Chương 31: Limitless Path Chapter Thirty-One

Kim returned a moment later, starting in with, "I can't believe that girl. What a prissy little ass. Everyone else has showered and I doubt she's even done with her hair yet." She plunked down on the chair opposite the two and looked at them holding hands.

"So, what, you two are dating or something?"

"Not that it's any of your business, but yeah," Beth replied, before looking at Sabs a little hesitantly.

"I mean, I guess we are, like, if that's what you want."

"Honestly, I'm not totally sure. But... I don't mind seeing where it might go. If that's okay?" Sabs replied, glancing down.

"Oh, yeah, s-sure. I've been enjoying spending time with you so far," Beth replied with a slow smile.

"Ugh, get a room," Kim interjected.

"The two of you are just, like, gross.

'I think I like you, maybe,' 'No, but I might like you, if you don't mind.'

" She started making a weird cross-eyed face as she went on, mocking the two of them in their awkwardness.

"Well, I don't see you having any luck," Beth huffed back.

"Hey, it's the end of the world or something, I don't need to make kissy faces with people," Kim shot back, crossing her arms over her chest with a glare.

"Sound like jealousy to me," Sabs said with a smirk.

"Yep, totally jealous," Beth chimed in with a sage nod.

"I really hate both of you right now," Kim said, her glare intensifying. The group of three continued exchanging barbs and talking about the day's guard duty while Blood lounged on the stones of the patio. Eventually, almost twenty more minutes later, Soph emerged from the house to take her place at the table. Kim fixed her with a burning glare, but Soph totally ignored it, flouncing over to the table and sitting confidently with her nose in the air.

"You're such a prissy prig," Kim snapped at her.

"Some of us like to be actually clean and pretty. It's not my fault I'm surrounded by knuckle-dragging barbarians," she replied, crossing her arms and sticking her nose further in the air.

"Besides, who says prissy prig anymore? Is this a 50's sitcom?"

"Me thinks someone doth protest too much," Sabs replied before Kim could finish opening her mouth, flushing deeply as everyone turned to stare at her.

"I-I'm sorry, that was…uh…I didn't mean it." Beth squeezed her hand and said, "There's no reason to apologize to that little brat."

"Hey!"

"I mean, especially if you're telling the truth. Just ignore her; she'll tilt her head so far up she falls backward eventually." The four settled in for even more banter before they were interrupted by a rumbling noise. Everyone slowly turned to stare at Soph, who was firetruck red. She looked down, grabbing her stomach, before the rest slowly started laughing. Even Soph joined after a moment, with Blood watching the group, head tilted and eyes narrowed.

"We should start making food," Kim stated, the group all nodding and moving into the house, leaving Blood to relax in the sun. With the four girls working together, cooking wasn't really a chore. Teamwork obviously made the task easier, but the comradery of talking and laughing together was what really made a tedious task enjoyable. The group cooked up more than enough for themselves and Blood, Beth not forgetting to fill up Wiggles' food and water bowls as well.

Their timing couldn't have been much better, as Beth's parents arrived just as everything was ready. They were accompanied by Zack, and only Zack, today. The three adults joined the girls in the kitchen, Blood following in after. The adults proceeded to wash their hands while the girls sat around the island. When the three adults sat down, the girls had already started eating. As Zack loaded a plate up, he said to Beth, "I want a report on your day when we've eaten."

Beth finished a huge mouthful of food and replied, "I'll explain what I found, no problem." The group tore through the food, Beth still the clear winner. Her need for nutrients and calories was clearly greater at her higher level, combined with her having had a much more difficult day comparatively. Kim joined their mother to clean up while the rest of the group moved into the living room, Zack pulling out his notebook while their father readied his laptop.

"You ready now?" Zack asked.

"Give it another minute, we've got time. Like I said earlier, I don't like to have to retell the same story; I'm sure Mom and Kim want to hear this," Beth replied, sitting next to Sabs on the loveseat. The group devolved into idle talk for a few minutes, Thomas talking a little about the progress on building the extended fence/wall around the neighborhood. It didn't take too long before Rachel and Kim joined them, having finished putting the kitchen in order.

"Okay, how about I talk, and we save questions to the end?" Beth asked as everyone turned to her. There were confirmations from the rest of the group, so she started her explanation right away, detailing her trip to the CRA White Hall. When she described the size and look of the Hall, there were some murmurs of surprise from the group, and when she got to the statues, the first interruption.

"You mean they have living statues?" Zack asked in a strange voice, eyebrow raised. Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

"No, not like that, though I wouldn't be surprised. It's only been a week or so, but magic's real now. I'm sure we'll see a lot crazier stuff than living statues. I just mean the statues have some kind of presence or something about them. I guess you'd just have to be there to understand what I mean," she explained in response.

"How difficult do you think taking that trip would be?" Zack continued, the three adults in the room all alternatively writing or tapping away.

"I think we're getting into question time a little early, but it depends. I still say the most important part of everything is leveling up. Having high level people is going to be key. I'm sure I could escort some people along to the Hall, if people really wanted to go. Though I don't know that there's much to do there," Beth replied.

"We are all quite aware of your opinion on everyone fighting, Beth. What do you mean we wouldn't have anything to do there?" Rachel interjected.

"I mean, you couldn't do anything there. You need at least a Copper Emblem to get anywhere, and they're not going to be cheap. And no, like I told Kim earlier, US Dollars don't mean anything there," Beth replied evenly.

"And what sort of monetary amounts are we talking?" Thomas asked.

"Well, I got a new set of gloves and boots, as well as a new sword. The commissar there made it seem like they were just castoffs, but it still cost me twenty silvers," she replied, noting the slight widening of a few eyes at that, starting to grin slightly as she hit them with the next volley; "Though my instructor did tell me a backpack that had a simple storage enchantment would be five golds."

"Five golds?!" Kim shouted in dismay, staring into space, clearly looking at her status screen.

"What the fuck?" Beth heard Sabs mutter beside her, elbowing Sabs lightly afterward.

"And how much money do you all possess?" Thomas continued.

"I now have one silver. I think the other girls have a couple silvers each. In terms of a Copper Emblem for the CRA, they were talking about upgrading to Silver costing in the golds, with an 's' at the end. I don't know what a copper costs, exactly, but even if it were, like, fifty silvers, we couldn't afford even one right now," Beth said, tapping her chin.

"This is good information," Zack said as he wrote, "but we're straying off track. Let's get back to your explanation."

"Right, I'll go over some of the people and what I did," Beth responded, describing Lyrissa and Tazeen. When she got to the part where she explained their levels and races, the room erupted again. Beth just sat back and waited as everyone talked over each other, the conversation a mess. She smirked a little as she felt Sabs' left hand slide into her right, which was resting on the couch cushion.

Eventually Zack restored order with a bit of parade ground voice before asking, "You're sure there are level two-hundred-plus people there?"

"Yes, they really are level two hundred and more. That's not even the best part," Beth replied.

"What do you mean by that?" Zack asked, eyes narrowing slightly.

"Let me explain why they're even stronger than you think. You'll probably want a fresh page for this," Beth said with a grin. She then proceeded to give a basic breakdown of how rebirths worked and how that influenced people's strength. This led into a larger discussion of how people's strength really worked, how skills and combat experience played a role, and how it was best to never assume and always be on guard.

After half an hour of this, Beth finally cut it off, saying, "I think I better run through the rest of this. I would actually like to get some sleep tonight."

"Sleep? Is that what they call it these days?" said Kim, looking pointedly at Sabs, who blushed hotly.

"Whatever name you want to call it, I'll be the one doing it," Beth replied evenly, a small smirk and a raised eyebrow goading Kim on. Before the two could continue exchanging barbs, Thomas interrupted.

"That's all very good, and I'm very happy that you're all getting along, but as you said, shall we finish this before long?"

"Right, sorry," Beth said a little abashedly, flushing just a bit.

"Where was I? Oh right, going back to meet the real powerhouses."

"The real powerhouses?" asked Zack.

"Oh yeah, some of them would knock your socks off. Like my instructor; he's an ogre," Beth replied, the earlier jabs already forgotten.

"The hell's an ogre?" Zack shot back, clearly not afraid of showing ignorance in these matters.

"Eight foot tall, dark brown and red skin, massive gut, tusks sticking out from his lower jaw, muscles like a bodybuilder on magic steroids. You know, an ogre," Beth said, grinning yet again.

"Oh right, an ogre, of course," Zack nodded in response.

"The hell are you on about, soldier? Eight foot tall and tusks? Does he eat hammers for breakfast and shit nails?"

"I don't know what he does for breakfast. He pulled a huge tankard of some kind of beer out when I was done for the day and leaving, so I know he drinks some kind of alcohol," Beth responded with a faux serious air, tapping her chin with a slight frown, her eyebrows scrunching as she pondered the breakfast habits of CRA ogres.

"I do not believe you are focusing on the most important part here, sweetie," Thomas said, a slightly aggrieved look on his face.

"Right, right. I mean, we fought giant ants together a day ago that you were shooting with your pistol. A really tall guy with tusks and a huge beer gut is where you draw the line?" Beth asked, now grinning at Zack with a gleam in her eye.

"Fine, right, what was I thinking? Of course; ogres. Who would be surprised? Let's get back to the explanation; you're not the only one that wants some sleep," he said with some bite in his voice. Beth nodded and continued, with no more interruptions until she described some of the training in the underground room with the sparring dummy. Zack and Rachel had several questions about this, Zack more interested in the combat side while Rachel was interested in the theory behind it.

Unfortunately for both, Beth had to beg her ignorance, as she was both a combat beginner as well as wholly unfamiliar with the processes of the training stage. She eventually wrestled the group back on track, describing her encounter with Jaq and her purchase of her equipment, omitting mention of her phone upgrade. She finished off with a brief description of the encounter with the angry, somewhat addled man in the lobby before she returned home.

"And that's the whole story," she said tiredly, feeling Sabs give her hand a reassuring squeeze.

"As much as I want to follow on, we need to call it here. You plan on making your way down there tomorrow?" Zack asked.

"That's the plan for now. I'll likely be spending a good bit of time there the next couple weeks," Beth answered with a nod.

"Good. Ask them how much the Copper Emblems are. And I'll want to take a team down there at some point, likely with your father and mother," Zack said with a nod before standing up, heading toward the door.

"We can continue tomorrow morning, Thomas and Rachel. Too much to do to stay up all night." The rest of the group quickly broke up as well, with Zack leaving out the front door while the rest of the Bell family drifted upstairs. Beth and Sabs stayed a little while longer in the living room, simply enjoying some time in each other's company.

"I think it's about time we turned in as well," Beth eventually said as she stood, pulling Sabs up with her.

"Eager to kick me out?" Sabs replied with a smirk.

"No, nothing like that. It's just been a long day, and we really need to make sure to get enough rest," Beth replied with a shake of her head.

"You alright?" Sabs asked, a slightly raised eyebrow accompanied by a small frown.

"It's just…" Beth replied, sighing.

"It's just, like, a lot. I feel like everybody's looking for me to be the one to…I don't know…not take charge, but know what's happening. Like, I have to be the one helping everyone else, doing everything."

"I can't really say I know how you feel. But I will say that you don't have to think like that. Just do what you can, and everyone else will help out," Sabs replied, reaching up to stroke Beth's hair.

"Oh yeah, I mean, I didn't mean to say anything bad. Like, I really don't mind helping everyone level or anything. I just feel like I'm under pressure; to do more, to help. I want to get stronger; I need to get stronger. I'm just complaining because I'm a wimp," Beth grumbled, wrapping an arm around Sabs for a quick hug before turning and walking out to the front door.

"I'll stop by tomorrow before you head out," Sabs said as she opened the front door, turning back to Beth with a smile.

"I look forward to it," Beth returned with a smile, the grin only growing as Sabs darted in to plant a light kiss on her lips. Beth enjoyed the moment and didn't try to grab the smaller girl as she darted away and down the street, simply closing the front door with a light chuckle. She made her way to the back of the house and upstairs, finding Blood waiting for her in their room.

It was amazing how quickly she had started thinking of Blood as an intrinsic part of her life, but she dismissed such thoughts as she got ready for bed. Rolling into bed, she dropped her phone on the nightstand and turned the lights out. She rolled over and was out as soon as she settled into a comfortable position.