High Priest John looked at Karl and Dana. "This is the second Holy Relic that the two of you have been involved in discovering in the past few months. I know the circumstances behind that, but I must say that the coincidence level after putting all of that and your combat records together is extraordinary.

With Dana still being at the Awakened Rank, though attached to a unit with a Commander Rank leader, on paper it truly does seem outlandish that you have been involved in so many noteworthy incidents."

Then the older High Priest took over from him with a stern look on his aged face. "What were your plans after leaving the field? Surely, you have put some thought into your progression from this point forward."

Karl nodded. "I had planned to use the credits that I had earned to ask the University to help me create some resources that would help the three contracted beasts evolve and grow. I have some idea how to do it, thanks to my Class, but they are the specialists, and they likely know much more than I do, and have access to resources I haven't even heard of."

The High Priest nodded. "That sounds reasonable. What about you, Miss Dana?"

Dana brushed her curly locks back out of her face again and sighed. "Unless I can find another form of the single use mana enhancement potions, I'm in a cycle of growth and enhancement. There are too many mages for too few resources, it's a drawback of having such a common class."

John smiled gently in understanding. "Well, you do have noted access to Ascended and Commander Rank resources thanks to your kill record, so you can bypass the most common and highly sought after resources to go straight for the rare and potent options.

Talented Mages can grow rather rapidly when given the right combination of resources, it's a wonderful thing to see them shoot right up once they're positioned for success."

He wasn't even trying to hide the fact that they had resources that would make Mages jump up a Rank or more, that were reserved for the truly promising Elites who would be thrust into the spotlight, or onto the front lines of the battle against the monsters.

They likely also came with a cost. Nothing that powerful was ever without side effects, in Karl's opinion, but it had to be worth it if they were still saving it for the very best.

The older High Priest looked thoughtful for a moment. "You know, a field trip to the University might do us all some good. They have the resources that every member of this group needs, and I haven't been outside the Cathedral in some time."

"Are there side effects to the potent resources for mages? You implied that it's not a big deal to get them to skip ranks, or advance rapidly to high power, so there has to be a drawback, or they would be passing it out like candy with a government subsidy." Karl asked the High Priests, too curious not to speak.

John shrugged. "According to the Mage Council, less than one in a hundred who get the Mage Class will ever make it past Commander on their own. The concoctions they've prepared will rapidly move a mage past that natural bottleneck, but it sacrifices any natural talent that they had left.

So, they will move from Commander to Royal, Monarch or even, in one case, Overlord Rank, and then that's it. That's where they stay, with their potential exhausted, no matter how hard they work."

Karl nodded as he thought about the idol known as the Archmage. She had been extremely promising in school, and graduated as a Commander, then gained a "mysterious opportunity" and moved to Royal within a few months.

There was a chance she was still growing, and it was natural, but it did sound like there was a chance she had hit her limits and tried this method to limit break and see how far she could get.

Dana was intrigued by the notion.

"So, there is a bottleneck at the peak of Commander Rank?" She asked.

The High Priest nodded. "It exists for all magic users. Even Priests. We overcome it with Faith, the Mages have to do something different. The warriors don't suffer from it as much, but they eventually hit the extent of their ability to advance at different points, depending on their skills and training.

Eventually, their bodies just decide that they are in peak form and stop upgrading."

Karl turned to Alice. "So, you will have to find a way to break the bottleneck as well."

Alice laughed and shook her head. "I am from the early years of the Elite program, and I was inducted late. I'm already 28 and still on the low side of Commander. If I make it to the peak, I will already be a middle-aged woman, and at that point, I'm unlikely to be able to advance anyhow, even if I wanted to keep trying and staying in a combat role.

As the High Priest said, one in a hundred, at best, can do it on their own."

Dana nodded. "So, it's a trade-off. If you can't make it past the advancement on your own, it might be worth it, but if you can't get close enough to peak Commander, you won't be able to acquire the resources to jump past it anyhow."

The elder High Priest nodded. "And it's potential-based, or you could say life force based, so the younger you are when you take it, the better it works."

That was a real conundrum, Karl thought. How young was too young to give up on the dream of ever making it past Commander Rank naturally, and how old was too old to take the opportunity if you had it?

It would never be easy, especially for an Elite, to admit that they had peaked, and they would never do any better, but if they held out too long, then it wouldn't matter even if they changed their minds.

The old priest continued, gently smoothing his robes out of unconscious habit. "A lot of it has to do with foundation. Too long establishing your foundation and you miss your peak growth ages. But if you use too many resources to increase your growth rate, then you will end up with an unstable foundation for your magic, and it won't be able to support you at higher ranks.

That's especially true for warriors. A lot of them will go for things like Dragon's blood and Stoneskin Elixirs, which will help their growth, but it damages their body at the same time, and they can't fully recover.

That's what happened to Overlord Drake. He found a powerful resource that brought him from Royal Rank straight past Monarch to Overlord, but the internal damage it caused has greatly slowed his growth. Now, he's still one of the stronger Overlords, and he might not have ever become one without it, but at the same time, it's a shame.

That's why the University is working so hard on new products so that they can reduce the side effects of the resources which we can grow ourselves or artificially reproduce."

[You hear that? Too many resources and you will hurt your foundation.] Karl informed his team.

[I think that only counts for humans. You're like below Common Grade to begin with, even Goblins can kick the average human's ass. We're proper beasts, just give us the good stuff.] Hawk countered.

Rae nodded in agreement inside her space. [He has a point. You're trying to go from arguing with Earth Mice over living space to Royal Rank, I'm just trying to go from Commander as an adult to Royal right now. That's one step, like a human going to the Awakened Rank. I've got some leeway.]

"What do the beasts say?" Alice asked as she noticed that Karl was distracted within his own mind.

"They say that it's not a big deal to them, since humans are so much weaker than they are to begin with. They would all make Ascended or Commander on their own, though Hawk had to evolve to make that true, so they're looking forward to whatever the University can make for them."

The High Priests smiled. "That's the spirit. We can call this meeting close enough to done, now that we have the answers that we came here for. You should all be kept together as much as possible, and being together will increase your chances of coming across rare opportunities, thanks to fate.

Now, if we can just get you all a bit more advanced, those opportunities can be ones that will make a difference on a much larger scale."