Chương 88: Limitless Path Chapter Eighty-Eight

"Put your arms down, boy, you look ridiculous," Jaq snapped after a moment, James starting before sheepishly lowering his arms.

"I assume he will want proper attire?"

"Yeah, get him some clothes," Beth said, moving back to the center of the counter.

"And a sword and the regular armored pants and shirt."

"I don't think I can afford that," James said with a frown. Jaq, meanwhile, caused four sets of clothing to appear, this time with something similar to boxers instead of a bra and panties. He disappeared into the back through the left door to reappear through the right door almost instantly, Beth narrowing her eyes to the extreme at noticing that.

He dropped armored pants and a chest piece on the counter before moving back through the middle door, re-emerging from the same door a moment later to drop a mana copper longsword on the counter.

"I want some of those boxers," Beth commented suddenly. Jaq just rolled his eyes and made half a dozen pairs appear from the slot that he used to…create?... the clothes and set them down in front of her with a sigh.

"It's one gold and fifteen silvers for this, assuming you don't currently want gloves, boots, bags, or any other inane implement," Jaq said, back to his frustrated deadpan.

"Okay, I definitely can't afford this," James said while holding up his hands.

"Put what you have on the table," Beth said with a gesture. James plopped fifty-one silvers and thirty coppers on the counter.

"Keep the coppers." As James returned the copper coins to his status screen, Beth dropped sixty-four silver coins on the counter. Jaq made the coins disappear as soon as the two finished adding and subtracting coins from the pile. Beth gestured for James to grab everything on the counter except the six pairs of boxers in her size, which she pocketed with a quick movement that elicited a snicker from Sabs. Beth gave her an elbow before motioning to James to follow.

"See ya later, Jaq," Beth waved over her shoulder, earning a dismissive grunt for her trouble.

"Where to now?" asked James.

"Since you let Elana get her claws in you, it's the forge next," Beth said, leading the way back down the hall and all the way to the other end of the underworks. She opened the forge area and led the others inside, quickly pointing a few things out for James, "The metal stock is mostly along the back, and you can just grab a bench and a forge to get working."

"This is a lot to take in," James said, looking around.

"Elana will walk you through it all. Just remember this is at the back end of the bottom level," Beth said, leading the way back out and shutting the doors behind them.

"Where to now?" asked Sabs.

"The lounge for James, then the room for us," Beth answered, walking down to the elevators again. They went back up to the arena area and Beth led the way to the lounge, dropping James and his armload of new gear off with Elana. Beth then led the way back out of the lounge and down into the underworks, finally letting the three of them into the room. She closed the door behind them before dropping her pack in the corner.

She took her sword belt off and dropped it on the table in front of the couch before she took her armored outer layer off and tossed it in the corner.

"Don't toss your stuff like that," Sabs said with a frown, belying her seriousness with a giggle.

"It's fine; beasts scratch it up and it's good, getting dropped on the floor won't hurt it," she replied.

"But still…" Sabs replied before Beth grabbed her by the waist and lifted her into the air, eliciting a high-pitched squeak from the small girl. She brought Sabs in close, both instinctually leaning forward as their lips met, getting lost in a deep kiss. That was, until Blood finally interrupted them with a cold nose to the back of Beth's neck, causing the two to break apart as she spluttered.

"Right, you need food and water," she said apologetically to the wolf.

"I think we could all use some food and drink," Sabs pitched in, moving to the kitchen after Beth put her down from their interrupted kiss. They ate before Beth grabbed the Swift skill crystal and held it against her forehead, feeling the sensation of a huge amount of information being packed into her head. At the same time, unlike the crystal to learn the language, she also felt her body getting hot and a slight burning sensation in her arms and legs.

Thankfully, it passed relatively quickly, and she came back to herself to find Blood lying on the floor and Sabs leaning against her.

"Did it work?" Sabs asked.

"Yep," Beth replied with a nod, seeing the skill appear at Copper[0] in her status screen.

"Think it's still got enough juice for me?" asked Sabs, in response to which Beth wrapped an arm around Sabs and pulled her into her lap. She then wrapped her left arm around Sabs' waist and her used her right to press the crystal against Sabs' forehead. It took a minute, but Sabs eventually reached up and gently moved Beth's hand away, and Beth set the crystal down on the table. Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

"Time for me to use the elixir," Beth said.

"You want me there?" asked Sabs.

"You can watch, if you want, but it's not going to be pleasant," Beth said, grabbing a pair of underwear and the elixir before heading into the bathroom.

"What's up?" Beth asked as she set the underwear and elixir on the end of the vanity.

"Sorry, just a little, like, nervous, I guess," Sabs said as she quickly rinsed her hands before exclaiming, "Beth!" She had turned to find Beth shirtless and bent over, in the process of pulling off her pants. Beth finished with that before straightening and dropping her pants on top of her shirt on the floor. She turned to Sabs to see her girlfriend looking like an overripe tomato.

"Like what you see?" she asked, only faintly flushed, and struck a pose. Sabs looked down and covered her face, eliciting a hearty laugh from Beth.

"Don't toss your clothes on the floor like that," she mumbled in response, moving to pick up Beth's discarded clothes. As she bent down and grabbed the shirt and pants, a piece of cloth fell on the back of her head. She straightened her back to immediately come face-to-chest with Beth's rather impressive breasts, getting out a half-shriek, half-strangled, "Beth!" Beth just laughed in response, saying, "There's still one more."

"Sorry, I think this is just too much for me, Beth," Sabs said with a shake of her head, dumping Beth's clothes on end of the vanity opposite her clean underwear.

"No problem, I don't want to make you uncomfortable," Beth replied with a little chuckle.

"Yeah, sorry, I'll wait in the main room," Sabs said, still trying to look everywhere but at Beth's chest.

"Probably for the best," Beth said, tapping her chin, already entirely comfortable with her current state of undress around Sabs.

"If it works like in stories, and based on what Jaq said, it does, this'll stink like fucking hell."

"Okay, I'm doubly out," Sabs said, darting out of the bathroom and closing the door behind her.

"Well, this is going to be even less enjoyable," Beth muttered grumpily as she shucked her panties and grabbed the elixir. She moved over to the tub, hopping in the nearest area to sit. The tub had four areas where people could sit, just far enough apart that Beth couldn't quite put her feet up on the opposite seat area across from her. If someone were sitting there, however, she would be able to set her feet on at very least their knees if not their thighs.

She left the water off for now, not wanting to add that into the mix just yet. Well, she thought, time to get stronger. Beth held up the elixir in her left hand and grabbed the stopper with her right, popping it out. With a deep breath, smelling a scent that was like iron and bark and faintly cinnamon, she brought the vial to her lips before tilting her head back, downing the whole thing in six or seven great swallows.

She reached out and set the vial and stopper outside the tub before pulling her arm back in, already feeling like a fire was dropping down her esophagus and spreading outward from there, the elixir not waiting for her stomach to get to work. She could feel as the liquid spread through her veins, it feeling like her blood was becoming superheated as the elixir went to work. It was already rather painful, Beth clenching her teeth in response, but it was nothing compared to what happened after a minute.

When her circulatory system was fully inundated, the elixir started seeping into her bones, and it felt like they were melting. She was now clenching her fists and grunting, able to keep from screaming only with a sheer effort of will. Once her bones were fully melted, at least to her senses, it caused what felt like a feedback loop with her blood; an effect she was sure was like molten iron coursing through her veins.

Beth panted as she tried to focus on just staying conscious, the pain having slid from a five out of ten to an eleven out of ten over the course of fifteen or so seconds. She lost track of everything as she felt what the elixir was doing to her body, feeling like she was plunged into a vat of molten metal. The pain seemed to stretch forever, Beth having no idea if seconds or days were passing.

At a certain point, she attempted to distract herself by trying to use Focused Meditation to, for lack of a better term, focus on what the elixir was doing to her. She found it immensely difficult on two fronts, both the pain hindering her as well as the fact that it seemed she wasn't able to analyze what was happening. The elixir's effects were too complicated and happening at too fine a level, controlled with too advanced magic, for her to be able to track exactly how it was changing her.

Beth was almost wholly ignorant of the next change, at least at first, as her veins started to release a kind of sludge. It was pushed to the surface of her body, oozing out through her pores as she sat and panted. A wave of stench spread out from her, smelling like a combination of burnt metal and rotten eggs. It was bad, but it got oh so much worse when the work of remolding Beth's bones started pushing out impurities and weaker material.

The sludge from her bones took longer to get out through her pores, but once that more viscous substance started oozing out, the smell almost became corporeal. It was like someone had thrown burning tires and scrap metal into a pool of rotten eggs and liquid shit. Beth by this point was almost totally coated in sludge, several minutes having passed. Her teeth, fists, and… well… everything was still clenched, and her veins and arteries were still standing out starkly, having taken on a slight greyish iron color.

Even her hair wasn't left alone, with sludge have emerged from her scalp, likely from both the veins in her head and her skull producing the waste. The process lasted many minutes, with Beth panting heavily the whole time, though she never cried out or even groaned, the sound of her heavy breathing the only noise in the room. Eventually, Beth's clenched posture started to ease, and she relaxed back into the seat.

After a moment, she reached up to wipe at her eyes, managing to smudge sludge around and not really clear them out. She fumbled for a minute before managing to knock open the valve for the bath's faucet, letting water start gushing into the large central part of the tub. She was able to quickly get her right hand somewhat clean before she wiped her eyes, getting enough gunk off to be able to open them. The sight before her was pretty disturbing, considering it was pretty much all caused by her.

Even with the water running, there was an inch thick layer of sludge on the bottom of the central area of the tub that was fighting valiantly against the drain. There was a several inch thick layer surrounding and on Beth, and she grimaced heavily as she made a wet sucking sound as she stood. She started to clean herself as best she could using just the tub faucet, which was about at her mid-thigh in terms of height.

She started with the top of her head, the deep grimace staying as she felt the gunk clotted thick in her dark, silky hair. It made sense, even if it was gross, given that the elixir strengthened her bones and her skull was one large bone. After two or so minutes just trying to get her hair and ears cleaned, she scraped most of what was left off her face, spitting twice to get a little crud out of her mouth.

She tried scrubbing her body next, having to use her nails at some points to try to pry the gunk loose, not enjoying the feeling of clawing out her own armpits, in particular. She moved to her arms after a minute, feeling that her back was still coated but not able to do much about it. Trying to scrape one arm with another was tedious and slowed the process down, Beth afraid at this point her face would get stuck in a grimace.

She moved on to her legs after a handful of minutes, starting with her butt and working her way down. She eventually, many minutes later, was mostly cleared of the horrific goo, and decided it was time to hit the shower. She carefully padded over to the large enclosure, keeping any gunk from dropping onto the floor, before quickly slipping into the small room.

The shower was big enough that she had to take several steps to get to the controls on the back, and she turned the four overhead faucets on to quite hot water at full blast. There was a rack of supplies by the controls that included loofahs and washcloths, as well as soaps and shampoos. She first stepped under the massive deluge at the center of the room, giving the fast-flowing water a chance to scour away more of the surface crud.

Her next order of business was her hair and, while she didn't really put much stock in her looks or her inky locks, she did remember her cute girlfriend waiting in the next room. Best that she not come out of this looking like a total disaster. She utilized a thick, cream and lavender smelling shampoo to do three separate washes before she was satisfied enough to move on to a slightly sweet-smelling conditioner.

Satisfied with her hair, she grabbed a rough textured loofah and the heaviest-duty soap on the rack and worked up an impressive lather before scouring the crud, and her outermost layer of skin, off with gusto. This still wasn't enough for her, not yet feeling actually clean, and she repeated the process a second time after she had rinsed off, her skin now red and raw but spotless.