"So, okay, loot done," Beth said. "Now, Bjorn, can you tell us what the fuck that was all about?"

  "Hmm," he replied. "It's, well, a bit complicated."

  "Complicated how?" Andrea asked.

  "Two things," Bjorn said. "First, I can't tell you everything. Second, the more you know about this, the more dangerous it is. Do you still want in?"

  Everyone in the room looked around at each other, other than Veren, who just shrugged casually. When nobody objected, Beth gave the titan descendant a nod, indicating for him to continue.

  "Right, well, first things first; the titans and giants didn't disappear. That's a myth," Bjorn hit them with a bombshell to start. "That's the commonly held mythos, and most people believe that, and that's fine, as most don't need to know what really happened or is still happening. Not with this issue."

  "But there aren't any more giants or titans? If they didn't disappear, where are they?" Sera asked.

  "Perhaps I am not being clear with my terminology," Bjorn said, sitting back in his personal chair so it creaked. "People assume the giants and titans all died. That's false. People assume the titans and giants all left this universe. That's false. People assume they've been captured and are prisoners. That's also false."

  "So, they didn't go to another universe or something, they didn't get slaughtered, and they're not prisoners. So, what, they just all decided to go into hiding at the exact same time? And nobody's found them in, what, ten thousand years since?" Beth asked sarcastically.

  "More than ten thousand years," Veren said off-handedly, twisting the new ring on his right middle finger.

  "Much more," Bjorn agreed. "How much do you know about the Eternal Depths?"

  Beth sat up straight but quickly tried to hide her sudden reaction, though she was sure everyone in the room, even Neph, noticed. "Very little," she said a bit lamely.

  "It's a near endless dungeon that can be accessed from near the center of this galaxy," Veren said. "It's so dangerous most Ascended don't want to go in, and it's said that the treasures inside are unimaginable. It's considered by some to be the most dangerous and also most unknown place in the entire galaxy."

  "That's…sort of correct," Bjorn said, tilting one massive hand back and forth. "It's very dangerous, yes. It's mostly unexplored, yes. But people have done more than venture inside; my people built a city there."

  "They did what?!" exclaimed Sera. "The dragon clans desire resources from the Depths more than anything else. We've explored more of that place than any other clan or sect or nation or business in the galaxy, which is still only a tiny fraction, and I've never heard anything of this. You're telling me that not only did your ancestors explore more than we did, that they built an entire city within a dungeon, the most sought-after dungeon in the galaxy, and nobody else knows about it?"

  "Yes and no," Bjorn answered calmly. "People know about it, at the very least in the general sense, but my ancestors did build a city far down in the Eternal Depths. Not only that, that feat was replicated in at least a dozen other places throughout the universe, when my people, and the giants, were at the very height of their power. What few, if any, know is why they all suddenly disappeared, retreating to those cities and locking the gates tight. I do not know myself, so I'm not baiting you saying that, but that's what happened. That, and some group, I am almost positive, ventured into the Maze."

  "They entered the Maze? You're sure?" Sera asked.

  "Hold on. What's the Maze?" Andrea interjected.

  "The Maze of Eternity. In the same way the Eternal Depths are a massive, incredible, dangerous place within the Milky Way, well, the Maze of Eternity is like that…except for the whole universe. It's said that people far stronger than Ascended, even stronger than Exalted, enter the Maze to seek…well, a lot of things. Treasure, glory, enlightenment, a higher realm, or a just death. The rumors about it are absolutely wild, fueled further by the fact very, very few ever enter, and far fewer return. The only thing I know about it, other than that it for sure exists, is that one of my elders, a dragon of our clan, entered the place five hundred thousand years ago. Nobody has seen or heard from him since, but he was beyond Exalted, so it's not necessarily impossible that he's still alive," Sera explained.

  "I wouldn't hold my breath," Veren retorted. "The Maze is certainly real, but things lay sleeping inside that are best left undisturbed. Though, if you want to know more, you could always find the Gatekeeper and ask him."

  "Who's the Gatekeeper?" Beth asked, soaking up all this new information. It all seemed like deeper secrets that only those old families or powerful factions might possess.

  "The Gatekeeper is a role held by a person who has beaten the Maze of Eternity," Veren explained. "Only someone who has entered the gate to the Maze and returned alive can become Gatekeeper. As for the current Gatekeeper, he's held that role for hundreds of millennia, if not longer, and is rumored to be the only living person in this universe to clear the Maze, or return alive or whatever the conditions are, more than once. He's a legendary figure that you can only really bump into purely by chance. He goes by the name Zane, Zane Farstrider."

  Beth frowned, hearing the name and thinking of a certain rather scary individual she had bumped into randomly some time before, but she dismissed the thought. What were the chances, right?

  "The Maze is interesting, but that's all beside the point," Bjorn said with a wave of a massive hand. "The giants and titans are still around, or at least, some of them are, and they're hidden within cities that themselves are hidden within special dungeons or spaces that are extremely dangerous and hard to access. That alone isn't really enough to be dangerous, knowing that information, but the why is dangerous. They found something, something extremely dangerous, a knowledge and a power that spread throughout both races. Even talking about it this much brings a certain danger, but it won't be too bad if you don't go around talking about it too much. Or asking too many people too many leading questions."

  The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  "But what is this secret?" Andrea asked, fearless of the consequences.

  "It has to do with advancement through the higher rebirths; with how to do it in an easier way, and what happens at a certain level, far beyond where we're at now. That knowledge is dangerous, as you can imagine, but for more than just a few reasons," Bjorn explained.

  "So, that's what they found in general, but what exactly is the secret?" Sera asked.

  "A way to guarantee an Ideal, and a way to understand it so that rising to Manumitted is guaranteed, for a start," Bjorn answered. "Beyond that, there are some things I only have some vague guesses on, but there are some things related to what happens, or can happen, beyond Manumitted that they knew about. They also had discovered, as far as I know, a way to ensure that every giant and titan had these advantages. Some of this is just speculation, but these…theories, if you want to call them that, are dangerous just by themselves. Don't go talking about it outside this room, even with those you trust. Quite a few people have disappeared over the long millennia since my people went missing after prying into this matter. There's definitely more to it, and caution is the key."

  "Well, it's not like it's something we can do a whole lot about right now," Beth said, leaning back. "The mission's still the same; get a lot stronger, then go into the Eternal Depths."

  "You act like you were going there anyway?" Veren said with a raised brow.

  "We were," Beth said with a shrug.

  "We were?" Sera asked, looking down at Beth, who was sitting in her lap, with a raised eyebrow.

  "We have business there," Beth said, tilting her head back to look up at Sera.

  "We do?" Sera asked.

  "Yes, dear, we do," Beth said with a laugh. "But we have time."

  "Well, are we done? If we are, I have things to do," Veren asked, looking to Beth.

  "Don't be so antsy," Beth said. "There's one other thing, though I don't know anything about it."

  "What else could there be?" Veren asked with a frown.

  "There's some place, on the other side of the planet, apparently, that charges a diamond coin to enter," Beth said.

  "Do you know anything else about this?" Veren asked, leaning back against the couch and hooking an arm over the back.

  "Literally nothing," Beth said with a shake of her head. "I have a rumor about a place, some kind of tower, with two guards outside that demand a diamond coin to enter. That's all I've heard."

  "We should check that out," Andrea said, expressing some excitement by bouncing on the couch a bit.

  "We should take a day or two to rest, first," Sera said with a chuckle.

  "I need to practice a bit, anyway," Beth said. "Upgraded a skill during that last adventure."

  "Oh, come on, let's go," Andrea bounced up, grabbing Beth's arm and pulling her after. "I've got some energy to burn. We can spar."

  "Sure, sure," Beth laughed. "We'll be back in a bit."

  They left the others in the room, heading down to the arena floor, where there were quite a few people this afternoon. Beth checked to see if there was some kind of special event or something happening, but it was just a heavy training day, apparently. Andrea and Beth snagged a dueling field at the far end of the arena floor, though they had to wait a couple minutes for it to be free. There were quite a few individuals and duos cycling through the fields, so they couldn't hog a field all to themselves like they had been used to.

  "Standard match?" asked Andrea as she adjusted the settings.

  "Yep," Beth replied, taking her place and stretching her arms out a little.

  A simulated ref appeared, though Beth could feel some eyes on her. It wasn't just those around them, but she saw Baelvyr was present across the floor, able to easily see their field across the others' heads, observing what she was doing. Beth focused and signaled she was ready to the ref when asked, getting ready to rush Andrea. When the ref gave them the go signal, she dashed across the arena floor, meeting the shorter girl fist-to-fist. Their gauntlets impacted with a resounding bang, creating a shockwave around them as they pulled back and punched again, and again. Beth could feel the power increase Andrea was getting from the new gauntlets, both from the adjustment to her STR stat and from the extra force the gauntlets could add to a punch, finding herself pushed back a bit from their exchanges.

  Beth traded two more punches before activating her new skill, channeling a spiraling wave of mana up her right arm and expelling it from her knuckles. The skill thoroughly pulverized everything in front of her fist and Beth was left staring at an open-mouthed Andrea, the shorter girl's right arm just gone, a big hole torn in the right side of her chest and her neck, jaw, and ribs cracked from the force. The arena immediately declared Beth the winner and restored Andrea, the girl staggering a bit before Beth caught her and picked her up, carrying her from the field so others could make use of it while Andrea recovered. She took two of the field-side seats, setting Andrea in one before sitting next to her, staring down at her own fist.

  "The fuck was that?" Andrea finally exclaimed.

  "Spatial skill," grunted a deep voice behind them, Beth tilting her head back to see Baelvyr had silently appeared behind them after they had sat.

  "Yeah, it's a spatial skill. I upgraded my Crush in that, uh, facility we were in, and it turned into a skill that does spatial damage," Beth explained.

  "What fucking level?!" Andrea exclaimed.

  "Plat two," Beth replied with a shrug.

  "Don't be announcing it to the planet, girlie," Baelvyr grunted, annoyed. "I isolated yer words, but think before ya say it next time."

  "Right, sorry," Beth said sheepishly.

  "Blood Stars," Andrea swore. "I can't believe it. And you still have that bullshit flash step thing."

  "Oh, yeah, the crystal should be fine now," Beth said, making the skill crystal appear in her hand. "Here ya go."

  "What, just like that?" Andrea asked as Beth tossed her the crystal.

  "Yeah, sure. It's reusable, just pop that in and give it back," Beth said with another shrug.

  "Don't mind if I do," Andrea said, using the crystal to get the skill before tossing it back to Beth.

  "Be careful with that skill, girlie," Baelvyr rumbled to Beth before disappearing, reappearing halfway across the arena floor.

  "You need to test it more?" Andrea asked.

  "Yeah, but, uh, I think I need someone, or something, with tougher defenses," Beth said, wincing a little and scratching her head as she glanced at Andrea.

  "Yeah, that skill is…well, I can't stop that. I can't believe there's such a big jump just at that level," Andrea said.

  "Well, it's not a low-tier skill," Beth said with a shrug. "So, it's got even more energy, especially at the higher brackets."

  "'More energy,' she says," Andrea quipped sarcastically, rolling her eyes.

  "Hey, it's not that bad," Beth said.

  "Beth," Andrea said, giving her a disapproving look.

  "Hey, look, the dueling field's open. Let's give that new skill you got a try," Beth said, bouncing up and ignoring Andrea's glare, which turned into a grin behind her back.

  They took the field again after a set of duos had used it, having to change the configuration back, but that took basically a second. The duos floor was just a bit bigger and a bit wider than the standard, no-terrain floor used for singles matches, so it was really just redrawing the line for their bounds. Though, the system would have to move the force barrier back and forth between the different 'bounds' that were used, but that was something the machines and enchantments could do in seconds. Beth and Andrea used a simulated ref again and went through the normal start-up before clashing head-on again. Beth refrained from using her new skill, allowing Andrea to test Spatial Step as they clashed.

  Beth found she was able to keep up with Andrea's teleports at that low level with her mana-sensing skill, thanks to it being space orientated. It proved frustrating for the shorter girl, but it was also incredible training, as she had to work extremely hard just to not get taken out even though Beth was the one defending and Andrea was attacking. Beth used the time to work on her mana-sensing and to work on Beastly Tyrant, pumping more and more mana into the skill to further increase her strength and resilience. It proved to be just a bit too much for Andrea, though the short girl did remind Beth that she was extremely strong and skilled, leaving her on the back foot for several minutes before Beth had dumped close to two-thirds of her improved mana reservoir just into Beastly Tyrant.

  They ended the match with a second win for Beth, though it wasn't a huge surprise. They gave the field over to others for a few minutes before taking it back for a third match. Beth kept focusing on her boosting skills while Andrea practiced teleporting in a live battle, both working their skills above all else. They cycled a few more rounds like that, Beth winning all but one, wherein Andrea got a lucky strike from a teleport that severely injured one of Beth's arms, opening too big a gap in her defenses for her to hold the short girl off much longer.