Chương 360: Limitless Path Chapter Three Hundred Eighty-Four

"Are you going to stay here tonight?" Rachel asked, looking between the girls.

"Well, I don't know that we have room," Beth said.

"There's plenty of space," Rachel insisted.

"I wouldn't mind at least seeing where you grew up," Sera said, lightly scratching Beth's stomach.

"I don't think my bed will even fit you and I, but sure, let's see what it is," Beth said, standing to lead the way inside.

"I'm surprised it isn't like I went off to college and you guys turned my room into a yoga room or some shit."

"We've got plenty of space in the house, Beth, and we're never even here," Rachel said with a shake of her head as they slowed down going through the mudroom.

"Shoes and boots off everyone, please," Thomas said to the girls. It was easy for them as they could just move everything into their storage items or powers, so it was the parents that took the longest to get through.

"This house is nice," Sera said as they walked into the kitchen, Beth absentmindedly opening the fridge and starting to dig for food.

"I'm glad you like it," Rachel said with a smile as she glanced at Beth, shaking her head a little bit.

"What? I'm hungry," Beth said with a shrug, pulling out several items from the fridge.

"Food, then," Rachel said, taking several things from Beth's hands and starting to cook. Beth just sat at the island, knowing it wasn't much use when her mother was fussing about the kitchen like that. Beth was at the far end of the island while Sera stood behind her, casually wrapping her arms around Beth and leaning her head against her shoulder. Thomas, Blood, and Neph were seated, in that order, on the side of the island opposite the cooking space, with their backs to the living room wall.

Rachel busied herself cooking dinner, glancing at the full island before deciding to pull much more food out of the fridge and freezer than what she would have made even back when the other two daughters and Sabs were still at home in the evenings. Rachel's homemaker skills were on full display that evening, cooking enough that the whole group was satisfied (though Sera refrained from using her gluttonous skill).

After they ate, Blood took Neph to the living room, where she said the couch wouldn't be an issue as their bed that night. Beth led Sera upstairs, the dragon girl having to be careful of her horns on the stairs and several places in the house. The building was just not built for an over seven-and-a-half feet girl with nearly foot-long horns to walk about in it.

"This is where you grew up?" Sera asked once they were in Beth's room before she noticed the plants.

"Oh, Fire Fruit? That's nice."

"Oh, yeah, I got some seeds out of a Trial a long time ago," Beth said, looking at the two plants that it was pretty clear her parents had been taking care of. Even though it was currently winter, both plants were covered in dark green leaves and blooming fully.

"I can't believe they kept up with them."

"The fruit's tasty," Sera said with a grin, hooking one of the small fruits with a claw.

"Too bad they're not ripe right now."

"Ah, you know what that is?" Rachel asked, having come over and stuck her head in the open door.

"Just a type of shrub that produces a pleasant fruit. They're not toxic, but they're also not anything special," Sera explained.

"People grow them just for the taste and basic nutrition on a number of worlds."

"Well, we asked about the plants at the CRA and they just said they're safe, so we've been taking care of them," Rachel said.

"Is there anything you girls need."

"No, Mom, we're fine," Beth said with a shake of her head.

"Well…we're here, just if, you know, you need anything," Rachel said, a bit unsure, before leaving. Beth just rolled her eyes slightly and closed the bedroom door, locking it before making her clothes disappear.

"I'd asked if you want to clean up, but we'll have to take turns," Beth said before walking into her bathroom.

"Really?" Sera asked, following her in as she turned the shower on, having to carefully duck her head.

"Ah, I see what you mean."

"Yeah, sorry, you're gonna have to bend down just to get your shoulders and head and neck under the water," Beth said, looking at the showerhead before glancing over at Sera.

"It's fine," Sera said with a dismissive wave of her hand.

"I've used a lot worse; I can tell you that."

"I'll finish up first," Beth said, stepping in and starting to wash. Sera leaned against the vanity but had to straighten when it made a creaking sound.

"Oops," she said.

"I don't think it actually broke," Beth said, sticking her head out of the shower stall.

"Maybe just be a bit careful?" Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

"Yeah, sorry," Sera said, scratching her jaw.

"Forgot we're not dealing with mana-reinforced materials right now." Beth quickly finished showering and got a very carefully controlled flame dry from Sera after stepping out. She then got to lean against the wall and watch and laugh as Sera attempted to use the definitely too small shower stall to wash off. Sera was a good sport about it and used her flames to quickly dry herself once she had managed to contort herself through a quick shower.

When they were done with the shower Beth just looked at her bed and sighed, but then she had a bit of a lightbulb moment. She made her bed disappear, Sera looking at her in some slight perplexity, before making a bed she kept in her necklace appear in its place. It was a bit of a tight fit, but the bed she kept with her was bigger and far stronger.

"Now, that's something we can fit on and not break," Beth declared, hands on her hips as she inspected the better bed.

"Oh, were you concerned about damage?" Sera asked in a bit of a sultry voice, wrapping her arms and tail around Beth.

"Not here," Beth said shyly, swatting at the dragon.

"Fine, fine, but we'll make up for it at the Hall tomorrow, or whenever we got back down," Sera said with a light chuckle.

"Let's just get a few hours sleep," Beth said. With their current stats, they barely needed a couple hours a night and could skip a night somewhat often without really feeling tired, but Beth enjoyed the excuse to curl up with Sera. They would have had a good time before curling up if they weren't just a couple dozen feet from her parents' room, but she managed to tame the dragon for one night. The next morning, they were up at a time that could barely be called the wee hours.

It was about three in the morning and Beth was awake, though Sera was still snoring on top of her. She guessed it was a good thing that not only did temperature not really bother her any more, but that she had such a heat source pressed against her skin, considering they hadn't used the blankets last night. She gave Sera some time, running her hands over the girl's skin and scales, in particular rubbing the scales along her spine and what she could grab of her tail.

Sera woke naturally after some time, though she didn't do anything at first but bury her head into Beth's neck. Beth wrapped her arms around Sera and gave her an immense squeeze, lightening up before giving her a second one and then forcing the two of them to sit up. They didn't need to shower, so Beth forced the exhibitionist dragon to put on some minimal level of clothing before picking the bed back up, after which they slipped out of Beth's room and downstairs.

They found Blood and Neph in the living room, with a sleeping bee curled up on the lupine woman, who was quite clearly awake. It was really hard to miss Blood's white, black, and golden eyes when they were open, especially at a close distance. Beth made a gesture for quiet and then turned the TV on with the volume muted, trying to see if she could pick up anything.

There was no signal at first, with the channel it was on, but Beth found the TV was some kind of new, large model that could work even in the mana dense atmosphere. She managed to find something that was broadcasting, but turned it off after a minute it disgust. It was some kind of reality TV show where the contestants were supposed to live in a house in the woods while avoiding fighting beasts or something.

The whole premise sounded stupid to her, and she didn't want to watch any more than the ten seconds she had seen. Their parents came down an hour or so later, which is what woke Neph up, the bee girl still needing quite a bit of sleep with her much lower END. Rachel insisted on cooking a huge breakfast for them, complaining about how monotonous their food selection was at times. They had plenty of meat from various beasts in the area, but their supply of vegetables, fruits, and grains was often limited.

They would have to send groups to the CRA Hall to purchase extra supplies fairly often so they weren't just living off boar meat and some herbs.

"You should build a greenhouse," Sera said as they were finishing eating.

"We've considered several things," Thomas responded after wiping his mouth.

"The problem is we're trying not to fill up all our available space within the walls right now. We'd have to build several greenhouses or hydroponics, which would take up a huge footprint. Then, we'd have to look at expanding the wall, which would be expensive and rather time-consuming."

"You just build a spatially expanded one," Sera said with a shrug. When most people at the island just stared at her, she explained.

"It's not done for a lot of buildings because of the cost, but it's quite often worth it to expand buildings for farming or food production and treatment. You can build a large greenhouse and then have enchanters expand it to be three or maybe four times as big inside, as well as enchant the space for ideal conditions, including increased plant growth."

"I hadn't really thought of that," Thomas said, jotting down several notes in his ever-present notebook.

"But what are the costs of such a project?"

"For a small little town like this? I don't know, a few dozen platinums? Maybe a diamond coin and some change for something really, really nice?" Sera pondered, scratching the base of her right horn.

"Well, that's not really something we can afford," Rachel said.

"Maybe if it were ten platinum coins, we could scrape it together, but not anything more than that."

"Sheesh, it's not that much," Beth said with a snort. Just as the others were about to respond, she made two diamond coins appear and flicked them to her mother. Her mother's mouth dropped into a huge, shocked 'O' on seeing the two coins in front of her.

"B-Beth! What?!" Rachel stammered.

"Just use that for the greenhouse thing or whatever," Beth said with a shrug.

"This is way too much! We can't just take your money!" Rachel exclaimed, trying to push the coins back.

"It's nothing," Beth said, refusing the coins.

"It's a lot more than nothing. We can't take this, Beth," her mother fought with her.

"I have plenty," Beth grumbled, making a pile of diamond coins appear on the table.

"So, just keep them."

"Beth-" Rachel tried again.

"Enough! Just take it!" Beth barked, making Rachel and Thomas flinch.

"We'll come up with some way to pay you back," Rachel said quietly.

"I really don't care," Beth said grumpily, waving her hand in front of her.

"Anyway, we should get to work. Zack wanted our help, and that job's not going to do itself."

"What did Zack talk to you about?" Thomas asked, happy to let the previous subject drop.

"He needs help with the wolf dungeon," Beth said.

"Yes, that's right," Thomas said.

"It's not out of control, but we haven't been quite able to keep up with it. We'd really appreciate if you could help. Even an extra clear or two will help. Without Sabs and your sisters here, we're missing a chunk of our combat power."

"We'll clear it ten or fifteen times and then come back for lunch," Beth said, standing to lead the way out of the kitchen and the house.

"Ten or fifteen…?" Rachel muttered to herself.

"Don't push yourselves, sweetie," Thomas said as he followed them out. Rachel was cleaning up after their breakfast, and he was already going to head to the town hall.

"It won't be a problem," Beth said with a shrug.

"Just a shame that Neph won't have much to do."

"Ah, that is true. It's a level one hundred and eighty dungeon now," he said as they walked up to the town hall.

"It's not a problem. We'll just spend some time leveling her later," Beth said, dropping their father off at the front door.

"Now," she said, once they were on their way, "let's take care of that dungeon. I don't want to be too tied up with this stuff." She led the way to the town gates, wherein they had to have a ten-minute argument to be let out, by which point Beth was just about ready to punch the gates into gravel, but that wouldn't really be helpful. They were finally let out, walking across the old highway in the early morning light, the air crisp and cold with a slight breeze.

Beth had her armor on and so did Neph, but the other two were just in regular outfits. Sera was in her usual fit while Blood was wearing a high-waisted bikini bottom and a leather top that covered her chest, upper back, and shoulders. Beth would have lectured them, but they knew what they were doing, and if anything really was a threat, they could equip their armor in the time it took to think. There were tons of wolves in the field on the other side of the highway, way more than Beth had seen before.

The beasts also swarmed them as they walked towards the dungeon, but Beth left most of them to Neph. In her human form, with her daggers and equipment, she was able to slaughter the wolves with ease, as long as they were below level one-twenty. It was very good experience for her, and Beth only interfered when she was about to get overwhelmed by huge numbers. Beth very easily grabbed a wolf by the scruff and shattered its neck, barely having to twist her hand to do so.

The dungeon wasn't anything really special, either, despite it having grown significantly since the last time Beth was inside. The dungeon's level wasn't even two hundred and all of them, except Neph, were above that and had multiple True Rebirths under their belts. Beth had thought it might take fifteen or twenty minutes to plow through the dungeon to the boss room, but the very first run took them a little over five.

Neph just walked along behind them, having to jog at most points because of their speed, staying out of combat as she was still a bit too weak to handle it. They cleared the dungeon, Beth tossing the rewards in her necklace without even looking, and hopped back out before going right back in. They repeated the pattern a dozen times, taking about ninety minutes to do all the clears.