent far more time examining it, being far more thorough. Beth could tell he activated more skills than the first time, and he also activated several skills more than once, likely confirming results and logging more data to prove the item was exactly what he thought.

“Better than the first offering?” Beth asked, not able to help a slight bit of smugness creeping into her voice as she sat back in her chair.

“Much better,” Tarvek said absentmindedly, still enamored with the vial. It took him another minute before he was done with his full assessment, setting the liquid done and looking at her pointedly. “The liquid is very impressive, something we have seen at this auction house in a few thousand years. I am assuming, and correct me if I am mistaken, that there is more of it than this one vial?”

“There is a lot more of it than one vial,” Beth said, not bothering to hide the slightly vicious grin that crept across her face. “However, the matter of the interest of your establishment was in question. I take it that you think this is a much more worthy showpiece?”

“Far more worthy,” Tarvek said, still rather calm. He had likely seen an insane number of unbelievably impressive items come across his desk over the years, so he was not exactly flustered even after she pulled out something rather nice. “We certainly wouldn’t use this as an introduction item, if that’s what you are asking through your implication. We would not, however, be using this as a finale item, not unless you have a lake’s worth of it.”

“Not quite a lake’s worth, but we do have a few stron that we are willing to sell,” Beth said, still not going into precise detail.

“A few stron, is it?” Tarvek said, the elf still appearing mild, though he shifted slightly in his chair. “Well, not a lake’s worth, but enough that we are more than interested in that.”

“How does ten stron sound?” Beth asked, trying to remain casual as she said it. That was ten percent of what they had found, but they needed to offer something with some decent value to get the house interested.

“It would be a second half item, though not a finale item,” Tarvek said.

“Well, then try this,” Beth said, pulling out the crystal and setting it on the desk.

“A skill crystal…no, wait! A transference crystal. And not a cheap one or some tawdry knock-off, but the real deal!” Tarvek exclaimed, his calm facade cracking just a bit. “This can contain a tier seven skill. Now, this is the kind of thing we’re looking for for this auction.”

“Hmm, so that would be a second half item, too?” Beth asked, her voice just a bit coy as she glanced between the crystal and the elf.

“It would definitely be a second half item,” he replied firmly. “I can’t imagine it would be anything less, but it could very well be the first of the finale items. It is not, sadly, enough to take the top spot this auction, as we have two incredible items prepared for the last two slots that will be practically impossible to top, but it will be a featured item. The old fogies that are constantly pestering us for skill crystal and templates and such will lose their minds at this.”

“You have two items that are that good?” Beth asked, not having to fake the surprise in her voice, though she might be laying it on a bit thick.

“Indeed, and you will just have to wait and see for yourself,” Tarvek said, keeping his smooth, professional smile as he shot her down. “Those items haven’t been announced or told to anyone, even behind closed doors, as the term goes. We are saving them for a big surprise reveal, so you will have to wait till the end to find out what they are. I will say, even if these other items sell well, you should still bring plenty of coin, and not just for all the other amazing finale items. The rest of what we have on offer for this special showing is sure to do a lot more than pique your interest.”

“I wasn’t planning on skimping, but we have our eye on something in particular,” Beth said with a slight sigh.

“The deed,” Tarvek said simply, shaking his head just slightly.

“You think it’s not a good idea?” Beth asked, quirking a brow as his reaction.

“I think everyone and their mother, and grandmother, and great-grandmother, and great-grandmother’s brother and uncle and cousin, are all after that deed,” he said with another small shake of his head. “If you’re determined to win the property, you should bring plenty of coin. Fortunately for you, it was slated as the first finale item, now being bumped to second by your crystal, if my estimates of what the auction house owner will do is correct. The Great Delight Auction House has certain ideas about what should be displayed when, but you’ll know all your earnings from your sales by the time the deed is up for auction.”

“A finale item,” Beth said with a sigh. “I had hoped, somehow, that it would have been something to open the second half and get people stirred up or something like that.”

“No, no, no, not even close, my dear,” Tarvek said with a slight chuckle. “That deed is far too valuable to be anything but an item for the finale, though that should tell you what the two items I hinted are worth, that they both surpass the deed to a prime property on Millennia’s Echo, one in the heart of the City of Mended Dreams itself.”

“I don’t even want to think about it, actually,” Beth said, sighing and rubbing her temples. “I have enough of a headache just thinking about that damned deed, and how much we really need to get it. Give me your honest opinion; what’s it worth?”

“What’s the deed worth?” he asked for clarification, getting a nod from Beth. “Well, if it were just sold outright to someone willing, maybe five neutronium, depending a lot on several circumstances, but that’s not going to be the case here. If you’re asking how much I think the bidding will reach, well, I try not to poison the water, so-to-speak, but I think you should have most of a Black Ruby if you want to get that deed.”

“Wonderful,” Beth said, her sarcastic tone clear.

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