Chương 106: Limitless Path Chapter One Hundred Six

Beth took the list and read through it carefully, committing it to her enhanced memory before pocketing it in her belt pouch. She would hang on to it, but her much clearer memory meant she could memorize the list and only need it as a fallback. She said to Tazeen, "Thanks for the explanations and the list, Tazeen. I'm going to try to find Baelvyr to get some training in."

"He should still be in the first-floor member's lounge at present."

"Is that what it's called?" she asked with a small smirk.

"Indeed. When there is both a main building and an arena, we refer to member lounges in the main building by floor. We refer to the lounges in the arena sections by their room number. At least, that is how it is typically done," he explained.

"Thanks, Tazeen," she replied to him with a genuine smile, waving over her shoulder as she walked away into the hall leading back to the lounge. She entered the lounge to find it almost empty, the rest of the group having disappeared to their own training. Even Elana was absent, likely in the forge with her own apprentice. It was only Baelvyr at the table he had claimed as his own, with Blood sitting to the side and watching one of the screens.

Baelvyr was deep in his cups, drinking from a massive tankard, though Beth had never seen him even tipsy. She sat at his table, receiving a nod from him as he continued to drink.

"I think it's time for some training," she said to him as he set his tankard down.

"Finally," he grunted.

"I'll walk ya through what ya need to know for Journeyman."

"What about making it to Expert?"

"Let's just focus on not choppin' yer own feet off still," he grumbled as the mug disappeared.

"I'm gonna walk ya through some finer points for swords and fists. I ain't some kind of crazy expert with those two, separately or together, but I know enough to make yer fundamentals really solid."

"Well, I'm ready whenever," she replied, waving a hand. Baelvyr stood and motioned her to follow as he left the room.

"Still fixin' yer gauntlets?" he asked.

"A work in progress. Lot of work, not a lot of progress."

"Ain't gotta rush shit," he rumbled as they headed to the elevators. They made their way down to their usual training room, Baelvyr having her take a standard training sword and leave her own armor on. Beth dumped her pack with her own blade in the corner before getting on the platform with the practice blade. Baelvyr himself stepped up across from her, the massive, blackened blade he had used previously appearing in his hand again.

Beth would have described it as blackened steel, but she was almost positive it was made of some other, much denser and stronger metal.

"Alright," Baelvyr started, "here's what we're gonna do. We're goin' slow today and gonna cover strikes and counterstrikes with the sword. I'm gonna walk ya through everything one by one, then we'll do a little practice at the end."

"Okay, I'm ready," Beth replied, taking her stance. They spent the whole day practicing sword forms, Baelvyr walking her through several more complex movements with her sword. One of these included countering a strike and running her own blade down the length of the opponent's before ending with a chop to their arm. Not something that would be particularly effective against an armored opponent, but the movement wasn't something Beth had even thought of before.

She also practiced some redirects and other movements to counter standard strikes that others would use against her. They finished with some light sparring, Baelvyr coaching during the exchanges. She wasn't able to keep up with all of his movements but, on the other hand, even moving slow he was still a Grandmaster-level swordsman, so it wasn't really a surprise that she was totally outclassed. She felt the improvement from the day's coaching, though she didn't gain a level from it.

There was perhaps an effect that the more you knew, the more you had to learn and the more you could learn. The better her foundation was in a skill, the more she felt she learned whenever a skilled teacher gave her instruction.

"I feel a little bad leaving Blood out. Can we include her in more practice?" she asked as they cleaned the room up.

"Best to leave her mostly to her instincts," he replied.

"For now."

"What does that mean?"

"Get to level one hundred and ya'll see. Best to do it in the same place, at the same time, if ya can manage that."

"I don't really like all the mystery around level one hundred people seem to have," she replied with a deep frown.

"Ya can look it up if'n ya want, but it's better for ya to experience it yerself and then get some trainin' on it."

"Well, we'll see," she replied non-committally.

"Should we be pushing for that right now? Tazeen told me that we need to hit it to get a Silver Emblem." A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

"To be young again," he grumbled.

"Ya got time. Lots'a time. Don't gotta rush it. Still some stuff ya can do before the first time ya hit a hundred."

"I guess so. I just like getting stronger. Though, my weapon skills getting much better has definitely increased my strength."

"Yeah, it's what I been tellin' ya."

"Yeah, yeah. You're always right, I get it."

"Glad I never had kids," Baelvyr rumbled in response as he left the room, Beth guessing that that was supposed to be under his breath, even though she could hear him from the hallway as he said it. The girl and the wolf returned to their room in the bowels of the CRA Hall, finding it empty when they entered. Now that Sabs had her own key, she was free to enter and join them at her leisure, so Beth moved with her companion into the bathroom to clean up.

Blood sniffed at the shower stall after Beth entered and turned away, apparently deciding spending the day watching in an air conditioned room didn't necessitate a bath. Beth finished quickly, not luxuriating in the hot water today, before drying off and heading out through the main room wearing only a towel. Sabs walked out of the kitchen as Beth crossed the room and stumbled upon seeing the tall girl lacking any clothes, and Beth took an extra two steps and easily caught her girlfriend.

She stole a quick kiss on the cheek before darting into the bedroom, laughing at the squealed "Beth!" behind her. Once she had some underwear on, she joined Sabs and Blood in the living room for some dinner. Beth insisted on cleaning up after they were done eating before sitting on the couch and pulling Sabs into her lap. The two spent a couple hours watching some shows on the projector in the living room before retiring to the bedroom for the handful of hours of sleep they needed to be fully refreshed.

Beth spent the next day training with Baelvyr, starting from the very beginning of the day. The other girls cleared the dungeons by their neighborhood first before coming back and training with their instructors. They were waiting a few days before heading back to the kobold area, as it seemed the kobolds outside the dungeons respawned a little slower than what the beasts inside the open dungeons did.

Beth couldn't stop overworking, it seemed, as she headed down to the forge after spending until late afternoon training her weapons. She worked on her gauntlets some more before changing over and working on some of the simpler components that Elana had shown her, including the hinges. She was spent after several hours, shutting everything down and cleaning up before heading back to the room and cleaning off. She heated something up as Sabs had already eaten and fed Blood before joining her girlfriend in bed.

Three more days passed like that before, on the fourth day, when the others went to do their dungeon sweeps, Beth made sure her and Blood were all stocked up for another run of the labyrinth. Depending on how much the level had changed, the two of them might be able to get through the whole thing in less than a day. She had informed Sabs of her plan and also stopped by the lounge to let Baelvyr know where she was going before heading out, Blood trailing behind.

She had to say, in the grey pre-dawn light, the wolf looked exceptionally good with her new armor-plated harness, the dark blue of the frost iron blending well with her bloody fur to give her a more menacing air. The two made their way down to the kobold area before heading down the righthand tunnel. Beth decided on a quick stop along their path, heading back to the armory where they had encountered the kobold hulk previously.

They took the same hallway that Beth remembered from what was now weeks ago, heading towards the armory with a quick step. They found the larger hallway that she remembered, with the offices off to the sides, and the great, blackened steel doors looming in the distance. She approached cautiously, having learned her lesson from this encounter. Even if it was ten or more levels lower than her, if a beast hit her in the head or neck, it would be bad.

Her new helmet meant it certainly wouldn't be fatal, but having her brain-cage rattled by a powerful strike from a large weapon or limb was not how she wanted her day to start. The caution was well warranted, as there was a shriek just as Blood approached the doors. The wolf darted back with a lithe grace, distancing herself from the opening just before a truly massive kobold stomped out of the double-doors.

The thing was almost as tall as the labyrinth boss and maybe a third again as wide, taking up a considerable portion of the doorway as it passed through. In its right hand was firmly grasped a massive maul with a huge, blocky head made of what looked like ice-veined stone. The weapon had to weigh two hundred pounds if it was an ounce, and the beast proved its strength by swinging it with just one arm so fast it made a whistling noise as it split the air.

Beth drew her sword in a single fluid motion, assuming a ready stance as Blood moved back and to the right, getting ready to circle the enemy. The kobold had glanced at the wolf when she was front and center but, as soon as she removed herself from directly in front of it, the beast immediately locked on Beth and approached her. It didn't sprint, but its long legs combined with its high Strength let it devour the remaining distance between them in just a second.

It swung the maul again as it closed, the hammerhead hurtling towards Beth's torso with impressive force. She calmly stepped back as she used her upgraded eyes to analyze the beast, noting it was a concentrated source of cold as she glanced at its level. Level 33 Kobold Frozen Crusher Well, Beth wasn't entirely sure what a Frozen Crusher was, but the beast's appearance, temperature, and weapon choice weren't exactly hiding anything.

She stepped back and to the side again, using her blade to counter the second swing of the massive beast, slightly surprised at just how easily she was able to apply her experience from previous fights and Baelvyr's new teachings. It also helped that, even though the beast was clearly focused primarily on Strength and second on Endurance, she and Blood were just too high level. Beth was pretty sure even Blood's Strength stat was a match for the beast, let alone her own slightly inflated number.

There was no such thing as level suppression in the Limitless Path, something that some video games she had played used. It was a way to keep players from going to certain places before the developers thought they were ready, making high level enemies have either dodging or defensive capabilities that were extra powerful against low level players. While Beth's eleven level advantage wasn't suppressing the kobold, what mattered on the path were stats and skill levels.

Beth's stats were higher and, though it used a massive weapon with some impressive alacrity, the kobold was nowhere near Journeyman in a single weapon skill, let alone two. Of course, Beth had started to suspect that many things changed at level one hundred from all the hints she was getting, let alone whatever a Mana Physique added to the equation by the time she got to ten rebirths, but those were worries for later.

For now, she shook herself out of the reverie, smirking a little at the fact she could daydream while facing such a powerful beast without having to sweat. It showed her that she was making a good deal of progress, even if it sometimes felt like she was treading water. She moved from a more passive defense to aggressive action as she thought about her progress, redirecting a blow from the maul as she twisted her blade at the same time to easily slide it along the length of the haft.

This massive kobold was wearing the typical armored hauberk a lot of the elites and higher-level members of its species were given as beasts, but it still wore no leg, arm, or head protection. The hauberk also didn't really cover the neck, allowing Beth's strike to slip up off the maul's long handle and dart to the beast's throat, viper-like in the movement despite her weapon of choice being a greatsword.

The kobold attempted to shift as it realized what was happening, but its intelligence and skill were both clearly lacking. Such attacks and counters already happen in partial seconds when fighting at a standard human level, but with stats now breaking into the triple digits, such series of movements were measured in just one- or two-tenths of a second. The kobold did manage to keep its throat from getting chopped apart, but it was still left with a nasty wound on the right side of its neck that poured blood.

Just as its mouth was opening to let loose a terrible shriek, Blood slammed into the beast's back with a massive tackle while, at the same time, Beth let go of her sword with her left hand and punched the opponent straight in the face. She burst Crush through her fist right before it made contact, dealing even more damage to the staggered beast and disorientating it further.

She pressed the attack as it staggered, seemingly having bitten its own tongue at the sudden series of powerful forces applied as it opened its mouth. Beth's sword clipped its neck again as she swung one-handed while the beast staggered, opening a further wound that seeped bluish blood. The beast recovered for a moment and took its maul in both hands, swinging it horizontally in a powerful blow that screamed through the air towards Beth's head.

She almost scoffed at the attempt, simply ducking the swipe and allowing the maul to tear through empty air above her head. As the maul passed, she started a step forward with her right foot, moving in response so quickly that her shoulder came within an inch of the haft as she straightened and moved toward the kobold. At the same moment, Blood moved in and grabbed the beast's right leg, clamping it in her jaw and pulling back with all her strength.

The kobold fell forward, right onto the point of Beth's sword as she executed a textbook lunge, slamming her blade into the creature's neck and up through its skull.