Chương 101: Limitless Path Chapter One Hundred One

"Sure, but it's a pose that means I won't break my back picking something heavy up," Beth replied with a shrug.

"The whole idea of 'lift with your legs' is that you grab something with your arms while squatting instead of bending over. Then, you push with your legs, straightening your legs to stand, using that effort while holding the thing you're lifting firmly to pick it up. You only use your back muscles really to try to keep your back straight against the pull of the weight in front of you, not to pick the thing up.

That's why in, like, TV shows and stuff you see somebody bend over at the waist like you started to do, then suddenly straighten up and clutch their back while the laugh track plays." Beth demonstrated what she had just explained, straightening her legs and lifting the chest straight up. Her eyes widened a little as she did so, something Sabs picked up on instantly.

"What? You didn't hurt yourself, did you?" she asked, a worried tone clear in her voice.

"No, no. Sorry, it just surprised me how much lighter it feels. I haven't tried to pick this up in nearly twenty levels, and the extra Strength makes a huge difference," Beth explained, setting the chest down with a thump.

"Alright, my turn," Sabs said, making a gesture like she was rolling her sleeves up as she stepped up to the chest, not able to actually roll the sleeves of her armored top. She squatted down as Beth had demonstrated and grabbed the handles on the sides of the chest, getting a good grip before pushing hard with her legs. She let out a loud, guttural grunt as she strained, veins standing out on her delicate neck as her face reddened.

"Alright, alright, Sabs. Enough," Beth said, causing the older girl to stop, falling back onto her butt with a gasp.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, just a little winded," Sabs replied, waving her hand. Beth dropped her pack, grumbling a little as she had to detach her sword to get it to sit on the ground right, before rooting out one of the ever-full canteens. She passed it to Sabs with a grin, the smaller girl grabbing it and guzzling a good bit of water before handing it back. Beth grinned in response before raising it to her lips and taking a few heavy swigs herself.

She motioned to Blood as she lowered the canteen, but the huge wolf just shook her head. Beth stashed the canteen and hefted her pack, re-attaching the sword to the clasps Jaq had sold her with a fluid motion.

"I can't believe you can lift that thing, Beth," Sabs said as she hopped back up.

"My Strength isn't insane, but I would make a pre-Path bodybuilder look like absolutely nothing, and I barely managed to make it move. It has to weigh half a ton, or even more."

"Yeah, I don't know how much steel weighs, other than a lot, but mana steel weighs even more," Beth replied with a shrug.

"I've got enough Strength now that it's not that big a deal."

"How much Strength did you have last time you picked it up?" Sabs asked, glaring at the chest like it had personally offended her.

"Uh, I don't remember exactly, but I think over eighty?" Beth replied while tapping her chin." Eighty?!" Sabs squawked in an indignant tone.

"I only have twenty-eight. No wonder I almost popped a blood vessel from trying that. And what's your Strength at now?" Beth shrugged while glancing at her stat sheet to double-check.

"Uh, one-twenty-six."

"Jesus Christ, Beth!" Sabs exclaimed, looking at her with eyebrows near her hairline and very wide eyes.

"Remind me not to piss you off."

"I would never, ever do anything bad to you, Sabs," Beth replied, stepping over the chest to crush the small girl in a powerful hug.

"I know, Beth, it was a joke," Sabs replied with a small chuckle.

"But I'm not complaining about more hugs."

"Alright, I'll make a note of it," Beth answered with a laugh, breaking off the hug.

"Let's get out of here before Blood gets too antsy." The huge wolf padded over and rested her head on Sabs' left shoulder, rubbing the top of her head against the side of the short girl's head. Sabs responded with both arms, wrapping them around the wolf's head and neck and digging in with her fingers, scratching rapidly. Beth stepped back over to the chest, in the meantime, and squatted down before hefting it, lifting it off the ground rather easily.

"I can't believe how easy you make that look," Sabs grumbled, still stroking Blood.

"Well, check back in after we walk like a mile up and multiple miles out to get back to the shaft," Beth responded with a sigh, leading the way out of the room and back into the main tunnel. They started back up the main tunnel, Beth holding the chest of ingots up just in front of her stomach as they walked. As they progressed, she found that, while not really tiring, it was annoying to hold that position.

She grunted a little and shifted the chest up to her left shoulder, curling her left arm around it and keeping it steady with her right.

"Holy shit, Beth," Sabs muttered, wide-eyed.

"I can't believe you can just toss that on your shoulder like that."

"Eh, it's more comfortable to have it sitting there," Beth replied with a one-shoulder shrug."

'Sides, it's not really that heavy."

"Right, not that heavy," Sabs said with an eyeroll. You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

"Well, okay, it is heavy, just not enough to stop me," Beth responded with a one-shouldered shrug.

"Anyway, what's been going on while Blood and I have been otherwise occupied?"

"Oh, you know, same old, same old," Sabs answered with a sigh.

"Clearing dungeons, training, and protecting the neighborhood. Took some people into the ant dungeon to get them some more levels."

"Really? Who?" Beth asked, right eyebrow climbing as she glanced down at the short girl.

"Soph and I took a group of five from the neighborhood in two--sorry, three--days ago," Sabs said.

"It was a little bit of a wake-up call. Well, it was a wake-up call for them, it was just a demonstration of how far even Kim, Soph, and I have come already compared to everyone else."

"Oh yeah? What happened?" Beth continued her questions, happy to have Sabs chatting as they continued the trudge.

"The five we took down were the highest level apart from us," Sabs explained.

"Which means between level nine and eleven. We took them through the first floor of ants, and it took hours. It was basically an all-day thing, and we only cleared one floor. And maybe it's unfair to complain about, but their skill levels were terrible.

"They're just awful, Beth. It took them a dozen or more minutes as a group to kill two ants." Sabs ranted.

"And they had to rest for half an hour afterwards. And that's just the first room. They took way longer in the second room and had to have Soph save them at the very end. Then they had to meditate for an hour to rest and heal. Two hours in and they had cleared two rooms. Two!" The three had made their way up a decent part of the tunnel that led to the kobold labyrinth. Beth just shook her head and chuckled at Sabs' ranting.

She had tried to always be patient with the girls when she helped them, though she did lash out once or twice, usually at Soph. But it sounded like Sabs had been dealing with a whole new level of bad and, to be fair to Sabs and her sisters, even before CRA training they were fairly passable.

"It sounds like these guys are way worse than any of us were, even before CRA training," Beth vocalized the thought.

"Oh yeah, totally," Sabs said, talking with her hands as she was still rather wound up.

"They've gotten overall levels just by killing the ' easy,' my emphasis on that, ants and wolves. They barely even have weapon skills, let alone levels in those skills, so of course they can barely actually fight. Only one of them was beyond helpless in any possible way.

"I know I'm being harsh," Sabs gesticulated with both hands, making a slashing motion against her left palm with her right hand, "but these guys are just not cut out for this. Having to act as babysitter really opened my eyes, including to the fact that there are definitely people out there who really can't fight for shit. Were we ever that bad?"

"No, Sabs, I don't think any of our group were that bad," Beth replied with a headshake.

"I took dumb, stupid risks, and sometimes still do, but none of us were ever really terrible at fighting in general. I think all of us, even Soph, have at least some aptitude for it. Not that I put a ton of stock in people being meant to do or not do stuff, but it is true people can really suck at some things before they get a ton of practice."

"No arguments from me," Sabs agreed, craning her neck to look up as they entered the shaft leading back up to the surface.

"Guess it's still not noon yet."

"Gettin' there," Beth grunted, bouncing the chest on her shoulder to resettle it before trudging over to the long, spiraling ramp.

"I would offer my help to give you a break, but I can't even lift the damn thing," Sabs said, catching up to walk alongside Beth.

"It's fine, just gonna take a break at the top. Rather push through and get most of the hard stuff done in one go," Beth replied with another one-shoulder shrug.

"Walk back to the Hall will be pretty easy." They trudged up the spiral ramp, Sabs continuing her complaints about the dungeon training session as they did so. Beth made the appropriate noises as she listened, not wanting to interrupt, and fearing she didn't have enough breath in the second half to do so. They finally emerged into the noon light, Sabs frowning and grumbling at the rather cutting wind blowing across the empty field.

Beth set the chest down a dozen feet away from the pit with a heavy thump and a deep sigh, stretching with her arms high above her head.

"You alright?" Sabs asked, worrying at her lip again as she looked at Beth.

"Yeah, just need a minute to rest," the tall girl replied with a nod, turning and sitting on the object of her discomfort. Sabs stepped over and leaned down just slightly, giving Beth a quick kiss on the lips. Beth easily picked the smaller girl up and set her on her lap, glancing over to see Blood sitting opposite and scanning the field. Beth left the wolf to guard duty, wrapping her arms around Sabs and stretching her long legs out a little to even out her position on the squat chest.

Sabs looped her right arm around Beth's shoulders and leaned her head against the top of the left side of Beth's chest, grumbling a little at having set her head against the scales of Beth's chest piece. The two stayed like that for somewhat more than a minute, Beth reluctant to get up from the pleasant embrace. Eventually, she hoisted Sabs up and set her on her feet before hopping up herself, squatting down to grab the chest and lift it.

She went through the motions to return it to her shoulder, shrugging to settle it before starting for the CRA Hall.

"Can you run with that?" Sabs asked, raising a skeptical eyebrow.

"Not very well, and not for very long," Beth grunted in response, quickening her pace slightly to a fast walk. Of course, a fast walk with her stats meant a moderate jog for Sabs, considering both her lower stats and much shorter legs. It took them nearly an hour to get back to the Hall, Beth getting pretty winded near the end. They moved around to the front door, entering the lobby to find only Tazeen currently present.

He merely raised a single eyebrow a precise amount at Beth carrying the chest, which she responded to as they passed.

"Found a chest of plain mana steel ingots a little bit ago," she said.

"Just went down to retrieve it today."

"Would you like me to take a look at them?" Tazeen asked calmly.

"Oh, uh, sure?" Beth stopped in her tracks, eyes widening a little as she puffed over to Tazeen. She thumped the chest down on the counter, trying to be careful but still causing it to emit a moderately loud slam as she set it down.

"No traps?" Tazeen asked, apparently rhetorically, as his eyes glowed very briefly before he flipped the chest open. He withdrew one of the bars and held it up, inspecting it as his eyes glowed again. Beth leaned against the counter to the right of the chest while Sabs mimicked her just to the chest's left. Blood sat back a small way from the counter and observed everything as Tazeen performed his inspection.

"Nothing special," Tazeen commented calmly.

"But nothing bad. Very standard mana steel bars, very uniform throughout the chest."

"You think I could work with them?" Beth asked.

"Likely not yet at your skill level," Tazeen replied simply.

"You can work them before the end of Apprentice, but I would wait until Apprentice[8]. You likely won't have the skill to do much more than very simple things before that, and there's not much point using a more valuable bar to practice what you could do cheaper and easier with mana copper stock."

"Advice noted," Beth responded with a nod.

"I'll stash it in the room for now."

"If you need anything else, including lessons, you know where I will be," Tazeen said with the smallest of smiles, a bright and radiant display by his standards.

"Will do, Tazeen, thanks," Beth nodded and grabbed the chest again, hefting it to her shoulder.

"Just curious, but do you know how much that weighs?" Sabs asked Tazeen as Beth turned to head back deeper into the Hall.

"In your units, that chest right now is roughly three thousand six hundred pounds," Tazeen answered Sabs calmly, almost causing Beth to stumble.

"It's what now?!" she asked, turning wide eyes to Tazeen.

"Steel is heavy," Tazeen explained with an almost imperceptible shrug.

"Mana steel even more so. A chest that size filled entirely with normal steel would be somewhere around two thousand nine hundred of your pounds. The mana imbued in the steel makes it denser, causing the same volume to weigh anywhere from fifteen to fifty percent more. It is one of the ways you can determine the quality of mana alloys, based on the density of mana. Considering the just over twenty-four percent increase in weight would explain why I rated it as fairly standard mana steel."

"Oh, well, it doesn't feel that heavy," Beth replied a little lamely, shrugging her shoulder to adjust the chest.

"Good info on the density stuff, too. Thanks again."

"Thanks, Tazeen," Sabs added.

"It is no problem."