Chương 577: Limitless Path Chapter Five Hundred Ninety-Nine

Expanding the team was something to focus on later, maybe even much later, and for now Beth was focused on these damned gems. The Empyreans were now distinctly interested in the gems, but Beth was simply letting them go, considering none of them had bothered to let her know what their thoughts were. It wasn't something to worry about, though, and she focused on their movements through the cave system they were exploring.

Beth started carving rock and ore out of the first section of cavern once it was cleared of the rats and bats, though much of it she just shoveled to the side, not interested in filling any of her expansive spatial storage with cheap rocks. She did find a good bit of mana iron that could easily be turned into mana steel; not the most exciting find, but for what was essentially an hour's worth of work, that much mana iron was a nice return.

The first cavern had little more to offer, but the network of caves still extended onward, so she pushed on with the team, many of whom had already spread out to continue clearing the beasts. The second large cavern they discovered was much more interesting, both from the fact that there were far fewer, and far stronger, rats within that cavern, and from the distinctive silvery glow that reflected in the light of their lamps and light stones.

Beth waded through the rats and bats without any effort, a hot knife through butter, cutting her way straight to the patch of wall that stood out, though she had to fight rather hard once there. The rats were, apparently, very interested in the metal, and had even been eating bits of it, though whether they could really process it or not she wasn't sure.

They could certainly get some of the mana from it which, if that was all they were doing, would be a monumental waste of a highly valuable resource, but they hadn't dug too deeply. Beth was super thankful for that as she examined the wall, finding that it was really what she had thought it to be from across the cavern. The whole back of the large cave was a giant seam of mana mithril, the highly valuable metal becoming far more valuable, and far more rare, when filled with mana.

Mana metals weren't something that were easy to create in the lab or simulated conditions and it was that difficulty that made natural finds quite prized. Mana metals weren't just extremely valuable, they had a tendency to lose their mana when sustaining damage, though that was over longer periods of time. Beth hadn't really experienced much of that herself as she had used so many different weapons and armors over the years that she hadn't really stuck with a set long enough to see the mana bleed effect.

It also was less present or less obvious in more powerful equipment, meaning that her insane gauntlets wouldn't suffer that degradation for centuries or even millennia. The solution to the problem was for a skilled smith to do repairs using just a bit of fresh mana metal, infusing their own mana into the work at the same time, all of which would bring the piece back up to pristine condition.

The constant demand for new equipment, and enchantments, coupled with the need for fresh metal to repair old works, meant the demand for mana metals was always extremely high. The rest of the team cleared around Beth and then throughout the cavern before heading into the surrounding tunnels to seep them clean while she herself got to work on mining and stashing everything in sight.

Mana mithril was so valuable that this one find would be considered a jackpot, and that was especially true as she dug into it, finding the seam extended deep into the rock behind the cavern, there being many tons of ore to pull out. It was all very metal rich, meaning she was pulling many tons of the metal itself out, and it was all rather high mana concentration, and the higher the concentration the greater the value.

That value curve for mana density of the metal was very steep, too, and more so the rarer and more prized the metal; mana steel with high mana density was worth three or four times what low mana density mana steel was worth, but high density mana adamantine was worth more than a hundred times what the low concentration version was worth.

That was assuming there was someone to pay, but Beth's connections would see to that, coupled with the fact that this mithril was going to be almost perfect for them to use once they finally broke through to master. Not just Beth, Sera, and Bjorn, but Val could get value out of it as an enchanting medium; mana mithril was that perfect balance where it was very hard and durable while at the same time rating highly in both mana conduction and storage.

Most people would consider it wasteful to use to inlay all but the best of enchantments, but Beth was staring at literal tons of the stuff, not to mention the team was rather rich by Wayfarer standards. Using the metal for practice and simple pieces wasn't wasteful for them, not in the same it would be for others. Beth was not a miner, per se, but she was powerful, both physically and in terms of magic and mana, and that meant she could move literal tons of rock an hour.

It took hours, as well, as there was just more and more of the vein, with Beth carving through a lower tunnel at one point and having to stop and slaughter a bunch of beasts before she could continue her excavation. The rest of the team, in the meanwhile, continued clearing the tunnels and marking any valuable finds. Nothing they stumbled on was nearly as valuable as the seam that Beth was currently tearing apart, but that didn't mean that nothing they found was of any value.

Blood, in particular, had such a great nose for treasures that it sometimes felt like precious metals, gems, minerals, rare herbs, and mana crystals were placed in her path in a deliberate manner. Beth didn't think it was anything like that, certainly not something the Path or some other power was doing, but Blood was always very good at sniffing out valuables wherever they were.

Beth was pretty sure it was a kind of natural instinct that attuned the wolf to mana that led her to such discoveries, as having a really good nose was just not something that was going to lead her to so many great finds. Beth, eventually, dug her way out of the vein, though it was a bit like trying to dig one's way out of a hole.

Still, her ability to teleport helped with that, and her necklace was filled with mana mithril on top of the reliquary now have a large pile of the stuff, all of it chopped up into many smaller segments. Her efforts had also put paid to many of the beasts in the lower sections of the tunnels and, after reconvening with the group, they were ready to get moving. They stopped by several more points of interest on that moon, but nothing had the kind of rewards that isolated tunnel system had provided.

Beth finally got them back on track, having Blood fly them to the fifth and final planet of their exploration, only slightly concerned they had no idea where the two more hidden gems were located. Then again, she was sure between the group and her pocket Ascended they could cludge together something that would help in at least narrowing down where they needed to go to get the final two pieces. She didn't have long to think of that, however, as they were beset almost as soon as they got to the fifth planet.

Blood had just taken them down to skim the edge of the frozen atmosphere when, just a couple miles from them, an enormous maw emerged from the clouds of crystallized sulfides and ammonia compounds. The mouth, parting in three directions to open into a huge roar and reveal dozens of teeth the size of Bjorn, was followed along by something that was a gross amalgamation of a worm, a snake, and some kind of fat lizard.

Beth didn't know what exactly the beast was, but she did know it was strong enough that even the cruiser was going to be under threat from the thing.

"Blood…" she said in a warning tone.

"Trying," the wolf snapped back, swinging the cruiser around and firing the engines at full power. You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

"It's not falling behind," Val said after a few seconds, her voice pitching higher than normal.

"Weapons?" Beth said, looking at Sera.

"Firing now," the dragon replied calmly, though Beth could tell from the way her ears twitched and a bit of sweat formed on her neck that she was a bit nervous. The guns and missiles the cruiser had were very powerful for its size, usually enough to deal with anything up to level four hundred, though anything over that threshold was a lot more hit or miss. The weapons could still damage something at level four hundred thirty, for example, but killing something like that was quite a bit harder.

Just based on size alone, which wasn't always a great indicator, but often could give some clue, the beast behind them was well over that threshold, and the weapons barely discoloring the slimy scales of its neck and upper body showed that. The thing roared again, clearly audible in the bridge despite the layered armor and other padding between them and the beast.

The rest of the team was displaying some level of nervousness, with Bjorn being the only one who looked totally calm other than Beth, but then again, the big man would be the only one who might take more than one bite to finish off.

"Weapons are minimal damage. We need speed," Sera reported.

"Already at max," Blood grunted back, attempting to dive into the atmosphere. She gave them up after less than a minute when it became clear that that didn't hide their signature from the worm creature and that the beast moved just as fast through the murk as through open space.

"Take us out," Beth ordered, Blood complying right away.

"I'll handle this."

"Beth-" Sera started, but Beth interrupted.

"Relax, hon. I can handle it," Beth said confidently, causing Sera to both roll her eyes and grin at the same time.

"Do try not to get eaten. Again," Sera said.

"I'm on it," Beth said before disappearing from the bridge in a wash of white flame.

"Again?" she just heard Val asking as she popped out into space. The worm clearly sensed her, which was part of what she was going for, as she had blasted both her Presence and Ideal to the max before teleporting in front of the beast. The worm-snake-thing shrieked, a more angry and disturbed sound than the previous roars before trying to chomp down on Beth, but she was both faster than the beast and had quite powerful teleportation abilities.

She wasn't the only one with surprises up her sleeves, however, as the massive and very slimy worm also had some tricks, spinning in the air and firing off massive chunks of ice and blasts of frozen mana around itself. Beth dodged the blasts, using her Ideal to fly through space in combination with her teleporting skills, though Spatial Step's requirement to take some kind of step proved a bit annoying for a fight in zero gee.

Still, it was all about learning to get used to the movement and mana patterns and the skill could still be activated, so she used the fight as a bit of practice, which would have been crazy for anybody but Beth. She was pretty sure even Baelvyr didn't train against opponents of this size and power, not when he was only at her level, and the thought made her grin as she slammed into the side of the beast's head and punched it. The slime the thing was covered in was both gross and acted as a good cushion.

She had to plunge her arm into the disgusting substance up to her elbow to have her knuckles connect with the thin scales of the beast and that much goo really slowed down her swing. She pulled her arm back and punched again, trying to do a quick combo, but the beast whipped its body in an undulating motion, slamming into her and throwing her hundreds of feet away.

The slime did work against the beast a bit there, as the hit had been cushioned a bit, and Beth had also shifted to a defensive position, using her limbs to take the direct contact and protect her head and torso. Still, for all the thing's size and level, it wasn't strong enough to critically injure her with a single strike, and she noted the cruiser had flown off, though Blood had started circling at a decent range.

She wouldn't need their help (she hoped), but it was nice to see them stay in the fight, relatively speaking, and be ready to assist. Though, she knew there wasn't much they could do as, speaking of the beast's level, she had gotten a clear look at it once outside the ship. Level 600 Resin Wurm She didn't really know what that was, the resin wurm part, but she did know level six hundred, and it was far more than anything she had yet faced.

At the same time, it wasn't some impossible gap, as she had already killed things all the way up to level five hundred and fifty, though the jump at six hundred was pretty significant. Still, even given its level and size, she was pretty sure she could cut this thing down to size, and proceeded to start on just such a thing. The first thing she did was heat the place up, though it was a bit hard to set empty space on fire.

Still, mana let her do things that physics frowned upon, and she created and empowered a bunch of fire with her Ideal and her dominion skill. The first thing she wanted to try was burning away all that slime, and it seemed the wurm understood her intent and was not happy with it. It shrieked again, louder and higher pitched, and turned its maw directly towards her before unleashing a devastating ice breath that froze the very space it traveled through.

Unfortunately for it, it was playing games with space against a master of space, and the lock down component of the breath didn't really affect Beth in any way. The ice part did put a bit of a damper on her fire, but it couldn't extinguish it entirely, which she took as a good sign. She then expanded the fire again rapidly before whipping it into the beast's head, both distracting and slightly scorching the creature.

The beast tried to fight off the flame, though it was in that effort that it gave Beth an opportunity to enlarge the trailing flame and send it down the rest of the beast's body; she had whipped the flame at it to start and only some of it had landed on the beast. Now, half the massive thing was coated in red and white flames, burning with an eerie quiet, other than its shrieks, as Beth pumped mana into the fire.

The slime was also burning away, though she was noticing the fire wasn't really doing all that much damage to the creature's armored hide. The wurm decided to take another shot at taking at bite out of her, or just of her, considering their size difference, but it had made a bad bet. Beth didn't take the attempt well and poured an insane amount of mana into both Spatial Obliteration and Light Beyond the Edge, both of which could operate a very significant range without losing any of their potency.

The reaction was immediate and bad, at least for the wurm, as the giant beast got a big mouthful of shattered and annihilated space, which clearly didn't sit well with its insides. It made to shriek again and aborted the action halfway through, though it still caught some of the second blast Beth had sent towards it, and now it backed up for the first time so far.

It followed that by immediately blasting out a massive wave of frost and ice, stirring up part of the atmosphere near them to send many tons of frozen ammonia and sulfides at Beth as dozens of massive ice chunks. Beth dodged through them all, swinging over and under them before suddenly teleporting to the beast's other side and firing off several attacks. She moved so fast that the beast barely started to respond before all her attacks were launched and she teleported again, firing off more attacks.

She did this more than ten times in rapid succession, finally causing the creature to wail in pain, a fatal mistake. Beth had managed to anticipate and time it perfectly, appearing right in front of the beast's maw as it screamed and sending of attacks down its throat. Just because she fired off so many attacks in rapid succession didn't mean they were weak, however, and the amount of damage she did to the beast's insides were plain to see as the thing thrashed and groaned.

The giant creature turned after that and tried to flee, clearly realizing that despite the size difference, it had picked on someone out of its league. It was doomed to fail, however, as Beth was way faster than it; really, trying to outrun a master of spatial magic was a fool's endeavor at the very best of times. With no way out, the creature tried to fight, a desperation in its actions as it launched massive volleys of ice and tried to slam Beth with its body repeatedly.

In many ways, that just sped up its demise, as Beth was more maneuverable and was able to take advantage of its thrashing to score several very deadly blows that bled through damage to the beast's insides. It wasn't all that long after the wurm got desperate that it was on its last legs, and Beth repeated the same tactic for the coup de grace, timing its roar to blast a massive attack down its throat.