Chương 43: Limitless Path Chapter Forty-Three

She was pleased to see their growth, despite their levels still being, overall, rather low.

Name Elizabeth Anne Bell Class Brawler Level 14 Strength 34 Dexterity 22 Endurance 26 Intelligence 14 Wisdom 14 Free Points 0 Titles Silver Flame Empress Inheritor Skills Ancient World Gate[0] Crush Copper[9] Focused Meditation Copper[5] Identify Copper[6] Lordly Reconstruction Copper[5] Monstrous Blow Copper[6] Pain Tolerance Copper[8] Swords Apprentice[5] Unarmed Apprentice[4] Wealth 2s 74c Emblems CRA Copper Badge Bonds Blood Name Blood Race Red Wolf Queen Level 14 Strength 30 Dexterity 34 Endurance 30 Intelligence 16 Wisdom 16 Free Points 0 Titles - Skills Identify Copper[2] Meditation Copper[5] Regeneration Copper[3] Swift Copper[7] Wealth 6s 56c Bonds Beth Beth had put all her free points and most of Blood's points into Endurance, hopefully allowing for them to have a good bit more sustain in these endless wave type fights.

Beth noted that they had gotten a copper coin for about half of their kills. Again, they weren't going to be getting rich from killing thousands of beasts. At least, not at their level, it seemed. She also took note of the few skill levels they had gained, including two levels in Monstrous Blow.

"You ready to go? Need more rest?" Beth asked Blood as she stood. Blood stood up herself, then gave Beth a quick bark, following behind her as they walked to the next door. Beth reached out, pushing on the right-hand door with the tips of her fingers, the double doors swinging inward to reveal the way to the next area. Beth stepped through without hesitating, Blood following right on her heels. They came out in an old-growth forest, containing a variety of trees with many ancient and massive specimens.

The forest floor was a quilted landscape; patches of woody debris, great mounds formed from the fallen corpses of stately giants, with dips in between sheltering fresh fungal colonies. The area might not prove too bad to fight in, provided whatever they were up against didn't climb or use stealth. Thinking up to that point, she looked around for what they would be battling. It only took her a quick glance to find the next beast, something she was well familiar with from years of fantasy games.

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"Rats," she said despondently.

"Well, we had spiders and goblins, so I guess it was bound to happen." She muttered as she used Identify to check their new foe out. Level 13 Razor Rat"Well, I like the sound of that even less," Beth said, mentioning the special type to Blood who grunted in agreement.

"I doubt this is going to be fun. I would be really careful of the claws, but then again, you're the speed type here, so I'll make sure to watch out while we fight. Anything else before we start?" Seeing Blood shake her head slightly in the negative, Beth prepared to pull the first rat. Beth's Dexterity had improved with two levels, but only by two points, and she knew the rats would likely be rather fast.

High speed combined with sharp fangs and claws and possibly even tails or some such crazy thing would mean they would pose a high threat every second she spent fighting them. She wanted to test the waters and see how powerful their defenses were, hoping Blood and she could tear through them quickly. The first rat had detected her approach as she thought about her strategy and turned to rush her down. Beth met the rat head on, sword ready, waiting for the beast to make its attack first.

The creature didn't appear to be on the higher end of the admittedly very limited intelligence scale she had witnessed in her battles so far, as it just charged her directly. She had to admit, her earlier prediction was already proving true, as the black furred rat rushed her with a surprising speed, even considering it was the size of a large dog.

When it closed with her, it powered forward with its heavily muscled back legs, lunging straight for her leg with its jaws gaping, teeth so sharp that they cut the air shining in the somewhat dim light. The rat was quite quick, but Beth responded just as quickly, stepping back with her lead leg and swinging her blade around from left to right in a sweeping horizontal cut. She didn't empower the swing at all, instead relying on her now thirty-four points of Strength to smash into the creature, sending it sprawling.

As it swiftly righted itself, she noted a moderately long, though shallow, gash in its right side. While these beasts were now level thirteen and had a corresponding level of toughness, it still wasn't near the level something like the armored wolves of the previous floor. The fights went on and on, with the rats scoring a few hits against Beth, forcing her to duck out and heal while Blood took over.

When she reentered the fight, the rats continued to come in pairs, forcing both her and Blood to fight for the rest of the encounter. Eventually, there were three rats attacking, though that only lasted for a few minutes, Beth killing a rat only to be jumped by a pair of rats, kicking the first away before slashing the second with a heavy blow. She leapt after the second, pursuing it with two quick strikes that managed to thrust past its guard and kill it, surprising even her with her power and skill.

This left only the first rat of the final pair, and she turned back right as it recovered from her heavy kick to its side. It was moving slowly at this point; the heavy heel of her boot having added cracked ribs to the creature's list of woes. The rat charged her as usual, though it was more of a staggering jog, and she responded with a fast slash, cutting the rat heavily and sending it sliding back a little.

She stepped forward and swung a backhanded slash to follow up, the added momentum of her stepping forward causing her sword to rend the rat apart, killing it. Beth looked over to Blood and found her companion looking back at her, the blood she was partially covered in barely noticeably on her eponymous fur. Beth was starting to take note a little bit more, as time passed, of her ability to sense Blood's feelings and interpret her thoughts.

In this case she had not, for example, really needed to look over, as she had a rather vague sense of satisfaction and triumph from Blood, felt by her in a way that let her know the wolf had finished her current task. The subject of such thoughts trotted over to her, head drooping slightly, and the two sat down off to the side of all the rat bodies to rest. Beth took the opportunity of them catching their breath to look over their gains from the fight, having leveled up during the process.

She put all their free points into Endurance, bringing hers to twenty-nine and Blood's to thirty-six, hopefully enough to keep them going for some time. They had made a little bit more money but still were barely scratching two silvers together in profit. Finally, she noted none of their skills had advanced despite killing a whole swarm of similar level beasts. It looked like it really would be tough to grow stronger based on fighting lower-leveled beasts.

She sat back and meditated for a while alongside Blood after she was done with her 'administrative' minutia, only hopping up after close to an hour had passed, turning to Blood as she did so.

"Since we're gonna rest here anyway, wanna look around?" she asked the large wolf. Blood gave a quiet bark in response, her consent to the idea clear to Beth. The two of them moved out, away from the door to the next floor that had appeared. Beth wasn't sure of all the rules of this place, but how she interpreted it was that she basically had as much time as she wanted to clear the trial.

Given that assumption as the foundation of her theories, she thought it wouldn't hurt to have a look around and see if there was anything to these floors beyond the initial area.

"I'm surprisingly not as hungry or thirsty as I thought after a whole day spent in here fighting. You feel the same, girl?" she said to Blood. Her companion gave a low bark and a nodding motion.

"Maybe it's something to do with the trial area or something. Though, I really wouldn't mind a drink… or some food." The two walked for a little while, heading straight away from the rat-fight area in a direction Beth thought might be north, but wasn't sure. Journeying for a while, observing the play of light through the leaves of the old trees, they failed to spot anything of interest, only hearing a light wind occasionally producing a gentle susurrus.

As Beth was getting a little bit discouraged from the constant sameness, they began to hear a new noise. It only took her a few moments to recognize the sound of running water, another minute later the two of them coming upon a small creek running through the woods.

"Water, at least. Time for a drink?" Beth said to Blood. Blood moved in front of her and pushed her back a little.

"What's up? Don't trust the water?" Blood gave her a little growl but then turned to the water and walked forward before dipping her muzzle in and drinking. After drinking a little she moved back and sat down. Beth realized that she was essentially testing the water first, seeing if there was anything dangerous before Beth drank. Beth moved forward and silently hugged Blood around the neck, gently scratching her while they waited to see if there were any issues with the creek.

After almost half an hour, Beth made the decision, seeing as how Blood was totally fine, to drink herself. She walked over to the water a little upstream of where they were sitting, kneeling and looking around carefully. After determining there weren't any threats in or near the river, Beth just leaned straight down and stuck her face in the water. She drank deeply from the creek, slaking her thirst and then some.

Without any kind of bottle with her today, she would have to make sure to get her fill before they moved on. Once they had had their fill of water, they set out once again to explore. Beth was eager to see if there was anything else around, including anything that might be edible. The forest was disappointingly empty, at least in Beth's mind, nothing but trees and the occasional small bush. They walked on in the same direction they had been traveling for another twenty minutes before finding something out of place.

It was, in fact, a large bush with several berries on it. The berries on the bush in front of them were more like a fruit, the size of a small apple and slightly oblong in shape. They were a dull, burnt orange in color, almost opposite on the tone spectrum than what an orange would be. The two walked up and stopped right next to the bush, Beth looking around while Blood sniffed at the bush itself.

They didn't really see anything out of order, and Beth decided she would try something unusual and use Identify on the plant. Somewhat as she expected, the bush didn't seem to have any reaction to the ability. Deciding to continue the unconventional experiments, Beth tried to activate Identify again and at the same time, infused her eyes with magic. She realized almost the moment she did it that it was a mistake, as there was a sharp pain in her eyes and her vision became blurry.

"Shit!" she snapped, immediately kneeling on the ground and going into meditation, moving a thread of mana out of her core almost by instinct. Blood gave a concerned bark, and Beth could hear her moving over to her side after the bark, but Beth put her full concentration on her eyes. Once burned, twice shy, and she certainly took a much more cautious approach now that her fumbling had already injured herself to such a degree.

It was about ten minutes of careful application of the skill before the pain was all gone, and Beth felt her eyes were totally fine again. Coming up out of meditation she opened them straight away, looking around carefully. She could see everything around the bush clearly, Blood sitting next to her with a little bit of a frown, her head tilted slightly to the side.

"Well, I thought it was a good idea at the time," Beth said a little sheepishly. Blood simply growled in response, narrowing her eyes.

"Okay, okay, I'm definitely not doing that again. Certainly not before I know a shit ton more about magic…and a lot more about biology," Blood responded with a bit of a 'humph' and turned back to observing the bush.

"At least my eyes seem to have gotten a little better from that. Not that I think it's worth it." Beth finished before hopping up, moving up to the bush. Blood once again intercepted Beth, moving in to block her from reaching the bush.

"Let me check it on my skin first, then you can try one," Beth insisted, removing her left glove as she stepped up next to the large bush. She first tried pressing her hand against one of the fruits, pressing the back of her exposed left hand against the skin of the fruit. After holding it there for a little while she stepped back and waited, both of them staring at the back of her hand. The fruit had felt warm with a somewhat soft skin, and they found the skin was apparently not poisonous in any way.

Beth moved forward again and carefully plucked one of the fruits. She cut it open easily just with the edge of her fingernail and then rubbed some of the juice on the back of her left hand. She set the fruit on the ground and then sat down to meditate with Blood standing guard. She didn't start the healing process of her regenerative skill, but she did use a little of the knowledge imparted by the skill to observe her hand thoroughly while she meditated.

She spent fifteen minutes observing the juice of the fruit on her hand and found that it was, in fact, just fruit juice. Having determined that it didn't seem to pose a danger externally, it was time to see what eating it would do. She motioned to Blood to grab one of the fruits herself, and the wolf proceeded to do so, grabbing one with her large jaws and plucking it from the large bush with a quick jerk of her head.

With a few quick chomps, followed by a little chewing with her eyes scrunched, Blood spit out a huge pit before the rest of the fruit disappeared down her throat, the wolf walking a few steps away to sit down and wait. She had also entered a meditative state, doing much the same as Beth had done earlier, monitoring her body for any changes while her body started to digest the fruit.

Beth re-entered meditation beside her while she waited, the two of them waiting for close to an hour's time for any ill effect to manifest.