Chương 636: Limitless Path Chapter Six Hundred Fifty-Five

Tellerin These negotiations were a terrible idea. It wasn't like the groups were going to get anything sorted that they weren't going to get finish sorting in the arena, and he wasn't even sure why they had been called. Sure, they said they were bringing in a group of 'mediators,' but he was absolutely not convinced that they would have anything useful to say, let alone contribute. He was sure the whole thing was going to fall through and they would wind up in the arena again, which was just fine with him.

Fighting in the arena was how civilized people settled things, though there was still plenty of skewed matches, uneven fights, subterfuge, betrayal, treachery, and lack of experience that got people into all sorts of drama and trouble and made things far more interesting. Just fighting on the floor was the least part of what a big clan or company that relied on the arena was involved in, or the smallest part of what a real arena fighter might have to deal with.

The whole dispute right now was endemic of that; two large clans feuding, sending challenges and trying to sabotage each other outside the arena while remaining highly polite face-to-face and perfectly respectful on the arena floor. It wasn't like those people that settled things by letting the situation devolve into actual war.

Instead, they would posture and politic and maneuver while increasingly powerful Wayfarers fought in increasingly spectacular, and often restrictive, matches, for both the amusement of the fans and the honor of the clan. His clan, a powerful merchant family with quite a few connections, was the aggrieved party now, fighting a long-time rival for what felt like the hundredth time.

Tellerin wasn't all that old, no more than sixty objective time, but he had seen his fair share of squabbles and quarrels break out on his journey to Enlightened and this was one of the biggest blowups he had yet seen. Hell, the only reason he had a seat in the room was that he had just managed to finish his Mana Physique and complete his tenth rebirth, stepping into Enlightened.

The two sides were very clearly divided, each bunched up on one side of the long conference room as they waited for whoever these mediators were to arrive, and there were already a few barbs flying back and forth. The opposing clan, a group of merchants that acted as mercenaries often enough that he wasn't sure why they insisted on still trying to label themselves merchants, had 'stolen' a deal from his clan head, which had kicked the whole thing off.

At this point, in his private thoughts, Tellerin wasn't sure if it wasn't any more than a cheap excuse, as the clans seemed to love to be perpetually at war, and considering their battlefield was the more civilized arena, those wars weren't nearly as devastating as they could be. In fact, the battles between clans could be quite lucrative, if one knew what to do, what to invest in, and especially, who to place a big bet on.

As the two old patriarchs, both early in Ascended and still with a good few centuries in them, at least, sniped back and forth at each other across the table, Tellerin's attention was caught by the door moving slightly before swinging open silently. He wasn't the only one, not in a room full of duelists and warriors, and the patriarchs of the clans had gone silent and focused on the doorway the instant after he had.

Walking in under the pressure of the stares of two crotchety old Ascendants wasn't the kind of pressure just anybody could handle, but it became clear very quickly that these 'mediators' weren't just a group of random nobodies. The first person through the door was a woman of startling beauty with strong wolf-like features, from the lupine ears atop her head to the mantle of fur to the tail, it made her heritage quite obvious.

Right behind her was a kresnik, and Tellerin had to do a quick search on his communicator to verify that was her species, as he hadn't ever encountered one in person before. It took his brain just a second to adjust as the two took places by the door, but he realized they were quite tall, likely to be the two tallest in the room if everyone were on their feet.

Next through the door was another great beauty, a raven-haired young woman looking like she could be one of Tellerin's four grandchildren, all of them granddaughters and all of them already proving fierce fighters in the dungeons and arenas. Unlike his granddaughters, however, this woman, despite her apparent youth and great beauty, had an air of power and majesty about her, a hard and steely look lurking in her eyes telling of many years of combat experience.

It wasn't all that unusual that someone very powerful would look young for a long time, though not this young, but there were plenty of treatments, alchemical, magical, and technological, that could restore the look of lost youth. Still, he had the impression that she was somewhat young, at least when compared to some of the old fogies in the room, and that her youth was natural.

That would mean that she had reached a very high level of power very young, as in reaching Empowered by her early twenties and Enlightened not all that long afterwards, but that was crazy. He hadn't even recovered from his analysis of the raven-haired beauty, who had glanced around the room and then taken a seat by the door, something that confused him as he figured her for the lead mediator, when another astonishing woman walked in.

It took only a fraction of an instant to recognize her heritage, which also had him reeling, considering they now had a powerful human, a wolf, a kresnik, and a damned dragon in the room. The woman made the others three look small, mainly from her exaggerated height, though she did have ample curves and plenty of muscle both.

Tellerin was staggered at this point, thinking that they had finally gotten to the person who would be leading these talks, but the dragon sat down in the corner next to the raven-haired beauty and took her hand, making it clear they were more than teammates. The already bewildered Tellerin was dealt yet another, even heavier blow as one more person tried to squeeze into the room, and try to squeeze in was the right way to describe it.

They were in a CRA building in a CRA meeting room, which had large doorways and high ceilings, and the man entering the room now still had to turn sideways and bend down to enter. When he had squeezed through the door and stood fully upright, he towered over everyone else, even the dragon woman, his head scraping the ceiling and his frame filling the end of the room.

He walked up to the table, took one look at the chair at the end, and made it disappear with a gesture before a massive wooden construct that had more in common with a starship landing pad than a chair appeared and he sat in it with a noise of creaking protest from the edifice. If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

Tellerin had been so surprised by what he was assuming was the mediators that he hadn't even checked their levels or strength yet, and was in for another shock when he did so. None of them looked all that old, making him really feel his age, and all of them were rebirth sixteen.

He had to rub his eyes for a moment, just to make sure he wasn't seeing things, but all of them were at rebirth sixteen and over level three hundred, meaning they had progressed quite well towards the max level of this rebirth, if they were intending to push that far. Judging by the kind of strength the team presented, he was pretty sure this was a group that went near or all the way to the limit every time, which made them even scarier, considering how many stat points someone like that would have.

And if they did True Rebirths? He didn't want to even think about it.

"I'm Bjorn Valiantheart, and I am here to act as your official mediator for these talks," the huge man rumbled, having a voice even deeper than Tellerin had anticipated.

"Is everyone present that should be participatory in these discussions?"

"You have both of us here," Tellerin's clan leader replied, gesturing between himself and the other clan leader.

"That's all you need." Tellerin wanted to throw in something, targeted at his clan leader, about respect and diplomacy, but the old man was touchy when there was a feud going on and Tellerin wasn't going to get on his bad side. Not again, at least. Still, he wasn't sure exactly how strong this group was, considering size didn't necessarily equate to strength, but people the CRA thought could handle these negotiations wouldn't be pushovers, either.

He just hoped it wouldn't be his neck on the chopping block when things got tense and somebody had to be thrown to the wolves to appease the heated tempers.

"If that is both of your opinion?" the man rumbled, looking between both clan leaders. When neither disputed him, he continued, "Fine. Very well, we shall start the talks. I will tell you right now, my team is composed of five Gold Emblems that are all currently undergoing testing to be promoted to Platinum Emblem, so what we all say has weight.

Remember that; if anyone from my team asks you for further information or tells you to do something, understand you are not speaking to some form of hired help that is here to pad numbers. Are we clear?" The big man looked around the room at that, but it was clear from his tone that he wanted no more than nods of agreement, which he got even from the cantankerous clan leaders.

Having a team of five Gold Emblems was already impressive enough; these were the same people who would be working the desk, seeing to requests, helping members of all levels, and, most importantly, officiating duels in the arena. Pissing off a Gold Emblem was a dim decision at the best of times, and a full team of five of them, all of which were on the path to become Platinum Emblems, was definitely a team to walk on eggshells around.

In point of fact, given that Platinum Emblems were typically Hall Masters or ran special assignments for the CRA, these five must be even more powerful and well-connected than he had first assumed. He even had the temerity to snap a quick message to the clan leader saying just as much, which got him a cold, but slightly approving, glance in response. His clan head was ornery and combative, not stupid; even he could clearly read between the lines.

"Good," Bjorn continued.

"Now that that is understood, let us get to the heart of the matter."

"Are we not going to be introduced to the entire team?" the head of the opposing clan asked, though keeping to a moderately respectful tone. The massive man glanced at, of all people, the raven-haired beauty, who gave him a shallow nod. Just that was all the communication they needed, and Tellerin was sure nothing was sent over the communicators; not because he was hacking them or anything, but because this was clearly a team that had worked together for a long time.

They didn't need to speak, or even use hand gestures, to convey the information they wanted others on the team to pick up. A raised eyebrow, and tilted head, and small wave or flick of the wrist; just simple movements were enough to convey the person's intent to the other team member.

"Behind me, you will find Blood Bell, Red Wolf Queen and our team's scout," he said. The red-furred wolf gave a very slight bow at that.

"Next to her, you will find Vallenna Ameriah Sanguinia, primary heir of the Milky Way kresnik clan and our fastest melee fighter." The kresnik woman gave a much more proper, though still not very deferential, bow to the room. Tellerin was already a little overawed just at that; there was a woman from a very rare and powerful bloodline who was clearly incredibly strong, and then there was the heir to one of the wealthiest clans in the entire galaxy.

All thoughts of the feud had flown right out the window, and if the looks on the two clan heads' faces were any indication, they were having the same thought. Being able to establish even a tentative connection with Vallenna, who also had her own connections through the Young Scions project, would be enough that he bet the clan head would chop his own arms off just for the chance at.

"To my right, in the extra seats, you may note Seraphinalla Narzareen Andromeda Schwarzdracchen, heir to the Milky Way's Black Dragon Clan," Bjorn continued. Tellerin just about fell out of his seat, and he noted that he wasn't the only one struggling to control his reactions. Just what, or better yet, who the hell was this team? Not one but two heirs to two of the most powerful clans in the galaxy, both rumored to have an Exalted hiding somewhere in their ranks, on the same team and at this negotiation?

It seemed overkill to the extreme.

"Beside her is her wife, Elizabeth Bell, who, yes, is bond companion to Blood and our team leader," Bjorn continued. The woman gave the room a nod, and while being deeply connected to these others was impressive, she seemed the least impressive there. That was, until a spark of pure white fire danced around her and the two clan heads nearly injured themselves in their haste to rise and bow to her, a shocking sight considering they had only nodded at the others, even Seraphinalla.

Tellerin's confusion was cleared up rather quickly when a priority one communication hit his comm unit from the clan head, and he read the short message, eyes going wide as he processed what he was currently experiencing was an Ideal. He had heard of such things before, but he had never even seen an Exalted in person, let alone met one, so he had no concept to which to compare it to.

"My apologies," Tellerin's clan head said in a very respectful tone.

"But, if I may be so bold as to ask, is your current rebirth correct, Lady Bell?"

"Just Beth is fine," the woman said with a lazy gesture.

"And yes, we've just done our sixteenth rebirth, as a team, and gotten a few levels to bring us towards seventeen."

"Thank, you, Lad-I mean, Beth," the clan head said with another small bow. Tellerin didn't really understand why the clan head was being even more respectful, but he didn't need to ask, as another message, composed in an instant at the speed communicators worked, let alone the speed a fast Ascended could use one, and sent to the group.

If she really only was at rebirth sixteen, and she had fully completed her Ideal, as it appeared she had, than that meant she was both a prodigy, and likely the next Exalted the galaxy would see, at least publicly, considering how open she was currently being. Someone that strong with that much potential would already wield great power and influence, and only more would come to them in the future.

Also, the patriarch himself noted that he might not be able to beat the woman in a one-on-one fight, which rocked Tellerin all the harder, causing his jaw to drop. The patriarch was both powerful for his rebirth and extremely experienced; if he was saying he wasn't confident of winning, then this woman must be a real powerhouse.