Chương 82: Limitless Path Chapter Eighty-Two

She frowned a little at the chest after closing the lid. Her Strength stat was definitely higher than Blood's and it was already a strain for her to just move the damned thing; it would be a real effort to get it all the way back out of the mine and to the CRA Hall. She could take it a few bars at a time, but she felt like that was a little lame, compared to slamming a heavy box full of bars on the counter to an exasperated look from Jaq.

She decided to just make note of the chest for now, the bars likely worth a decent couple of golds, but not enough that she was desperate to get them out right this second. In fact, she likely wouldn't sell them anyway, as at some point in the not-so-distant future she would be ready to move on with her own smithing from copper to steel. It wouldn't hurt to have her own supply of high-quality bars ready to forge.

Maybe she could level a handful of times as well, not really having a concern as long as she stayed under fifty for now, where the monsters experienced a significant jump in power. Shaking her head to clear out the jumble of thoughts, she reached out to hug Blood, ruffling her neck before giving her some hearty slaps on the side. Unlike with a pre-integration pet, she didn't really have to worry about holding back, the six-hundred-plus pound wolf able to enjoy a good, solid thump.

With another heavy grunt, she squatted down and picked the chest up before leading the way back to the main room, walking over to the second door with the offices. She entered the old office space and placed the chest in the corner with a heavy thump, wiping the sweat off her brow as she stretched her back after carrying what was basically a huge block of steel in a stone box for a few hundred feet. She returned to the main chamber once again, followed closely by Blood, before checking the sixth and final doorway.

It turned out that this was similar to the second area they had just walked out of; a moderate sized office area with several desks and shelves scattered around. Beth was once again slightly amused by the differences, as this space had a few papers and small documents scattered around, making it look like a lived-in space. The lack of anything else, including wear and tear on the furniture, showed that it was all just made up, but Beth appreciated the randomness of it all.

They scrounged around for a few minutes, Beth paging through the documents and items scattered on the shelves and one of the desks, but they didn't really find anything particularly interesting. Looking at the documents, they were all written in Universal Standard, and Beth actually laughed attempting to read one. She still wasn't sure what the entire deal was with the Path making random areas like this instead of copying or importing ones from other places, but the document was nonsense.

It was to the point where one of the two sides was just a jumble of random words, thrown together in a messy pile across the page with no order or reason. She remembered something in her reading about the mana concentration affecting what the Path made, with the randomness very common in newly integrated worlds. Beth gave up first, returning to the main room and looking about as she stretched and waited for Blood to decide there was nothing interesting present.

The wolf joined her after a minute, and Beth frowned a bit, tapping her chin as she looked at the fourth doorway for a minute.

"It's already late. Dungeon tomorrow?" she asked Blood, receiving a bark in response. Taking that as confirmation, she adjusted the straps of her pack and turned to the first doorway, heading back to the main tunnel. They spent some time retracing their winding path through the main tunnel all the way back to the initial pit, where Beth took a glance down the other tunnel. It clearly led somewhere else, as they hadn't found any kind of cross connection after exploring one hundred percent of the righthand tunnel.

She didn't see anything with a quick peek other than more tunnel, to nobody's surprise, and turned back to the ramp to start hiking up out of the pit. It was dark when the two returned to the surface, the daylight fading early as fall was starting the transition into winter. They moved away from the pit a slight way before Beth mounted Blood and the two set out for the CRA Hall.

They encountered a small number of beasts on the way, all below level twenty, all of which mindlessly threw themselves at the pair, snarling and howling and roaring as they attacked. They were all just as easily dispatched, Beth or Blood needing only one or two strikes to take care of them, the former shaking her head at how almost all low-level beasts were mindless balls of anger and hunger.

Of course, low level here referred to basically anything under level fifty, yet another reason why it would be quite important for places like her home neighborhood to build up a force of moderately strong guards. The two arrived back at the CRA Hall deep in the evening, the time feeling like it was already night, one of those tricks of wintertime in the northern part of the US where more hours of darkness made even earlier times feel later.

Beth dismounted at the main doors, still preferring that entrance over using one of the handful of side doors to get into the building. She was unpleasantly surprised to find the lobby far from empty, with quite a few civilians gathered around the main counter having a heated argument with Tazeen. Well, the civilians were getting rather agitated, if their raised voices and aggressive body language was anything to go by.

Beth made to move around the group, not wanting to get involved, but was stopped by two men who had been standing off to the side near the hall leading back further into the building. She halted as the two stepped in front of her, looking them over as they blocked her path.

Neither was a particularly impressive specimen, the one on the left an inch shorter than her and rather gangly, with unkempt blonde hair and watery blue eyes, while the man on the right was short and fat, a lot of flab around his middle showing he perhaps enjoyed too much fatty food and too little exercise. His messy brown hair and pallid, sneering complex did little to add to his charms, Beth sighing as he crossed his arms.

She did a quick Identify to check them over just in case, but she felt nothing from the two. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. Mark Shields, Level 4 Human Young Warrior Alexander Thompson, Level 3 Human Fighter Beth was even less impressed than her initial poor opinion and stared the two men down as Alexander, the fat one, opened his mouth. He said to her, in a rather grating tone, "Nothin' for you here, girl. Turn around."

Beth laughed directly in his face, which seemed to greatly displease him, judging by the sneering frown and the sudden set of his round shoulders. The other man, the gangly one, placed a hand on his companion's shoulder, a well-worn gesture that did little to calm the shorter one. It seemed like the gangly man wanted to take a more conciliatory approach; that, or he had thought to use Identify on the tall, muscular girl in medium armor with two huge swords and a pack on.

Or maybe it was the seven-hundred-pound wolf standing just behind the girl that had him reconsidering their current course of action.

"Let me say this in a way that you will understand," she replied.

"Move, or I will move you, and option number two will be very unpleasant."

"Where do you get off with such disrespect, you little bitch?!" the man snarled back, his face turning quite a bright shade of red.

"Real classy, asshole. Final warning: get out of my way or I'll make you move," Beth answered calmly, gripping the hilt of her new sword in her left hand while flexing the fingers of her right hand hard enough the knuckles crackled.

"You little bitch," he snarled in response, causing Beth to grin a little in a slightly wicked way, considering how she towered over this fat little twerp. What was far less amusing was his lunge forward as he raised his fist, clearly intending to strike her. Beth reacted almost instinctively, blocking his fist with her free right hand before clamping down, locking the man's fist in her grip. Before he could react, she tugged in towards herself, unbalancing the man.

As he started to stumble forward, she released his fist before lashing out and grabbing him by the throat. She spun on her left leg, stepping forward as she finished rotating over ninety degrees, twisting her hips and shoulders as she stepped. She flexed the muscles of her right arm and heaved, lifting the man off the ground before letting him go. He sailed rather gracefully through the air before landing rather less gracefully atop one of the tables in between two of the comfortable chairs.

He didn't stay there long, bouncing off the table before landing on the floor with a meaty thwack. The commotion interrupted the other commotion at the front desk, the crowd turning to see what was happening. The thin man had seemingly found his courage once battle was joined, though his follow-up to his friend's attack consisting of incoherently yelling and flailing at her was less than impressive.

Beth's response was to twist back towards him and plant a hammer fist into his gut using a slight bit of her strength. The gangly man doubled up with a pained wheeze, staggering before falling to the side. Two of the members of the group darted over to check the fat man, who was moaning rather pathetically near the center of the lobby, while several more of the members of the group moved towards Beth.

The lead man reached down to his belt, where a sword was present, and Beth responded to the motion by taking three quick steps forward, drawing her new sword at the same time. Her movement took just the span of a heartbeat, her blade now at the man's throat, the combination of the length of the greatsword and her arm meaning she was still two steps away while pressing the point of her blade into his jugular.

"I used my fists because they used their fists, but draw a weapon and I won't hold back anymore. Trust me, that won't end well for you," Beth said coldly, pressing forward with more force. The man raised his hands quickly in response in surrender, the rest of the group freezing in place with wide eyes. Beth could see the sweat beading on the man's forehead before she withdrew her blade with a flick, sheathing it in one smooth motion.

"Good job," said John, who Beth had noted was lolling about next to Tazeen, letting him handle all the hard work as usual. After he spoke up, he hurdled the counter in a motion so smooth it looked like he was just taking a step forward. He walked through the crowd with ease, sliding through the small gaps between the mob in a quick, natural motion. He arrived by the fat man and reached down with an easy motion, grabbing the man by the scruff of the neck.

The man and woman that had gone over to check him started to protest, but John ignored them and the weak moans of the man as he strode to the main doors. Upon reaching them, he summarily tossed the man out on his ass to several half-shouted, half-moaned curses. Dusting his hands off, John turned and returned to the counter so swiftly it looked like he teleported, even to Beth's slightly enhanced senses.

Tazeen sighed and snapped his fingers, Beth a little confused for a second until she heard more cursing at the entryway, glancing over to see the thin man had appeared there. He had clearly appeared directly above the fat man, leading to the latest round of foul language. Beth was reminded of the previous incident a few days before, where Tazeen had flexed his power and banished a similarly cantankerous member of the general public.

"Be glad she intercepted you before you drew in this establishment," Tazeen said coldly, flexing his power now for the first time. The air around him seemed to be cut apart, Tazeen appearing as if he were a great unsheathed blade piercing the floor of the lobby. The air in the room became extremely heavy, crushing down on everyone there, forcing the civilians to their knees.

The group felt like a drawn blade was pressed against their throats, several of them reaching up to clutch their necks, as if to prevent them from being cut apart. Sweat was now pouring from the man that had nearly drawn on Beth as Tazeen continued, "We take a very, very dim view towards our members being attacked, particularly within the Hall itself. Drawing a weapon is a particular escalation that is handled in a, shall we say, aggressive manner?

Be glad you are slow and weak; it is one time where not being a competent warrior actually saved you." Tazeen withdrew his power, having not even used enough for the image of his Presence to have appeared. He said to Beth, "You acted well within your rights as a Copper Emblem holder within this Hall. You may continue your business; we will handle the rest of this."

"Thanks, both of you," Beth responded, giving both John and Tazeen a nod before moving down the hallway, Blood following after. They moved through the building, heading into the arena section and to the elevators before going down to their floor and heading back to their room. Beth keyed them in, making sure the door shut behind them before shucking her pack, dropping the new sword, the old sword, the pouch on her belt, and finally, her armor.

She got a whiff of herself as she shed the armor, grimacing as she peeled her clothes off on the way into the bathroom. The two caught a few hours sleep before getting up and heading down to the commissary, finding it the same as always, in that the shelves were full and the counter was empty. Beth walked up to the empty counter and set her new sword down before dropping her pack and starting to pull the rest of the items out.

She spread the items out across the counter, starting with the silver ring and ending with the potions and painkillers. She looked up after she had everything set down to find Jaq standing in front of her, arms crossed behind his back in a pose that a soldier would take when told "at ease."