Limitless Path

Walking up to the door, Beth inspected it closely, looking at everything around and on it. The door was a double door, with a seam so thin in the middle that it was practically non-existent. The whole thing seemed to be of a piece, wrought from some kind of silver material. It was not just a set of two doors, but a frame around them as well, the doors so seamlessly integrated that Beth almost doubted they were doors for a moment. The frame was of the same material, a faintly glowing silver that seemed to provide an almost intangible kind of warmth. There was some type of carving in the frame, but it seemed to be some kind of geometric design.

The faces of the doors themselves were perfectly smooth, apart from a series of words carved in each. Beth was now infinitely glad she had taken the time to browse the library the day before, as the script upon the doors was very clearly Universal Standard. She carefully read what was imprinted on the doors before doing anything else.

All ye who may enter, know thine mettle

Find within no comfort or rest

An endless tide that cannot settle

Ye of unbreakable will, pass my test

"Well, that's not at all ominous or anything," Beth said, glancing over at Blood. "What do you think, up for a test?"

Blood nodded and barked loudly in response, thinking along the same exact lines as Beth.

Beth took a step forward and reached out her right hand, setting the tips of her fingers against the righthand door. The surface definitely was metal, warm to the touch, being only a little lower in temperature than her body. She gave the door a light push just with the tips of her fingers, only to see both doors swing away from her silently. The doorway now was filled with what looked like water, glimmering dully in the darkness of the cave. Beth looked over at Blood, who returned the look, before facing the doorway again and stepping right through.

The girls found themselves standing within a large, square room, roughly fifty feet a side. The floor was made of large black tiles of some kind of stone, while the walls and ceiling were of the same kind of metal as the doors, albeit also now inlaid with what appeared to be gold. There were several fixtures near the ceiling somewhat like the ones in the CRA Hall, making Beth believe they were a somewhat commonly used form of lighting.

The only other things in the room were a set of double doors on the opposite wall from where the two entered, markedly different in that they were jet black, perhaps made of the same stone as the floor? The other thing within the room was what Beth thought at first might be a ghost, but seemed more likely to be a projection considering attempting to use Identify didn't yield any kind of result.

"Greetings, Trial Taker. Welcome to the Steadfast Tide," the projection suddenly spoke.

"Uh, hello? What is this, exactly?" Beth replied somewhat confusedly.

"This is a Trial, an area created by a power, faction, or the Path itself to test those who journey. This trial was created quite a number of years ago by the White Star Empire. You may randomly find doors into this space scattered across this galaxy. You have entered the lowest level of door, and now must participate in the simplest form of this trial," the projection explained.

"So, what is this trial then? And how do we beat it?" Beth asked.

"The simplest form of the trial is rather easy to understand; test your resolve against ten floors of enemies. Behind me is a door, as you can clearly see, upon entering which you will be inside the first floor of this trial. You will face one hundred enemies scaled to be one level above you. Once you have killed all one hundred enemies, a door will open to the second floor, whereupon you will find one hundred more enemies, now scaled another level higher than the previous floor. This continues for ten floors. Victory brings about great rewards," the projection calmly and slowly outlined the challenge of the trial.

"And what does defeat bring?" Beth countered with a raised brow.

"Death," the projection responded coldly.

"Is there some kind of time limit to this trial?" Beth questioned with a frown.

"No. You may take as long as you like, at least at this level of the trial, to defeat the enemies. This is a space of compressed time, the flow in here being a large one-to-one ratio," the projection answered.

"Sorry, but what does a large one-to-one ratio mean?" Beth asked.

"The common term for compression of one day to one hour is a large one-to-one ratio. Similarly greater one-to-one is used for a week, major for a month, supreme for a year, and endless for a century," the projection continued in its calm, cold voice.

"Thank you for the explanations," Beth said with a slight bow.

"I am merely a caretaker projection; it is my responsibility to explain," the projection returned without a change of expression or body language.

"So, just enter the door to start?" Beth asked it.

"Yes."

"Well, let's go get stronger," she said to Blood before walking around the projection and up to the set of black doors. Blood followed faithfully after, walking through the doors on Beth's heels after she had opened them.

The two found themselves on a grassy plain, the doors closing behind them before disappearing. The sun was high in the sky and looked normal to Beth, maybe a slight bit redder than how it would have looked on Earth at that time. Looking around at the knee-high grass and the very few trees, Beth quickly spotted the challenge of the first floor.

"Well, they had to show up some time," she said to Blood, examining the goblins scattered around. One hundred green-skinned, short, somewhat ugly looking creatures were scattered around the general area they had entered. They mostly wore crude loincloths, though several of them had what looked more like coarse pants, likely made of some kind of hempen material. A few of them were barehanded, but many of them wielded small knives, looking to have been knapped from some kind of greyish white stone.

"Well, this'll be pretty good. Doubt goblins will be tough for us. I wanted to use that again soon, if you know what I mean, Blood," Beth said to her lupine companion, giving her a look when she mentioned that. "Now we can farm here for days and level up a bunch, then we can still use that tomorrow or the day after."

Blood barked quietly in the affirmative when Beth finished speaking, the two turning toward the nearest goblin right after. Beth drew her sword and first used Identify on the creature.

Level 10 Common Goblin

Didn't seem like much of a challenge, but Beth was wary about alerting the entire horde. A hundred of the creatures rushing them all at once would likely prove an impossible fight. Taking a deep breath and squaring her shoulders, she moved forward into the awareness range of the first creature. It immediately turned to face her and let out a strange cackle, proceeding to charge at her right after.

Beth was a little bit disappointed, if she was totally honest with herself. This enemy didn't appear to be particularly skilled or powerful, and she glanced around as it charged to make sure they weren't being swarmed. Much to her relief, none of the other goblins had taken any notice of the disturbance, still wandering about within a small area around themselves. She turned back to the beast charging her, leveling her sword at it as it drew close.

With another shriek, the goblin lunged for her, stabbing straight at her with the knife. The hours of work she had already done with Baelvyr kicked in instantly, Beth stepping back and to the side to avoid the strike. At the same instant, she swept her sword around towards the goblin's head, a wide blow attempting to force the opponent back. The goblin, like many other low leveled beasts, had very little intelligence, only belatedly attempting to stop its own momentum as her sword slashed close. The result was a little surprising to Beth, as her massive blade smashed into the skull of the goblin and slightly bounced off.

She didn't give the stunned little knife-wielding maniac any time to recover, stepping forward with her right leg, firmly planting the foot and immediately releasing a front snap-kick utilizing her left leg to the beast's chest. Her heavy boot smashed the chest of the goblin with a deep thud, lifting the creature off the ground and sending it tumbling onto its back. Beth continued her assault, leaping forward and slamming the point of her sword into the beast's unprotected neck. Her weight, STR, and momentum combined to plunge the heavy blade deep into the neck, nearly decapitating the beast.

Level 10 Common Goblin slain.

1 Copper Coin acquired.

Beth freed her sword with a tug and looked back to Blood, who had observed the brief fight. She saw, however, that Blood was focused on something else entirely, looking off to her left. Upon looking in that direction herself, Beth saw a lone goblin charging them.

"Think I get the part about it being an endless tide a little now," Beth muttered, giving Blood a nod. She Identified the goblin while Blood started walking toward it.

Level 10 Common Goblin

Blood made even shorter work of the first goblin she fought compared to Beth, directly charging the creature as it approached, bulling into it at her full speed. The goblin tumbled away, not even coming to a stop before Blood's powerful jaws closed around the back of its neck. Putting a massive paw on the center of the small creature's back, Blood pushed down with her leg before viciously twisting, putting her whole-body weight into the motion. Beth could hear the spine of the creature snap from half a dozen steps away, wincing at the grisly sound.

Level 10 Common Goblin slain.

Beth began searching the surroundings as soon as she dismissed the notification, but it was still Blood who spotted the next goblin first. Beth stepped forward after Blood gave a bark, confronting the goblin as it charged up to them. She performed the exact same opener, putting slightly more force into the swing, and once again mauled the side of the goblin's head while stunning it. Rather than repeat her previous act, she swung again heavily, smashing the side of the goblin's head open. The creature staggered but didn't fall, even with its skull partially caved-in, and Beth dealt it a third and final blow before receiving the kill message.

Level 10 Common Goblin slain.

She looked over to find Blood already engaging the fourth goblin but didn't have time to watch as the fifth goblin was charging her. This was a portent of what was to come, as the goblins continuously attacked the two of them, always two enemies actively engaging them. The battles didn't really become any more difficult in terms of skill required, but the two started to tire after half the goblins were dead. They pushed through, even resorting to meditating for the ten seconds they were free before the next goblin was stabbing at them. Eventually, Beth turned to look for a new opponent and found none.

She looked over to Blood and found the large wolf panting, tired but relatively OK. She double-checked to make sure they weren't in any danger now that the goblins were dead, then sat to begin meditating. Blood joined her, sitting on her haunches next to Beth while she meditated, both of them restoring a little stamina, albeit slowly at their level.

Once Beth felt fairly rested, she checked their gains, grinning widely at seeing that she had gained a level and Blood had gained two. She knew that she had leveled some time into the fight, likely meaning she was fairly close to leveling again. She quickly distributed their points, then checked their statuses, noting the handful of copper coins they had made from a hundred kills.

Name

Elizabeth Anne Bell

Class

Brawler

Level

10

Strength

26

Dexterity

18

Endurance

18

Intelligence

12

Wisdom

12

Free Points

0

Titles

Silver Flame Empress' Inheritor

Skills

Ancient World Gate[0]

Crush Copper[9]

Focused Meditation Copper[5]

Identify Copper[5]

Lordly Reconstruction Copper[4]

Pain Tolerance Copper[7]

Swords Apprentice[4]

Unarmed Apprentice[4]

Wealth

2s 22c

Emblems

CRA Copper Badge

Bonds

Blood

Name

Blood

Race

Red Wolf Queen

Level

9

Strength

22

Dexterity

30

Endurance

20

Intelligence

12

Wisdom

12

Free Points

0

Titles

-

Skills

Meditation Copper[4]

Regeneration Copper[1]

Swift Copper[6]

Wealth

6s 8c

Beth's Swords had now caught up to her Unarmed, but she wasn't really worried about it. She had plenty of time to put the hours into training both, as she intended to be a master of both swords and striking. She had used her bonus points on DEX and END, keeping them even for now, though she was going to let them level naturally the next few levels while bumping INT and WIS. She had done similar with Blood, pumping her primary stat to thirty while bringing her END all the way up to twenty and dropping the last two points in STR. They both had had a few gains in skills, and Beth frowned briefly at how one hundred kills had netted them nineteen copper coins. No wonder money was considered quite precious in the wider universe.

Beth frowned and looked around again, the space looking the same as when she and Blood first entered, minus the one hundred goblins now being dead. She did spot that the black double doors had reappeared, likely the way to the next level. Signaling to Blood, she led the way over to the doors and pushed them open, stepping through to see what the second floor held.

The two of them arrived in a barren tundra, hard packed dirt covered with patches of snow and frost and not much else. There were a few scraggly bushes scattered throughout the area, but it was largely a barren land. While it was cold, it wasn't piercingly so, likely mitigated a little due to their higher END. Looking high in the sky, Beth saw a somewhat large, darkish orange sun shining down. A quick glance around the area showed their opponents for this floor, Beth using Identify on the nearest one.

Level 11 Frost Spider

"Fucking spiders. There's always gotta be a spider section. Wonder if we'll get a sewer section too?" she muttered, Blood growling low in response.

"Well, let's go fight a hundred spiders," she continued with a heavy sigh.

They approached the first spider, Beth with her sword out and ready. Up close the creature didn't look particularly unpleasant, merely a spider the size of a rather large dog, colored in shades of dark blue and purplish black. The spider turned to her as she got close and skittered straight for her, two large fangs visible in the light of the orange sun.