Chương 2: Limitless Path Chapter Two

There was a feeling like everything was frozen, and then the pain disappeared. Panting, Beth opened her eyes, only to see the same familiar scenery of the little woodlot behind her house.

Inheritance of the Silver Flame Empress Acquired Title Silver Flame Empress Inheritor Acquired Pain Tolerance Copper[0] Acquired Pain Tolerance Copper[1] Acquired Pain Tolerance Copper[2] Acquired Pain Tolerance Copper[3] Acquired Pain Tolerance Copper[4] Acquired Beth stared in shock at a sea of notifications floating in front of her. She was still lightly panting, feeling the sweat coating her forehead, but it was more from the memory of the pain than from anything still being wrong with her mind or body.

As she was still reeling, she suddenly heard a slicing sound from beside her. Looking to her right, she saw an ant the size of a house cat standing about twenty feet away staring at her. It was a deep brownish black in color, with a set of fearsome looking 2-inch mandibles jutting from its mouth. She looked at it intently and thought, what is that?! Common Ant. Level 1. Identify Copper[0] Acquired Not now! Beth thought exasperatedly, and all the messages seemed to disappear from her vision.

She turned toward the beast and took a step back. As she did so, the ant stepped forward, mandibles quivering as it stared straight at her. She knew that this could be bad, especially after her talks with Liveria reinforcing that she needed to survive above anything else, but the last of the memories of pain seemed to fade as she suddenly became much calmer. She didn't know what was going on, but she felt like she had to fight.

After all, she had just been told that the only way to accomplish everything she wanted, and the things others needed of her, was to fight. Fight, and fight, and fight again. She took a deep breath and thought back to what she could remember of the lessons she had taken when she started attending the local boxing gym.

Most of what they did more closely resembled exercise courses to work on cardio and help people burn fat, but she had taken a few lessons from one of the trainers much more focused on the proper techniques of fighting. Staring hard at the ant, she slowly shifted her feet to be shoulder width apart, the left foot sliding forward and the right foot sliding slightly back and lifting the heel. As Beth brought her hands up, two things happened.

First, she realized she might not be able to hurt a huge ant with just her bare hands. Aren't they supposed to have shells that are hard to break when they're still tiny? she thought with some concern. Secondly, the ant decided, for some reason not clear to her, that fighting a human while not quite reaching that person's mid-shin would be a good tactical decision.

The ant skittered forward towards Beth surprisingly quickly, it's dull, waxy mandibles now making a persistent slicing sound as it dreamed of taking a chunk of her flesh. Beth waited, her knees bending slightly, preparing to fight. As the ant closed with her, it made a sudden jerking lunge toward her left leg. She pulled the leg back, slightly pivoting on the ball of her right foot, and struck down with a straight right punch toward the top of the ant's head.

The impact of the punch juddered up her arm and she felt her knuckles bruising, but she heard a slight crunch noise. This was followed by a slight hiss from the ant as it thrashed toward her. She had already withdrawn her fist, but the ant's right mandible caught the front of her right shin, tearing through her jeans and cutting through her skin.

"Ow! Damn that hurt!" Beth hissed as she hopped back, staggering slightly from the pain in her leg. The ant skittered toward her again, but this time she was much more prepared. As it made the short lunge toward her lead leg again, she stepped to the left with her left leg and sliced her right leg forward, slamming the top of her foot into the ant's side. She immediately felt the top of her foot start to hurt and realized her right leg was really starting to suffer some damage.

The ant hadn't gone flying, as Beth had imagined, but it was lifted off the ground and spun almost all the way around, landing on its left side, its back facing her. Beth quickly lunged forward, ignoring how much her leg stung, and stomped down on the back of the ant's head with her left foot. There was another slight noise from the ant, and it flailed weakly.

Beth lifted her leg up even higher this time, stomping down with immense force, twisting her hips as she did so to drive her heel through the beast's head with a snapping motion. As her foot impacted the back of the beast's head for the second time, the third serious hit it had suffered, there was a gross crunching noise before the ant flopped a smidgen to the side and lay still. Your first kill has been recorded. Leveling up to level 1. Unarmed Apprentice[0] Acquired. Remaining mana converted to one copper coin.

Class selection menu available. Well, I guess I'm an adventurer now? Or whatever the people in this new, crazy universe call it, she thought. Wonder about that coin. As she thought it, a copper coin about the size of an American Quarter appeared in her hand. It was made from what seemed like pure copper, and each side had a picture and writing on it. The front had a picture of scales, but Beth couldn't understand the writing.

The back had a picture of what looked like a large tree with a crystal in the middle, also with writing around the edge. Again, the writing was in a language Beth was unfamiliar with, though it did seem a little similar to what she had seen of Japanese or maybe Chinese. It looked more like some form of character set where each character represented a word or concept, but there were definite differences with the East Asian written languages which even Beth, with her limited knowledge, could tell.

Beth thought about examining the coin in more detail, but a stinging pain from the lower part of her right leg brought her out of her reverie. She looked around and briefly at the sky, and it seemed to still be morning. Looked like the crystal really didn't take up any time, unless she had been in the trance so long it was a different day. The crystal had been gone when she woke up, and she made a quick search for any sign of it.

She noticed after a moment what looked like glitter on the ground where she had been standing in the trance. Walking over, wincing on the second step, she reached down and ran her long fingers through the dust. It broke apart even further at her touch, Beth guessing it was all that remained of the crystal that had shown her that crazy vision. Stolen novel; please report. It seemed the woodlot wasn't a safe place to go for a stroll anymore, and she also wanted to see what all the messages she received were about.

The class selection notification particularly piqued her interest. If this were like some kind of video game shoved down into real life, maybe she could get some awesome class like Sword God or something. She decided it was time to head home and see if her family were all fine. She lived in the last house at the very end of the cul-de-sac that abutted the small woods, along with her parents and two younger sisters.

She kept her head on a swivel as she approached her back yard, still wincing just a bit at the pain from the scratches that ant had left as a souvenir. Nothing seemed broken or sprained, but she would still need to look it over and make sure the wound wasn't too bad, and the light pain from the two injuries in her leg and the throbbing of her knuckles assuring her that this was all very real.

She finally made it into her backyard and walked onto the patio, treading across the worn red stones that made up her favorite spot to eat during the warmer months. Walking up to the back door and opening it, she entered a small mudroom where she started to take off her sneakers.

"Beth! Is that you?!" she heard a husky, alto voice call out.

"Yeah, Mom, it's me," she replied.

"You guys, uh, see anything weird?"

"You mean that strange message?" her mother asked, stepping out from the kitchen into the hallway by the mudroom.

"Yeah, sure. The sky went purple-" Beth said.

"The sky went purple!?" her mother exclaimed.

"I didn't see anything like that. I was in the living room with your father reviewing some things on our laptops when it got rather windy, and I went to the kitchen to look out back and see if everything was alright."

"Yeah, it's crazy. A giant ant showed up and attacked me-" Beth started again before her mother interrupted.

"Attacked? Beth! You're bleeding!" her mother exclaimed.

"It's not a big deal," Beth tried to downplay it, but her mother firmly took her in hand and guided her to the kitchen. Their kitchen was large even given they had a four-bedroom house, and it was quite nicely appointed, with a decent-sized island in the center with stools surrounding it. The family was in the habit of using the island instead of the dining table for meals, especially on the weekends.

"Sit there. I'll get the medical kit," her mother said brusquely, bustling out of the room.

"What's this about a medical kit?" asked a deep voice. Her father, Thomas, a middle-aged man of slightly above average height with a stocky physique, appeared in the doorway to the kitchen.

"Giant ant," Beth said by way of explanation.

"Giant ant? Meaning?" her father asked, perplexed. He moved to the side as her mother, Rachel, pushed past, the tall, lanky, black-haired beauty carrying the first aid kit with a sharp efficiency.

"I saw the sky go purple," Beth explained, seeing her father nod along. She rolled her pant leg up while she talked before her mother started treating her.

"After that, I heard a noise a second later and looked over to see an ant the size of our cat near me. I would have just left, but it attacked me, so I hit it. Then I stomped on it twice and killed it. The body's still out there." Rachel had cleaned the cut with water and a cloth before applying a bit of hydrogen peroxide, making Beth wince and curse slightly. Rachel then applied some gauze to the cut and wrapped a bandage a few times around Beth's lower leg to hold it in place.

She held the bandage in place with a little clip from the first aid kit before standing and setting the kit on the counter.

"There. That should be better. Luckily, it wasn't deep enough that I think it needs any stitches. Now, what's this about giant ants?" she asked.

"Why don't I just show you?" Beth asked, hopping up and testing the leg, finding it to be fine.

"Let me call your sisters down and talk with them first. We need to be on the same page," her father said calmly, holding up a hand as if she was just going to go running out of the house.

"Okay," Beth said with a small shrug, following her father to the living room. He walked just a bit further and leaned up the stairs, calling up to Beth's two sisters to come down from their rooms to the living room. First down the stairs was Kimberly, or Kim, as the others called her, the middle sister. She was somewhat over a year younger than Beth and would turn seventeen a little after Beth's eighteenth birthday in a couple months.

She had their father's deep blue eyes and greater hints of his strong, square jaw than either of the other siblings. She was also rather tall for her age, being only a little less than three inches shorter than Beth herself. Her hair was a slightly lighter shade of black that had a little influence of their father's brown in it, and Kim preferred to keep it long, having grown it to cover most of her back, unlike Beth's shoulder-length silken black locks.

Next, walking into the living room right after Kim while grumbling something under her breath, was Sophia, or Soph as they usually called her. She was fifteen and of just above average height for her age, making her rather short compared to her two older sisters. She had dark brown hair that she also kept shoulder length, and had inherited their mother's piercing gaze, though her eyes were a very light emeraldine that almost seemed to glow.

"What's this all about?" Kim asked as everyone settled on couches and chairs.

"Did either of you girls see a strange message appear in the air. Or notice the sky turn purple?" Rachel asked them.

"Oh, thank God. I thought I was going crazy," said Kim, shaking her head slightly.

"I saw that weird message, but it disappeared just as fast."

"I heard the wind and saw the sky looked different for a second," Soph added, nodding her head.

"Well, while everyone was observing outside, I was doing a bit of research," Thomas said, surprising no one.

"It appears the phenomena we experienced was global in scope. The rest of the world saw it and, as Beth can attest, has started to experience even stranger things."

"What does that mean?" Kim asked, looking between their father and Beth.

"I killed an ant the size of Mr. Wiggles," Beth replied, refer to the family's tabby house cat.

"You what?!" Kim exclaimed.

"I killed an ant the size of Mr. Wiggles," Beth repeated, in the exact same voice and intonation.

"You know that's not what I meant," Kim snapped before their mother interrupted.

"Girls! Enough," she said, quelling the argument just as it started. Speaking of which, Beth thought as Kim started arguing with their mother before their father stepped in. She took a quick look at what everything that had popped up earlier meant. Inheritance of the Silver Flame Empress {You have become the Inheritor of Liveria Sophia Amara Yenllewen, the Silver Flame Empress. You inherit her legacy, much of the knowledge and understanding she possessed now residing in your mind.} Okay, so she downloaded stuff into my brain. Great, I've got a ghost's memories now or something. Next, thought Beth with a tinge of exasperation. Pain Tolerance Copper[4] {The ability to tolerate pain. Higher ranks lessen the effect of pain on the body and mind.} Well, good. I guess getting hurt doesn't hurt as much? Beth thought. Next. Identify Copper[0] {Allows for identification of basic information of a target. Higher tiers will yield more information.} OK, an ID skill.

Not bad but looks like a common one everyone gets. Maybe I can get something better or upgrade it later. Next, Beth thought. Your first kill has been recorded. Leveling up to level 1. Okay, got a kill and leveled up. What's my Status Screen look like, Beth wondered. Status Screen.

Name Elizabeth Anne Bell Class Pending Level 1 Strength 5 Dexterity 6 Endurance 4 Intelligence 8 Wisdom 7 Free Points 2 Titles Silver Flame Empress Inheritor Skills Ancient World Gate[0] Identify Copper[0] Pain Tolerance Copper[4] Unarmed Apprentice[0] Wealth 1c Wow, I'm super rich. A whole copper coin. Looks like it really is like a game, I got some stat points I can spend for leveling up. Wonder if I can see what the stats are. Beth focused on the stats in the screen and new windows popped up.

Strength {Determines your physical strength, including how much you can lift, how hard you can strike, and has a slight effect on the toughness of your body.} Dexterity {Determines how quickly and easily one can accelerate and redirect one's own forces, one's flexibility, and one's fine motor control.} Endurance {Determines the toughness and resilience of your body. Also has a major correlation to bodily energy and how long one may perform certain activities, go without rest, and offers slight resistance to draining effects.} Intelligence {Determines one's ability to retain information and perform calculations. Also slightly affects one's magical reserves and moderately affects strength of cast spells.} Wisdom {Determines one's understanding of various concepts and ability to make difficult decisions. Also affects the rate of regeneration of mana in one's magical reserve and the resistance of one to mental influence and negative affectations.} Well, I live in a video game now. These stats are pretty much what I thought. Strength for, well, strength. Dexterity for speed and control of the body. Endurance for toughness and stamina. Intelligence for smarts and magic casting. Wisdom for… I guess problem solving. And resisting bad magic... mind magic maybe? Beth thought as she analyzed the basic stats.