Limitless Path

They moved further down, eventually coming to the hexagonal room. It was fully dark, and Beth took the opportunity to show Sabs the mana lamps on the pillars, walking her through the process of pushing a tiny thread of mana in to light them. The small girl had to reach just above her head to touch the lamps, but she still managed with only slightly more effort. They took a minute to move around the space lighting all the lamps before reconvening near the entrance tunnel.

"OK, now what?" Sabs asked, looking around. "There aren't any kobolds here?"

"Yeah, there aren't," Beth nodded. "Dunno why, but there was just some random junk down here. Oh, and the dungeon entrance."

"Where's that?" Sabs asked, looking back to Beth after determining there was nothing noteworthy in the main room.

"Opposite door," Beth said, pointing at what she thought of as 'door four.' "Best not to go down there, since the dungeon starts at level thirty-eight. Not that I think it's likely, but if we got sucked in somehow, it would be a huge pain-in-the-ass to slog through again so soon."

"And you'd have to protect me the whole way, right?" Sabs asked with a little frown.

"I mean, yeah," Beth answered with a shrug, holding her hand up as she saw Sabs's frown deepen. "Sorry Sabs, but it's super dangerous. I'm not trying to call you weak or make fun of you, but you could seriously die from just a single hit from a 'weak' enemy in there. The boss or one of the special variants could likely kill you with a blast of ice from halfway across the room before you could properly react."

"Right, sorry, I didn't mean to get so upset," Sabs replied with a quick shake of her head. "It's just a bit annoying that I can't keep with you and Blood."

"Well, we have a number of advantages, including our willingness to go out for hours and hours early on and fight higher level enemies," Beth replied with a bit of shrug, shifting her weight from her left to her right foot. "But we'll take you and the girls out for some training the next few days."

"It's fine, Beth," Sabs replied, stepping forward and practically hopping up to give her a swift peck on the cheek. "You really are just so damn tall."

"Just more to love," Beth said with a smirk, doing a bit of a cheesy flexing pose.

"Seriously, come on, let's get done whatever you came here for," Sabs replied with a very pronounced eyeroll.

"Yeah, yeah," Beth responded, shaking her head. "In here."

She led the other two into the first office-type area they had found, what seemed so long ago, when they were first exploring the place. It was exactly as Beth remembered it, being in the same exact state they had left it in. She walked over to the chest and patted the lid, making sure it was secure before getting ready to pick it up.

"That's what we're after?" Sabs asked, standing across from Beth and staring at the dark grey chest.

"Yepper," Beth replied with a nod.

"Mind if I try?" Sabs asked, not waiting for Beth's permission before bending down and grabbing the handle.

"Lift with the legs, not the back," Beth commented quickly.

Sabs stopped and looked up at her, asking, "Um, what exactly does that mean? I've heard people say it, but I don't lift, so I don't really know."

"Let me demonstrate," Beth said, motioning for Sabs to straighten up. She then stepped forward slightly and squatted down. "This is basically what it means. You see how I'm squatting down to get in position to grab it?"

"Yeah, not a graceful looking pose," Sabs replied with a smile, taking any sting out of the words.

"Sure, but it's a pose that means I won't break my back picking something heavy up," Beth replied with a shrug. "The whole idea of 'lift with your legs' is that you grab something with your arms while squatting instead of bending over. Then, you push with your legs, straightening your legs to stand, using that effort while holding the thing you're lifting firmly to pick it up. You only use your back muscles really to try to keep your back straight against the pull of the weight in front of you, not to pick the thing up. That's why in, like, TV shows and stuff you see somebody bend over at the waist like you started to do, then suddenly straighten up and clutch their back while the laugh track plays."

Beth demonstrated what she had just explained, straightening her legs and lifting the chest straight up. Her eyes widened a little as she did so, something Sabs picked up on instantly.

"What? You didn't hurt yourself, did you?" she asked, a worried tone clear in her voice.

"No, no. Sorry, it just surprised me how much lighter it feels. I haven't tried to pick this up in nearly twenty levels, and the extra STR makes a huge difference," Beth explained, setting the chest down with a thump.

"Alright, my turn," Sabs said, making a gesture like she was rolling her sleeves up as she stepped up to the chest, not able to actually roll the sleeves of her armored top. She squatted down as Beth had demonstrated and grabbed the handles on the sides of the chest, getting a good grip before pushing hard with her legs. She let out a loud, guttural grunt as she strained, veins standing out on her delicate neck as her face reddened.

"Alright, alright, Sabs. Enough," Beth said, causing the older girl to stop, falling back onto her butt with a gasp. "Are you OK?"

"Yeah, just a little winded," Sabs replied, waving her hand. Beth dropped her pack, grumbling a little as she had to detach her sword to get it to sit on the ground right, before rooting out when of the ever-full canteens. She passed it to Sabs with a grin, the smaller girl grabbing it and guzzling a good bit of water before handing it back. Beth grinned in response before raising it to her lips and taking a few heavy swigs herself. She motioned to Blood as she lowered the canteen, but the huge wolf just shook her head. Beth stashed the canteen and hefted her pack, re-attaching the sword to the clasps Jaq had sold her with a fluid motion.

"I can't believe you can lift that thing, Beth," Sabs said as she hopped back up. "My STR isn't insane, but I would make a pre-Path body builder look like absolutely nothing, and I barely managed to make it move. It has to weigh half a ton, or even more."

"Yeah, I don't know how much steel weighs, other than a lot, but mana steel weighs even more," Beth replied with a shrug. "I've got enough STR now that it's not that big a deal."

"How much STR did you have last time you picked it up?" Sabs asked, glaring at the chest like it had personally offended her.

"Uh, I don't remember exactly, but I think over eighty?" Beth replied while tapping her chin.

"Eighty?!" Sabs squawked in an indignant tone. "I only have twenty-eight. No wonder I almost popped a blood vessel from trying that. And what's your STR at now?"

Beth shrugged while glancing at her stat sheet to doublecheck. "Uh, one-twenty-six."

"Jesus Christ, Beth!" Sabs exclaimed, looking at her with eyebrows near her hairline and very wide eyes. "Remind me not to piss you off."

"I would never, ever do anything bad to you, Sabs," Beth replied, stepping over the chest to crush the small girl in a powerful hug.

"I know, Beth, it was a joke," Sabs replied with a small chuckle. "But I'm not complaining about more hugs."

"Alright, I'll make of note of it," Beth answered with a laugh, breaking off the hug. "Let's get out of here before Blood gets too antsy."

The huge wolf padded over and rested her head on Sabs's left shoulder, rubbing the top of her head against the side of the short girl's head. Sabs responded with both arms, wrapping them around the wolf's head and neck and digging in with her fingers, scratching rapidly. Beth stepped back over the chest, in the meantime, and squatted down before hefting it, lifting it off the ground rather easily.

"I can't believe how easy you make that look," Sabs grumbled, still stroking Blood.

"Well, check back in after we walk like a mile up and multiple miles out to get back to the shaft," Beth responded with a sigh, leading the way out of the room and back into the main tunnel.

They started back up the main tunnel, Beth holding the chest of ingots up just in front of her stomach as they walked. As they progressed, she found that, while not really tiring, it was annoying to hold that position. She grunted a little and shifted the chest up to her left shoulder, curling her left arm around it and keeping it steady with her right.

"Holy shit, Beth," Sabs muttered, wide-eyed. "I can't believe you can just toss that on your shoulder like that."

"Eh, it's more comfortable to have it sitting there," Beth replied with a one-shoulder shrug. "'Sides, it's not really that heavy."

"Right, not that heavy," Sabs said with an eyeroll.

"Well, OK, it is heavy, just not enough to stop me," Beth responded with a one-shouldered shrug. "Anyway, what's been going on while Blood and I have been otherwise occupied?"

"Oh, you know, same old, same old," Sabs answered with a sigh. "Clearing dungeons, training, and protecting the neighborhood. Took some people into the ant dungeon to get them some more levels."

"Really? Who?" Beth asked, right eyebrow climbing as she glanced down at the short girl.

"Soph and I took a group of five from the neighborhood in two -sorry, three- days ago," Sabs said. "It was a little bit of a wake-up call. Well, it was a wake-up call for them, it was just a demonstration of how far even Kim, Soph, and I have come already compared to everyone else."

"Oh yeah? What happened?" Beth continued her questions, happy to have Sabs chatting as they continued the trudge.

"The five we took down were the highest level apart from us," Sabs explained. "Which means between level nine and eleven. We took them through the first floor of ants, and it took hours. It was basically an all-day thing, and we only cleared one floor. And maybe it's unfair to complain about, but their skill levels were terrible.

"They're just awful, Beth. It took them a dozen or more minutes as a group to kill two ants." Sabs ranted. "And they had to rest for half-an-hour afterwards. And that's just the first room. They took way longer in the second room and had to have Soph save them at the very end. Then they had to meditate for an hour to rest and heal. Two hours in and they had cleared two rooms. TWO!"

The three had made their way up a decent part of the tunnel that led to the kobold labyrinth. Beth just shook her head and chuckled at Sabs's ranting. She had tried to always be patient with the girls when she helped them, though she did lash out once or twice, usually at Soph. But it sounded like Sabs had been dealing with a whole new level of bad and, to be fair to Sabs and her sisters, even before CRA training they were actually fairly passable.

"It sounds like these guys are way worse than any of use were, even before CRA training," Beth vocalized the thought.

"Oh yeah, totally," Sabs said, talking with her hands as she was still rather wound up. "They've gotten overall levels just by killing the 'easy,' my emphasis on that, ants and wolves. They barely even have weapon skills, let alone levels in those skills, so of course they can barely actually fight. Only one of them was beyond helpless in any possible way.

"I know I'm being harsh," Sabs gesticulated with both hands, making a slashing motion against her left palm with her right hand, "but these guys are just not cut out for this. Having to act as babysitter really opened my eyes, including to the fact that there are definitely people out there who really can't fight for shit. Were we ever that bad?"

"No, Sabs, I don't think any of our group were that bad," Beth replied with a headshake. "I took dumb, stupid risks, and sometimes still do, but none of us were ever really terrible at fighting in general. I think all of us, even Soph, have at least some aptitude for it. Not that I put a ton of stock in people being meant to do or not do stuff, but it is true people can really suck at some things before they get a ton of practice."

"No arguments from me," Sabs agreed, craning her neck to look up as they entered the shaft leading back up to the surface. "Guess it's still not noon yet."

"Gettin' there," Beth grunted, bouncing the chest on her shoulder to resettle it before trudging over to the long, spiraling ramp.

"I would offer my help to give you a break, but I can't even lift the damn thing," Sabs said, catching up to walk alongside Beth.

"It's fine, just gonna take a break at the top. Rather push through and get most of the hard stuff done in one go," Beth replied with another one-shoulder shrug. "Walk back to the Hall will be pretty easy."

They trudged up the spiral ramp, Sabs continuing her complaints about the dungeon training session as they did so. Beth made the appropriate noises as she listened, not wanting to interrupt, and fearing she didn't have enough breath in the second half to do so. They finally emerged into the noon light, Sabs frowning and grumbling at the rather cutting wind blowing across the empty field. Beth set the chest down a dozen feet away from the pit with a heavy *thunk* and a deep sigh, stretching with her arms high above her head.

"You alright?" Sabs asked, worrying her lip again as she looked at Beth.

"Yeah, just need a minute to rest," the tall girl replied with a nod, turning and sitting on the object of her discomfort. Sabs stepped over and leaned down just slightly, giving Beth a quick kiss on the lips. Beth easily picked the smaller girl up and set her on her lap, glancing over to see Blood sitting opposite and scanning the field. Beth left the wolf to guard duty, wrapping her arms around Sabs and stretching her long legs out a little to even out her position on the squat chest. Sabs looped her right arm around Beth's shoulders and leaned her head against the top of the left side of Beth's chest, grumbling a little at having set her head against the scales of Beth's chestpiece.