Limitless Path

Beth approached the second ant that she had seen in the distance with firm steps, her hands up in a guard position, but not bothering with careful steps until she drew close. This ant both looked and reacted the exact same as the prior one. Beth wouldn't let her guard down, but the fight was an exact mirror of the first, right down to her Crush empowered strike popping the ant's left eye.

Common Ant level 1 slain.

Beth suspected that she would get rather tired of this message by the end of the morning, but it was a hope of growing stronger and a chance of growing wealthier that made the thought fleeting. She wondered how much copper coins would be worth if people decided to trade US Dollars for them. Thinking of what she could buy if they were worth a lot, she set out for the next ant.

She spotted another ant after a minute of walking, and again she followed the same pattern. Approach, step to the side, Crush empowered punch to the head, profit.

Common Ant level 1 slain.

The next fight was against two level one ants and was still rather tedious, though the two opponents gave slightly more challenge. Turning to face the second ant after injuring the first ate up time, which nearly cost her taking another hit, but she managed to both re-orientate and kick the second ant after defeating the first. Her use of Crush couple with the kick rather surprised her, as it lifted the ant off the ground and sent it, or what was left of it, tumbling.

Common Ant level 1 slain.

Common Ant level 1 slain.

Crush Copper[1] Acquired.

I guess using the skills level them up. Maybe doing something more than simple actions, like that crazy head smashing kick, gives more skill experience or something. Beth was pleased with the gain, but a little disappointed that five ants hadn't given her a coin or even gotten her to level two. This really is like farming in a video game. Tons of kills just for a single level, and I'm only level 1. What would it take to get to 100, or even 1000, if that's possible?

Beth started walking again as she considered what it would take to do as Liveria had suggested and get strong. She didn't let herself become lost in her thoughts, knowing that ants could be nearby. It only took her a little over a minute to spot her sixth ant of the…zone? Dungeon? She didn't really know what it was, but headed toward this new enemy. As she approached, however, she realized that this ant seemed a little bit different. It took her a second to place it, but she realized the ant was a little larger than the others, which had all been of a uniform size.

She wasn't really worried, especially with the new level in Crush, though she didn't know just how much stronger it would be. She approached the new ant in a cautious manner, not wanting to get careless in case of some new attack, but it seemed she worried over nothing. The ant acted the same as the others, noticing her within about twenty feet, turning toward her, and charging forward. She did notice the ant was just slightly faster, but it was an almost imperceptible difference.

Beth proceeded to use the same strategy as before but, perhaps because of the ant being slightly stronger, or perhaps because she was starting to tire, the ant managed to partially turn its head as she swung a Crush empowered punch at it. The turn was just enough that she struck the outer side of the left mandible instead of the side of the ant's head. There was a sharp *CRACK* as the ant's mandible shattered into fragments, the ant itself skidding to its right.

Beth didn't waste any more time and stepped forward to bring a fully empowered fist down right on top of the larger ant's head. There was a deeper *Crunch* noise, and the ant flopped down on its stomach, dead as a doornail. The top of the creature's head looked like Beth had hit it with a sledgehammer and not her fist, and she was quite pleased with the increased power of her only class skill.

Common Ant level 2 slain.

Remaining mana converted to one copper coin.

Level Acquired.

"Yes!" Beth pumped her right fist in the air, but then winced. She brought it down to examine it, seeing that it had both moderate bruising as well as two small cuts on her knuckles. She realized she hadn't gotten away totally scot-free from hitting the ant's tough mandible. Though she had managed to shatter the level 2 ant's left mandible by relying on Crush, it had still cut up her hand as it broke apart. She decided that that was enough for one day, or one morning at least, and turned back to the gate. After a couple minutes of walking, she arrived at the dirt arch and walked through the blackness.

Back in her room she checked her cell phone first. The time read as 10:35 AM, but after the wireless icon lost its X mark and the phone synced again it read 10:20 AM.

10:20? But I was in there half an hour at least. What's happening? Beth was rather confused by the time change until she had a startling realization. What if that was what the modifier was? Beth realized this was maybe the real reason Liveria had told her to get stronger. Who knew what people would do if they knew she had this kind of power. To be able to open a portal to a dungeon whenever she wanted to farm experience and money, as well as slow down time while she was doing it. She knew then and there that she could never tell anyone about this. At least, not until she was strong enough that no one in their right mind would ever challenge her.

Beth sat on the edge of her bed and looked at the arch of dirt still in her room. She thought about letting the arch disappear, and it slowly sank back into the floor. When it was gone, she decided the last thing to do before resting for a little was check her status screen.

Name

Elizabeth Anne Bell

Class

Brawler

Level

2

Strength

7

Dexterity

7

Endurance

7

Intelligence

8

Wisdom

7

Free Points

2

Titles

Silver Flame Empress Inheritor

Skills

Ancient World Gate[0]

Crush Copper[1]

Identify Copper[0]

Pain Tolerance Copper[4]

Unarmed Apprentice[0]

Wealth

2c

It seemed like she had made some nice gains in the dungeon. She felt a little stronger, and looking at herself, it seemed she had some slight definition of muscle on her arms and legs. She also saw the two free points from the level and decided to put one each in DEX and END. The next time she leveled she would get 2 STR and one each of DEX and END, meaning she would be at an even 9 in her physical stats before factoring in the two free points she would get at level 3.

Beth got up off her bed and headed into her bathroom, where she washed off her right hand. After patting it dry, she noticed the two cuts from the mandible were still there, but they had already started scabbing over. She guessed it was a combination of her rather much improved END as well as the fact they were only very minor, shallow cuts.

She hadn't heard anything from the rest of her family, and she hoped she hadn't missed someone yelling up to her when she was in the dungeon portal. She left her bathroom and went over to her desk, turning on her computer and sitting down. After it booted up, she logged in and opened a browser to check what was going on in the world.

Browsing some of the top sites, she saw everything imaginable and more. People were talking about aliens, government conspiracies, and, of course, the End of Days. Looking through the articles, it seemed like a lot of noise and not a lot of actual information. She tried searching for information about beasts, and while it was still a mess, there were actually some worthwhile results. There was talk about giant insects, some as tall as an adult's waist, as well as all manner of regular animals, except larger and more hostile. It appeared the world was slowly being infused with mana, which was enhancing animals or simply generating entirely new beasts.

There was already some talk of constructing walls around towns and cities, and people debated how powerful the beasts would get. Beth felt another little snippet of a larger memory from what the crystal had locked in her mind surface, and knew that it would get worse over time. Much worse.

Before she had more time to tease loose any other insights from the memories locked within her, she heard her father's voice call up from downstairs. "Girls, please come down to the living room."

Beth locked her computer and headed over to the door of her room. She could hear her sisters' doors opening right after hers, and she met them in the hallway at the top of the stairs.

The closer to Beth, and older of the two, was Kimberly, or just simply Kim. She was somewhat over a year younger than Beth and would turn seventeen a little after Beth's eightteenth birthday in a couple months. She had their father's deep blue eyes and greater hints of his strong, square jaw than either of the other siblings. She was also rather tall for her age, being only a little less than three inches shorter than Beth herself. Her hair was a slightly lighter shade of black that had a little influence of their father's brown in it, and Kim preferred to keep it long, having grown it to cover most of her back, unlike Beth's shoulder-length silken black locks.

The second and younger of Beth's two sisters was Sophie, or Soph as everyone called her. She was thirteen and of just above average height for her age, making her rather short compared to her two older sisters. She had dark brown hair that she also kept shoulder length, and had inherited their mother's piercing gaze, though her eyes were a very light emeraldine that almost seemed to glow.

"Good morning," Beth greeted the two of them.

"Morning," Kim said at the same time.

"Hm," said Soph, casting a slightly suspicious gaze at Beth.

"You know, I met another Sophia recently," Beth said with a smirk.

"A who?" Soph asked, brows scrunching together.

Kim also looked at Beth with a bit of a side-eye.

"Ah, never mind. Let's, uh, go downstairs," Beth replied with a quick shake of her head.

The three of them trooped down the stairs in order and shuffled out into the living room. Their father was in one of the armchairs browsing on his laptop, while their mother was in the other armchair watching the TV. There was a news report playing with the volume turned down, and all kinds of crazy text about monsters and doomsday was scrolling across the bottom chyron.

"Have a seat, girls," said their father.

Beth and Kim sat on the love seat, Beth draping her left arm across the back of the couch behind Kim's head as she leaned back. Sophie sat across from them on the near end of the regular couch.

"I'm assuming you girls at least saw the strange message earlier?" Thomas asked the sisters.

"Yeah dad, we all saw it," replied Kim. Soph nodded along.

"Yep, I saw it when I was out in the woods," added Beth.

"Your mother and I have been watching the news and contacting various people, both through our works and some of our other connections. We have some idea what's going on, but there still seems to be much left to learn. It seems, however, that the world is now under control of some powerful system, perhaps a powerful AI…hm. But if it's a powerful AI, why is it causing some interference with technology?" their father started to trail off when their mother interrupted.

"Don't lose your train of thought, Thom. We know that the world has some kind of new influence, and parts of it seems to be a game-like system. Beth, do you have anything you know? You're the one out of all of us that regularly plays video games," her mother attempted to refocus them as her father's mind wandered.

"Well, is everyone still level 0?" Beth asked.

Everyone in the room stared at her.

"Please explain," requested her mother.

"Well, think status screen. Try to envision a screen appearing in front of you that shows details about you," Beth replied.

The room fell silent as the rest of the family thought status screen, with their father muttering out loud "Status." After a moment, every else's eyes widened in surprise at what they were seeing.

"Beth, what is this? Your father and I were more concerned about reports of monsters appearing and technology acting strange," their mother asked.

"Monsters?!" Kim exclaimed.

"Yes," answered their mother, "it seems that normal animals have started to transform, becoming larger, stronger, and more aggressive. There are also a couple early but unconfirmed reports of monsters appearing that don't seem to be anything from Earth. It's important for now that you girls stick to the house until we figure out what's going on. It seems the world is quickly becoming extremely unsafe, but for new reasons."

"Listen to your mother girls. This status screen is fascinating, by the way. I assume from how you asked if we are still level zero that you've deduced more than this?" their father followed up with a keen gleam of interest shining from within the depths of his deep blue eyes.

"Well, uh, yeah, sort of. When the world changed, I didn't fall down earlier. There was an ant in the woodlot that was the size of Wiggles. It came up to my mid-shin, and when it noticed me right after the world changed, it charged at me. It was fast, like, way faster than even a big ant should be. So, I fought it, and I killed it. The sharp mandibles it had scratched my leg. When I killed it, I leveled up," Beth hastily explained, glancing between her parents.

"I do not appreciate you lying, particularly in regard to something so important," her mother responded with a frosty tone. "You know how unsafe things are normally. What would possess you to try to fight a monster? And alone, at that!

"Be sure that we will speak more of this later young lady, as we have more important matters happening now. What else happened?"

"Well, nothing else really happened; at least not like, fighting, or anything. But I got some things for killing the ant. I got a skill, Unarmed Apprentice[0], and I got to pick a class when I became level one," Beth answered their mother.