Chương 584: Limitless Path Chapter Six Hundred Six

The five of them who were interested, or mostly interested, in getting their Platinum Emblems made their way to the nearest CRA Hall while the rest of the team was left to their own devices. Registering that they were interested in starting the process of obtaining Platinum Emblems was quite easy, though actually acquiring any Platinum missions was just as difficult as Beth had assumed. Zephyr Prime was very peaceful with there rarely being any Gold missions available, let alone Platinum missions.

The group was definitely going to have to venture forth, just as they had with Gold missions, though Platinum missions were rarer and more difficult. Especially considering five of them were going to be working on upgrading their Emblems over the next few years, missions scarcity was going to be the biggest obstacle they faced.

As to the tests and reviews they would have to undergo, Beth knew that they all had flawless records and were far stronger than the minimum requirements to achieve Platinum, so only the mission requirements really concerned her. Bjorn and Blood returned to the mansion, but Beth had been interested in a stop at the Black Ships, though she didn't intend to sell most of what they had recently gotten, especially not the medallion.

She did not even intend to have the medallion looked at, as that was another hidden card the team had that they could suddenly deploy, or secretly deploy, to get out of a bad situation. One of the main things at this point, other than selling a couple valuable pieces the team had gotten in the last couple months, was to check in with the Black Ships and see what was in demand right now.

Not only that, but a company like the Black Ships had to run expeditions fairly often, and getting involved in one of their expeditions would be both an easy way to earn money and a way to curry a bit of favor with the powerful, wealthy trading firm. Illiem was the one to great them, at least after they had walked up to the counter, and he took the three of them, Sera and Val having tagged along, up to a private lounge to discuss their business.

"What can the Ships help you with today, Mrs. Bell? Or is it Mrs. Schwarzdracchen?" Illiem asked.

"I think either is fine," Beth said, glancing at Sera, who just shrugged. Of course the dragon wasn't going to care about such an issue.

"Of course. What can I help you with?" Illiem said.

"Two things, or maybe three, depending on how you consider it," Beth said, holding up her fingers.

"First, we have a couple things to sell. Well, we have a good handful of things to sell, but we only have a couple things that the Black Ships will likely be interested in. Could you take a look?"

"Certainly," Illiem said, taking the couple items Beth withdrew, the team not having really gotten all that much that was rare or highly valued. Analyzing the items and determining a price to offer only took only a single minute in total, the man probably even more experienced with valuable materials, equipment, consumables, and more than someone like Selene.

"Now that that's done, what are your other agenda items?" Illiem asked.

"Okay, second, what's really selling well right now? I guess part two and part three are kind of combined, but we're looking to make some good money right now," Beth said.

"Well, very rare or high-rarity equipment always sells at a premium," Illiem said, thinking about how much to explain.

"Ah, we have three smiths and two alchemists in our group, but we're only at peak Expert or just into Master. If you have materials that early Masters could use to create something good, we'd be interested in buying in bulk, and I am talking about rare materials," Beth said.

"We aren't going to be crafting any Transcendent gear any time soon, however, so I wouldn't count on that as a way to make a lot of money."

"Well, there's always joining an expedition," Illiem started. Beth snapped her fingers and pointed at him, saying, "That was part three. We were wanting to do some expeditions and get some money and resources out of them. The Black Ships have any expeditions coming up that would need a full team of powerful Enlightened?"

"A full team of Enlightened led by a pseudo-Exalted, hmm…" Illiem said, scratching his chin.

"Sadly, I don't think we have anything that fits the bill."

"Really?" asked Beth, rather surprised.

"Do you guys just not do that many expeditions, or you think we wouldn't be a good fit?"

"Ah, how much do you know about expeditions?" Illiem asked.

"Well, they're usually done by a larger group, often multiple teams together, and they explore some unexplored place to find valuable resources, unknown dungeons, etc." Beth said.

"Yes, correct. However, did you know there are technically five ratings for expeditions? Or rather, I should say five categories of expedition," he said. Beth looked at the other two, getting a blank look from Sera but a small nod from Val before saying, "Well, I guess Val knows about it, but I haven't looked into it.

I participated in one thing that was technically an expedition, a foray into some ruins that had monsters appearing near them that had a few dozen people participate, but that's my only real experience with or knowledge of expeditions."

"Right, well, I will give you a brief explainer, and that was a good segue," Illiem said.

"There are four typical ratings for expeditions, though there is a fifth category that is rarely used. The first is what you just described, or covers that as part of it, assuming the world you were on was inhabited?" When Beth nodded in response, he continued, "The first category is an unknown piece of land, sometimes called a Subjugation Expedition. These are typically performed when several groups are brought together on a settled planet to explore an unknown place or to stop a monster outbreak or beast tide.

These expeditions are usually the safest, all things being equal, but they are often the least rewarding."

"How's that?" Beth asked, frowning slightly.

"Some of those areas are, yes, quite dangerous, but the thing about settled planets, ones with teleporter networks or CRA access, is that Ascended, or even Exalted, can slip over and grab anything valuable without anyone knowing. A place that would be very dangerous for your current team, even with your personal strength, could easily be cleaned out by even a weak Exalted in a day or two, and it would be rather easy for them to do it without anyone being the wiser," Illiem explained.

"The treasures one can pull out of such expeditions aren't always as valuable as others, and you have a chance of the place only being generally known as 'unexplored,' but in reality having been totally picked clean by someone powerful who didn't bother to say they were doing it. The CRA tried to keep track of such things, but it is far from foolproof." This novel's true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.

"Okay, I can see how they would both be safe and less rewarding, but they have to be pretty fast, right?" Beth asked.

"Perhaps not as fast as you think," Illiem said, shaking his head.

"They often take weeks, if not up to a couple months, and when you say less rewarding, well, the Black Ships doesn't even do Subjugation Expeditions. The trading firm considers them a total waste of time and doesn't participate in any of such expedition types because they pay so little.

If we were to assume several things, such as a low number of participates, the area having not been secretly explored by a small group or individual who is much more powerful, a high percentage on the shares, and low taxes and fees, you might still be looking at five mithril coins for something like this. And, by the way, that would be what your team of nine earns, not you individually."

"Shit. So, you're saying, on a good day, or good month, I guess, that one of these expeditions would earn us each like, fifty or sixty diamond coins?" Beth said with a deep frown.

"Precisely. And, as I said, those are under ideal conditions and circumstances. If you have a large expedition, little valuable loot, and high taxes and fees, well, you might each make two or three diamond coins, perhaps even less. And that's with weeks of work, keep in mind," he said.

"Yeah, so, cross those off the list," Beth said, scrunching her nose as she dismissed that type of outing.

"Right, then next we have planetary expeditions. These are a bit rare, perhaps even rarer than the third kind, as this is exploring an unexplored planet in a settled system," Illiem continued.

"Higher risk and higher reward, but there aren't all that many systems with one or more settled planets where the rest of the system hasn't been explored in at least a cursory way. That means these expeditions happen less often, and when they do, they are still often going to worlds that were explored, just lightly so, and now the expedition is mapping the world more fully.

Considering these are more thorough mapping and conquering projects, they take quite a lot of time, but there's always at least some better payout. While a small team of Ascended or a wandering Exalted could clear a zone, such as a small mountain range that hasn't been explored, by themselves quite quickly, clearing a whole planet is a lot more work and time. Consequently, even when others have explored, there's still plenty left to find, though the amount of time these take, as I said, is often quite long.

Some of them can last up to eighteen months for a single planet, depending on a host of factors."

"I like the better reward part, and the risk probably wouldn't be too high considering our strength, but the time component is a bit annoying," Beth said with a sigh.

"That's why the Black Ships doesn't do those very often," Illiem said with a slight shake of his head.

"The time investment, tying up a large number of our people for months or more than a year, combined with moderate returns, makes it not worth the expenditure."

"So, then, what expeditions do you guys do?" Beth asked.

"Well, we've gotten to that now," Illiem said with a small smile.

"The third kind of expedition is a system exploration expedition. This is exploring systems that haven't ever been explored, haven't been explored in a long time, or used to be settled systems but got overwhelmed or had a civilizational collapse.

The danger of these expeditions is rated much higher because, while the enemies faced can sometimes not even exceed level three hundred, which would be a paltry challenge to your group, sometimes you can stumble into level one thousand beasts or monsters with fifty rebirths lurking about. It can be very hard to judge, even with a preliminary scout by an Ascended, what is waiting for a team on one of these expeditions, but the rewards are much greater.

Also, the time spent isn't always that great, as these are often more treasure hunts and light subjugation missions than they are thorough preparations for colonization."

"And the Black Ships does a lot of these, I take it?" Beth asked.

"Yes. Sadly, these missions are rather dangerous and we require any team that works with us to have at least one Ascended on the team. Even given your pseudo-Exalted status, we can't accept your team for one of these missions until one of you hits rebirth twenty. After that point, we would be happy to have your assistance on these expeditions, and the pay is quite lucrative," Illiem explained.

"What are the other two kinds of expeditions, then?" Beth asked, just a slight bit hopeful that maybe one of the others was something the Black Ships would let them in on.

"The fourth kind is a Forbidden Zone Expedition," Illiem began.

"Ah, I think I actually know about those," Beth said.

"I talked with an Exalted that had been on one, and apparently several strong Ascended died on that expedition. He said he wasn't sure the reward had been worth the sacrifice."

"Yes, well, as you already know then, Forbidden Zones are extremely dangerous places, called that because the CRA has forbidden entry. An expedition can be setup to such a zone, with their permission, but they are extremely dangerous and not something we undertake all that often," Illiem said.

"Yeah, I don't want to do anything like that until we're all Ascended," Val said, giving Beth a small glare.

"Hey, I wasn't going to suggest anything," Beth said, holding her hands up defensively.

"What's the fifth kind you mentioned?" Sera asked Illiem to redirect the discussion.

"Ah, yes, those," he said with a small sigh.

"Every once in a while, some daft fools get it into their heads to explore the Deep Dark, the space between galaxies, sometimes even the great voids that exist. It's not that such explorations are impossible, but they are the most dangerous kinds by far, as a team could encounter literally anything in that vast darkness, and there's absolutely no way to know ahead of time what one is wandering into.

A group that had Exalted and Manumitted as part of the expedition could do that kind of exploration, and even then there would be danger, but you don't see all that many Exalted running around, certainly not with boatloads of free time on their hands, not even mentioning that there are hardly any Manumitted about.

I myself only know of the two publicly acknowledged Manumitted in this galaxy, Zane Farstrider and Fallon Whiteheart, and neither of them has the time or inclination to go bumbling about in the Deep Dark."

"I take it even the Black Ships doesn't do those kinds of expeditions?" Beth said.

"Of course not," Illiem said, shaking his head rather vehemently this time.

"The risks with such a venture are, quite frankly, ludicrous, and the rewards are too tenuous. For every story of a team or expedition going out into the Deep Dark and hauling back a block of white adamantine the size of a house, there are five stories of teams finding nothing and twenty stories of teams departing and, well, those teams never being heard from again."

"Right, extreme risk, unknown reward. Sounds like something to hold off on for quite a while," Beth said.

"Yes, and assembling an expedition is hard," Illiem further explained.

"You could venture out with just your team, but that further compounds the risk. You really want an expedition for something like that, but very few people would be willing to sign up. There are so many safer ways to get fantastic rewards, whether it's from mega dungeons like the Eternal Depths, strange spaces like the Great Wastes, or even Forbidden Zones, all of them pose less overall risk than Deep Dark exploration with much better guarantees to even have rewards."