Limitless Path

"Got the data," said Baelvyr a moment later as he emerged from the charnel path he had carved deep into the woods.

"I'm amazed you could get anything out of that smear of meat paste," Jaq replied with a slight frown, taking a small token from Baelvyr's massive hand and inserting it into a slot in the arm of his gear.

"Unlike the two of ya, I can do more than one thing at once. It's called multitaskin', and I both slammed my shoulder into him and snapshotted him with my armor at the same time," Baelvyr replied caustically.

"I'm very proud of you," Jaq murmured in response as he looked at two screens his armor projected in front of him.

Beth, feeling the healing serum course through her, looked over at Baelvyr. Even with the thickness of his armor and the soles of his massive boots, he was definitely taller than he should have been. His gut, while still somewhat noticeable, was far less prominent as well. Whether that was due to the armor or something else, Beth couldn't really tell.

"Are you…taller?" Beth asked Baelvyr.

"Did ya give her somethin', or is that the pain talkin'?" Baelvyr asked Jaq.

"She doesn’t need anything, pain or otherwise, to speak stupidly," Jaq responded. "And yes, I did give her a Greater Restorative Ampoule."

"Yeah, to answer yer question, I have abilities that let me morph my size and shape, to an extent," Baelvyr replied. "Just shows how powerful I am."

"Yes, I'll be sure to report your accomplishments to the Druids of Naaz," Jaq said, rolling his eyes while still looking through the data.

"No reason for that lip," Baelvyr said, his helmet retracting partially so he could glare at Jaq.

"What's with that armor, anyway?" Beth cut into the banter to ask Baelvyr. "I've never seen anything like it, even on the fight videos."

"Bwahahahahaha," Baelvyr boomed in response, the sound so deep and loud that Beth felt almost every uninjured joint in her body pop. "I should hope not, girlie. This costs more than half a planet and is ten times as 'ard to make."

"Yes, we're all very impressed," Jaq muttered in response, still highly distracted with what was on his screens.

"Ya got anything, bolthead?" Baelvyr asked as his helmet opened further. The helm actually fully unfolded as Beth watched, various sections sliding down onto the top of his chest, his back, and his shoulders, leaving Baelvyr's head fully exposed to the chill noon light.

"Derek Rothande," he replied shortly.

"I could've fucking told you that much," Beth scoffed, wincing as whatever Jaq had given her started roughly twisting her left arm's bones back into place. "Also, his hands looked fine."

"I think it means red-handed," Baelvyr commented while scratching his massive, gnarled scalp with a finger like a crooked pillar.

Their conversation at that moment was interrupted by a loud bark, Blood darting out of the woods from the same path Baelvyr had taken. She stopped before actually bowling into Beth, clearly aware that her bonded partner was rather injured.

'Sister, are you well?!' Blood trumpeted through their link.

"Yes," Beth replied aloud with a wince. "And... a little quieter, sister."

"Why don't ya hop up and we'll head back. I can't sense any other fuckin' vermin in the area," Baelvyr said, gesturing first at Beth and then at Blood.

"She's pretty sliced up herself, let her heal for a few minutes first at least," Beth replied with a sigh.

"Kids," Jaq muttered crossly, walking over and, with a single motion that was so fluid and fast it was almost imperceptible, withdrew another vial containing a dark red liquid and slammed it home into Blood's neck. The wolf gave an almost comical, high-pitched yelp in response, giving Jaq a narrow-eyed glare and snarl after he was done.

"Don't give me that, you whelp," Jaq said crossly as he turned and started moving toward the CRA Hall through Baelvyr's destruction path. "Unless you want to pay me the three gold that vial was worth."

Blood just chuffed in response as she stepped up next to Beth, allowing the tall girl to attempt to pull herself up onto the wolf's back. Baelvyr didn't even give her a chance to struggle, easily plucking her off the ground in one of his enormous mitts and plopping her on Blood's back.

"Thanks, boss," Beth said, giving the ogre a nod.

"Don't thank me yet," he rumbled. "I ain't holdin' back in the after-action on this one, girlie."

"I, quite frankly, don't give a shit," Beth grumbled as Blood caught up to Jaq, pacing him on her left, Baelvyr easily keeping up on their right. The huge ogre looked like he was barely ambling, his massive height meaning he barely had to move his legs to keep up with what was a rather fast walk for Blood, who was quite quick even without Swift. Jaq, meanwhile, paced the wolf easily as well, looking like he was taking an extremely casual stroll, hands now clasped behind his back. He somehow managed to move at what would be a bit of a jog for an unenhanced human while looking like he was slow walking and seemed to be doing it without even using a skill.

"Your first taste of dealing with a criminal on the Path," Jaq commented as they walked. "Welcome to being an enforcer."

"Thanks, but I didn't really do anything," Beth replied with a deep frown. "You guys did everything. Blood and I just let him toy with us and then you two killed him in an eyeblink."

"Ain't that bad, girlie," Baelvyr replied. "I took a full read of 'em when I slammed into 'em, and he was actually pretty banged up. Don't know what you hit 'em with, but it looked like he had just recovered from a pretty big single impact."

"The one sword skill I have right now, Monstrous Blow," Beth replied.

"Decent," Jaq responded. "Essentially a good, upgraded version of Powerstrike. Can work with sword and blunt weapons, not so great for spears or a number of others."

"Doesn't work with unarmed, either," Beth grumbled, running a gauntleted hand through her hair. That was when she realized her left gauntlet was totaled. "Ah, fuck."

"What now?" Jaq sighed.

"You got anything made of mana steel, you miser?" Beth responded, waving her busted up left arm at him before wincing. She pulled the arm back in front of her and attempted to get the gauntlet off, grunting and cussing as she twisted at it. It finally popped open, free Beth's injured arm with a grating *snap*, luckily generated by the gauntlet and not her flesh.

"Plenty," Jaq replied in his usual cold manner.

"Fascinating," Beth shot back while scrunching her face up, both from the conversation and the amount of pain she was in.

"What's up with the eyes, girlie," Baelvyr said. "Tell us what ya been up to while we walk. Distract ya from the ampoule doin' its work."

"There's a kobold dungeon back there," Beth replied, rolling her neck to get it to pop. "First instanced dungeon we did. It's a labyrinth."

"Bah," snorted Baelvyr, spitting into the ground. Beth did a double take, not sure if she had actually seen the spit make a small pit from the force of the impact the first time or not. It definitely had, and she shook her head at the thought. "Fuckin' hate that shit more than most anythin'."

"You hate anything that is larger than your walnut-sized brain," Jaq muttered.

"Can it, bot boy," Baelvyr said. "I solve 'em by just goin' straight through 'em."

"Wait, you can fucking do that?!" Beth interrupted, her voice rising an octave in outrage.

"No," Jaq responded quickly, holding up a hand to keep the others from replying. "Not at your level and overall power, you can't. Dungeons are tough with a lot of mana not just in them, but in the structure itself. You'd have just as much luck carving through a mana steel block with a toothpick at your current strength."

"But it is viable?" Beth interjected before Baelvyr could reply.

"In theory, yes, it is viable," Jaq said, glaring at her with a deep frown. "In practice, however, it is almost impossible for most groups to accomplish. And yes, I said groups, let alone individuals."

"But he does it," Beth replied with a tiny whine in her voice, pointing her thumb at Baelvyr.

"He is too stupid to know any better," Jaq replied sarcastically, riding right over Baelvyr's barked "Hey!", he continued saying, "You need not just raw stats, of which you would require an inordinate amount more than what you currently possess. You also need far more and denser mana."

"Well, how do I get that?" Beth grunted before clutching her left arm with a muttered "Fuck!"

"Just let the ampoule do its work, girl," Jaq admonished. "To answer the question, there are quite a number of ways, but the one you will have easiest access to and, depending on how you do it, the most gains from, is rebirths."

"Ah shit, you mean I have to just level up a shit ton to get stronger, huh?" Beth replied a little morosely.

"I been tellin' ya," Baelvyr muttered to the side, earning himself a glare from both girls.

"Steel-for-brains aside, continue your explanation," Jaq commanded.

"Sir, yes sir," Beth returned mockingly, snapping off a very crooked and sloppy salute with her right hand. She chuckled as Jaq’s whole body visibly winced in response to the gesture, his clear military background weeping at her attempt at military decorum.

"Less trampling on military tradition, more talking," Jaq bit off.

"Right, so, we went into the dungeon and found it started at level thirty-eight or thirty-nine," Beth replied, continuing her explanation. "We used that," she said, giving Baelvyr a decided look, at which point he interrupted her.

"Ya can tell Jaq. Could also tell Tazeen if ya need to, but nobody else for now," he said with a nod.

"Tell me what?" Jaq asked, glancing between them before returning his gaze to the path of destruction they were retracing to the Hall.

"She's Liveria's heir," Baelvyr stated simply before Beth could get anything out.

"Ah, I see, that explains a couple things," Jaq replied with a nod before shrugging. "Not like I really care much. Her Path was quite different from mine, not something I would even really want to compare notes about."

"Never refuse a chance to learn somethin'," Baelvyr admonished with a shake of his head. Jaq just tsk'ed in response.

"Anyway," Beth continued, giving them both a little glare, "we used the gate power I got from Liveria to do some power leveling."

"What's your time coefficient like right now?" Jaq interrupted, getting a grunt from Baelvyr and a glare from Beth.

"If you mean what ratios I have available, the best I can do right now is five times, and that really strains my spirit, especially with the amount we used it at the start of the dungeon," Beth replied, shaking her head as she thought of just how overall beat-up she was at this moment. "So, we got to a point where we matched the starting rooms, took a little rest, then headed out to fight. It was pretty generic, other than the enemies using ice, just a lot of fighting in dark rooms against mediocre enemies."

"Can learn from any fight, girlie," Baelvyr grumbled, giving her a side-eye as he walked right through a maple tree.

"Right, and I felt that a little, as I was working on deflecting the enemies' attacks, including into each other," Beth replied, giving him a side-eye in return at his wanton natural destruction. "The only really interesting thing, other than a puzzle Blood solved, was a variant called a Ravager that we fought. I would say it was actually a little tougher than the boss, though we did get a good series of powerful strikes on the boss at the end that stopped it before it could go too crazy. Got some good Ice Resistance levels out of the whole thing, at least."

"And what about the eyes, girl?" Jaq asked with a slight huff.

"Yeah, they're Eyes of the FrostFlame Lord," Beth replied with a shrug. Jaq stumbled almost imperceptibly when she said it, and Beth continued with a question, "I take it they're good?"

"FrostFlame is a tribe of both humans and sapient trolls," Baelvyr responded with a grunt before Jaq could get his thoughts in order. "They use both fire and ice skills in battle and have better resistance skills for both of them than the average."

"The eye power you received is one of their best," Jaq added. "They usually require someone to at least hit Empowered before they can get it."

"What's that again?" Beth asked with a bit of a sheepish frown.

"Five rebirths to nine rebirths. Tenth rebirth is Enlightened," Baelvyr responded almost by rote.

"So, it's pretty damn good?" Beth asked with a satisfied nod.

"Check the tier," Jaq said in some annoyance.

"Wait, what?" Beth asked, blinking at him with her mouth open. He simply returned her dumbfounded expression with a glare until she pulled up her stat screen. "Oh, shit."

'What is it, sister?' Blood asked with a tinge of worry.

"Sorry," Beth replied, thumping Blood on the back of the neck. "I was just surprised because I can see the tiers of my skills now. It’s a tier three skill. Also…um…it looks like I lost Identify? What's going on?"

"FrostFlame Eye is an advanced identification-type skill," Jaq replied with an exasperated sigh. "It likely replaced your Identify while absorbing some of its experience."

"Oh, is that why it's already at copper[4]?" Beth asked with a raised brow.

"What was your Identify?" Jaq asked in response.

"Like, copper[8] or something," Beth said while tapping her chin, head slightly tilted.

"Seems right," Baelvyr said with another grunt.

"Yes, it would take some of the experience with the skill it merges with. Higher tiers need more experience, so even though it's half the level now, it's less than half the experience," Jaq explained calmly. "It'll take longer to level but, as you no doubt have already experienced, it is a much better skill."

"That kinda sucks," Beth grumbled.

"Can't win 'em all, girlie," Baelvyr chuckled.

"So, I can pull the archive file on the skill, but tell us what it does," Jaq continued.

"Why don't you just look it up?" Beth asked.

"Good teachin' moment," Baelvyr grumbled. "What a skill is s'posed to do on paper ain't always what it actually does. Beyond that, how ya use and understand it can be slightly different, even more with perception affectin' skills like eye powers."

"Oh," Beth replied. "I see. Well…it definitely sharpened my vision by a lot. I can see way better, and I have much better low light vision, though I haven't really tested that."