Limitless Path

Her first task now was to find Elana. If she couldn't locate her smithing instructor, she knew she could find Tazeen in the lobby, so she made her way up to the lounge the enforcers claimed as theirs first. Entering from the side door opposite where the girls usually piled in, Beth saw that she was still early enough that the girls had yet to arrive for their day’s training. Most of the senior members were in the lobby, and Beth made a beeline for Elana's table.

"Ready for your next lesson?" the mellifluous dwarf asked as Beth stopped before her.

"Sure, but probably not like you're thinking," Beth replied with a slight smile.

"I take it, then, that you have something for me to look at?" asked the smith with a raised brow.

"How do you guys all do that?" Beth asked as her slight smile inverted.

"Do what?" Elana replied, left eyebrow still raised.

"Know what I'm going to say or do before I do," Beth replied as she set her pack down on the table and sat, Blood plonking down next to her. "I have some things I wanted a second opinion on, since Jaq recommended not selling them."

"I'm listening," Elana said with a nod.

Beth proceeded to pull out the frost iron ore and the blue box containing the lava cores. Elana grabbed the ore first and hefted it once before setting it back down, proceeding to open the box and peer at the lava cores before shutting the lid and setting it back down. She turned to Beth and said, "Not bad finds, for sure. Can't recommend you use them anytime soon. I would hit at least Journeyman before messing with either, and you would likely want to be near Expert before using the lava cores."

Beth nodded at the explanation and returned the items to her bag before pulling out the two lesser beast cores and the small pouch of mana gold. Elana briefly examined both cores and the gold before rendering the same verdict as before, that being Beth needed a lot more training before utilizing the materials. She returned the items to the backpack and pulled out the last item of interest for the smith to look at, the forging hammer.

Elana's eyebrows briefly rose again as she took the tool and examined it, giving it a more thorough look than she had any of the other items. She then hefted it and made a few quick, precise swings, as if she was about to hit a piece of metal on the table before her. She didn't actually hit anything, but nodded thoughtfully after the few swings were finished.

"It's a fairly good piece, girl," Elana told her. "I would say you can use it all the way through Expert level without any need for anything else. Maybe at the high end of Expert you'll want to switch it out or get it rebuilt, but you're definitely covered for a general-purpose hammer for the craft for quite some time."

"Thanks for looking them over," Beth said with a nod and small smile as she tossed the hammer back in her bag, Elana giving a slight frown at her careless packing arrangement. At least, Beth thought it was at her packing and not anything else.

"You ready to do some work today?" asked the dwarf as Beth refastened the latches on her pack.

"Not today, sorry," Beth replied. "I have to intercept the rest of my group before they get started and give them a few things. After that, I have some stuff to take care of myself."

"Alright, girl, I'll be here," Elana replied. "Just don't go too long, iron left to lie rusts."

"I'll keep that in mind," Beth answered with a nod before hopping up and walking over to Baelvyr's table, Blood following along after.

"Anythin' good?" he asked by way of greeting.

"Little of this, little of that," Beth answered with a smirk as she sat down, dumping her pack on the table in front of her as Blood sat down beside her. The massive ogre just grunted in response, engrossed in his usual past-time of drinking something suspiciously strong smelling while watching the large screens scattered around the room.

The three waited for a little while longer, Beth noting that John and Navere were at the same table discussing something, once again no noise audible from them. Beth finished scanning the room, noting that Tazeen was absent, as usual, and Lyrissa was nowhere to be found. From what she had seen and heard, it seemed Soph was already used to having to track down her erstwhile instructor almost every time they came down to the Hall. She noted that the screen directly across from Baelvyr's usual table, what would be the front-right of the room from her perspective, was displaying some sort of news program. As she scanned the text on the screen, the far door opened and the rest of her group shuffled in, Beth motioning them to join her at the corner table.

"Need something?" Kim asked as they joined her.

"Nope, got something," Beth replied with a grin, flipping the top clasps on her pack. Reaching in, she pulled out the first and largest item, the staff she had found. She passed it over to Soph, the young girl taking it with raised brows and slightly widened eyes.

"Beth, what is…this…" she asked as she admired the look and feel of the wood before goggling at the gem.

"It's a staff made from a kind of oak, I forget what Jaq said-" Beth started before Baelvyr interrupted with, "Red sage oak," from the side. "Right, that." Beth continued. "So, anyway, it's made from a strong wood and has a gem that is aligned to ice and water. The staff itself has some fire mana leaning, so it should give a small boost to both fire and ice spells. As to how to actually use it, I have no idea, I would ask your instructor."

"Oh, also," Beth continued, reaching into the pack and pulling out the small bottle with the elixir in, "take this as well. It's an elixir that will give your INT a permanent bump."

"Beth, I don't…" Soph started but stalled out. She tried again, "Beth, this is just…so much."

"It's fine," Beth waved away Soph's stammering. "Just drink the elixir and use the staff."

"Right, uh, thanks," Soph mumbled before popping the stopper and chugging the potion in one go. She almost immediately spluttered before clutching her head in both hands and crumpling forward onto the desk, moaning in pain. Baelvyr just chuckled as both Sabs and Kim reached for their youngest member in concern.

"Relax," Beth said, shooting her instructor a glare that bounced off his massive frame. "Taking an elixir really hurts, trust me. It'll be over in a few minutes."

"Minutes!" shrieked Soph as she straightened before making a hissing groan and curling up again. This time, the entire gamut of enforcers laughed at the display, Beth just shaking her head at their amusement.

"So, no precious treasures for us?" asked Kim as she gently placed a hand on Soph's shoulder, giving Beth a raised brow over the youngest sister's back.

"Nope," Beth replied cheekily. "I do have a bunch of raw resources now, though. If I have enough time to work on my smithing, I could probably make some mana steel weapons for everyone in the not too distant future. I don't know about armor, though."

"Let's try to walk 'fore we run, girlie," Baelvyr once again threw in his two cents, just as unhelpful as his last contribution.

"Anyway," Beth continued, giving her instructor another glare, "I have some areas that I found while exploring that might be worthwhile. I'm still checking the most promising out, but it might be a good follow-on after the wolves and ants."

"Oh really?" asked Kim. "What is it?"

"Underground area," Beth started, eliciting a whining groan from Soph. "Got a lot of kobolds in it. Not too much of a challenge, but there was a single one in a special area that was nearly level thirty."

"Thirty!" Sabs choked out. "And you want us to go there?"

"Well, maybe not right now." Beth replied with a chuckle. "But everything else in that area is in the low- to mid-teens. There's still other parts I haven't explored, so we'll figure it out once I have a better idea what's what."

"I like the new gear," Sabs commented, seemingly content to let the exploration talk lie. "You find all this down there?"

"Well, some." Beth answered. "I bought the bag from Jaq, and the standard supplies came with it. The sword and the other unusual stuff I found, including Soph's new items."

Sabs grabbed the new sword and seemed to intuitively grasp the mechanism of the clasps, getting the blade free right away, only for it to clunk down on the table. With a deep grunt, she grabbed it with both hands and lifted, barely getting it free of the table. Beth reached over and took it from her with one hand before slapping it back in the clasps on the side of the bag.

"Hey!" Sabs exclaimed, giving her a dirty look. "I was looking at that."

"Lookin’ to get yerself a new cut," muttered Baelvyr in a voice like rocks being crushed.

"Maybe when you have a few more points in STR you can grab it," Beth said with an eyebrow wiggle, earning her an elbow in the side for her troubles.

"You're all so fucking loud," Soph groaned, lifting her head as it seemed the elixir had finally run its course. Her hair was now tousled and her eyes a little red, but she appeared to be holding up reasonably well.

"Language," Kim shot her sternly, but with a creeping smile belying the severity of the reprimand.

"Yeah, it exists," Soph replied as she rubbed her eyes. "It feels like someone just deep fried my whole brain."

"Yeah, elixirs are like that," Baelvyr rumbled. "One of the things us old bastards always get a kick outta, givin' you newbies an elixir without lettin' ya know what they're like."

"Thanks, oh so much," Soph said, trying to split a glare between the ogre and Beth, nearly going cross-eyed before abandoning the effort.

"I don't have anything else for you," Beth continued, ignoring Soph's dirty look. "Best to split off to your instructors."

Soph and Kim got up and headed off, Kim walking over to interrupt Navere and John while Soph set out on a hunting expedition. Sabs stayed back for a moment, turning to Beth and asking, "Will you be around later?"

"I don't really know," Beth replied with a sigh. "I'm going to explore that place where I got this stuff more, and I might be out all night. Though, I'll try to head back today at least. It's tomorrow I'm more think of."

"What's tomorrow?" Sabs asked, face scrunching a little.

"Oh no, nothing. Not like an event or something, I just found another dungeon as part of this underground base or whatever it is. From what I could see of the description, that dungeon is pretty damn long. I don't think the first couple times through are going to be quick."

"You mean we'll have to camp in a dungeon?" Sabs continued her questions, face scrunching further.

"Ha, get used to it," Baelvyr rumbled. "If yer group is serious about gaining levels and climbin' the ladder at the CRA, ya gotta put in the effort. Yer gonna be spendin' most of yer time in the field. Some expeditions'll take months; even years, at the far later stages."

"That's…unpleasant," Sabs sighed at the ogre's words.

"Ya ain't gotta do it," he replied. "But if yer lookin' for anythin' beyond mediocre, yer gonna be spending a lot of time in dungeons, trials, ancient lands, forbidden zones, and so on. Ya get my drift."

"I don't even know what most of that is," Sabs replied. "What the hell is a forbidden zone?"

"Somethin' ya lot ain't gotta worry about for a long time," he answered. "If'n ya find yourself in one, run like the bloody void stars are after you."

"The hell are the void stars?" Sabs was now the latest one to direct an ineffective glare at Beth's instructor.

"Nothin' ya need to know about," he said shortly. "Now ain't ya got trainin' to do?" he continued, nodding at John, who had appeared beside Sabs without any of the three low-level girls noticing.

"Shit, how'd you do that?" Sabs sputtered as Baelvyr rolled his eyes.

"Easily," John answered caustically. "Now get your lazy ass movin'. The sooner I exhaust you, the sooner I can slack off."

"Don't gotta be rude about it," Beth said to him, which he entirely ignored.

Sabs hopped up and headed out the door, but not before grabbing Beth and planting a quick kiss on her cheek. "Kids," muttered John in a curmudgeonly way under his breath as he followed the tiny girl out. Beth made to leave too, standing and grabbing her pack before Baelvyr stopped her.

"If ya don't find anythin' that'll really challenge yer skill out there, I expect ya back in the trainin' room," he said. "We can push ya into Journeyman in those skills in another month of work."

"Alright," Beth replied with a deep sigh. "I'll be back for training regardless, but I'd like to explore more."

"It ain't a command, girlie," he chuckled. "Just givin' ya a suggestion and a timeline."

"Right, thanks," Beth nodded before adjusting her pack and giving Blood a pat. "I'm out for the day, don't know if I'll be back tonight."

Baelvyr just nodded as he pulled his usual trick of making several bottles appear to fill his mug. Blood followed along as Beth led the way out of the lounge and towards their room. They headed down into the underworks for a quick stop, Beth stripping out everything that wasn’t necessary from her pack before the two took a quick restroom break. They then headed up and out, making their way to the lobby, finding only Tazeen present when the two entered from the back. Beth gave the elf a nod as the two passed by before exiting the lobby, Beth mounting up on Blood as they turned south.

In no time at all they reached the pit, descending the spiraling ramp into the gloom, the early morning angle of the sun causing the bottom of the pit to be full of deep shadows blending into a clinging darkness. Beth dismounted as they hit the bottom of the ramp and slung her pack around, fishing out the same lightstone she had used previously and attaching it to her belt in the same manner. Once they had a little light, the two were ready to continue their explorations of the previous day. Beth looked between the two tunnels, eager to head down and get to work on the dungeon, but not exactly thrilled at the prospect of leaving the entire second tunnel network unexplored. Getting beat up in the dungeon only to be ambushed by beasts or monsters because they hadn't fully explored the area didn't exactly seem the smartest move, and Beth turned to Blood to get her input.