Limitless Path

Beth was endlessly fascinated with the book, as it really felt to her similar to what a skill book would be like from a game. In a number of different RPGs, the characters could learn skills or abilities by reading certain books, and she thought that this was almost the same thing. She read the entire book cover-to-cover in a single rather long sitting, and her thoughts of skill books came back in full force when a message popped up as she closed the book.

Blacksmithing Apprentice[0] acquired.

Just from reading the introductory book that Elana had lent to her, she had managed to already acquire the skill at the most basic level. She also suspected, after she had thought about it a minute longer, that it was in how she read it. She had followed Elana's advice and not just sprinted through the entire book, but focused on really comprehending everything she was reading, including the anecdotes about ways beginner smiths had ruined equipment. Being too hasty was the most common mistake, but several other basic mistakes were pointed out via a quick story example, including hammering the metal too long at certain points in the process, usually the mistake being in letting the metal get too cold for the current work the smith was attempting.

Beth's elation didn't really last too long as, even though it hadn't really been a trying day, she was still fairly tired for some reason. She cracked a yawn that had her jaw pop from the size of it before getting up and stretching for a moment. She went over to the kitchenette to prepare food, getting water for both her and Blood to drink.

Once the two had eaten, she cleaned up before getting ready for bed. She forewent another shower, as she hadn't done anything strenuous since the one earlier in the day, and she made her way into the bedroom after she was done with her nighttime routine. She climbed in the bed and got comfortable on her side, Blood jumping up and rolling against her back, before she set her phone on the nightstand and passed out.

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Beth woke early the next morning feeling both fully refreshed and the weight of her companion against her back. The massive wolf would have been heavy enough to crush her, even leaned partially against her, just a few weeks ago, but now Beth found the weight and heat pleasant.

She rolled out of bed, earning a soft snort from Blood, before making her way to the bathroom to get ready for the day. After taking care of her morning ablutions, she moved to the kitchenette to get food and water ready for the two of them. When she had prepared enough for both her and Blood, she took it into the main room, sitting on the couch to eat at the low table. Blood slunk out to join her after a moment, rapidly polishing off her portion of the food and water.

Considering the twenty-five-silver hit her wallet had just taken, Beth was rather determined to farm the dungeons every morning, regardless of the other girls' plans. She pulled on her armor and sword, heading out of the room along with Blood when she was fully geared up. She led the way up and out, going through the arena area before heading into the front building, and finally through the lobby. Tazeen was installed at the main counter, as ever, and gave her a slight nod as she passed through.

Beth and Blood made quite good time in heading home, neither of them much bothered by the chilly air. They arrived a little past eight in the morning, finding the rest of the group just gathering in the Bells’ backyard before heading out. They joined up and trotted northward, heading to the ant dungeon first.

The dungeon went faster today than what it had yesterday, but it was still a slower experience overall. Especially since the levels of the ants had kept up with or outpaced the rest of the group, Beth didn't interfere in the fights on the fourth floor, letting the girls gain experience. They moved through the dungeon in about an hour all told, and had returned to the surface and started back south when they ran into a slightly interesting sight.

There was a young man fighting the ants, which was nothing so unusual in itself, a number of people from the neighborhood taking opportunities to do similar. What made him stand out, other than him being alone, was that he was not actually from the neighborhood. Beth recognized him in only a moment, before she even used Identify on him, as the young man that was arguing with Tazeen the other day at the CRA Hall.

The group watched for a moment as he finished off the ant he was fighting, sustaining a minor cut in the process, before they walked over to him. He had gotten a combat knife from somewhere, which is what he was using against the level three ants he was fighting, and he cleaned it off on the grass before seeming to notice the girls walking over.

"Having a difficult time, James?" Beth asked him, one of her brows arched.

"Yeah, well, a little bit," he replied a little shakily. "I gotta say, you were right the other day. Even fighting these low leveled guys is tough, glad you stopped me charging out somewhere and getting killed."

"Hey, no problem," Beth replied. "Glad you're doing OK. We should see about getting you a new weapon at some point."

"Aren't weapons pretty expensive? And don't I have to be a member or whatever to get one?" he asked in response.

"Nah," said Kim, joining the conversation. "We can get you something that'll work a lot better than that for a few silvers. It's kinda expensive, but we make a few silvers a day when we clear the dungeons."

"Well," he said hesitantly, scratching at the back of his head for a moment with his free hand. "I really would appreciate it. I'll definitely owe you guys one."

"It's not a problem," said Beth, even though she was wincing a little internally. "It's really good to see somebody out here fighting, somebody that actually really wants to be doing it. What kind of weapon do you want, a knife?"

"I'd rather have a cool sword, like the one you've got," he replied immediately, his eyes lighting up.

"Well, let's not aim too high," Beth replied with a chuckle.

"Aw, what, too expensive?" James replied, a little downcast.

"Nope," Beth answered. "Well, yes actually, but also no."

Just as James opened his mouth to ask what she was talking about, Beth unslung her sword and held it out to him. He gave her a bit of a suspicious look, but still grabbed hold of the hilt of her blade. And immediately dropped it.

"What the shit?" he exclaimed.

"Language," said Kim.

"It's heavy," said Sabs.

"Yeah, no shit," he replied, giving Kim a quick look, before looking back at Beth. "You can use that thing?"

"Yepper," Beth replied, grabbing the sword off the ground and tossing it into the air, grabbing it with her other hand once it started falling back down. She sheathed the blade with a smooth motion and looked back at James with a smirk.

"Uh, what's your STR at, then?" he asked her with a frown.

"I'll just tell you it's over fifty at this point," she said.

"Fifty?!" James exclaimed, absolutely agog at the very thought.

"Yeah, it's not that big of a deal. Come on girls, we shouldn't take up anymore of James' valuable time," Beth said, waving to her group to follow before walking off.

"Hey, uh, thanks!" James called out after them, likely referring to the promised sword.

Beth just waved over her shoulder in response, the group quickly heading southward. They skirted around the eastern edge of the neighborhood, quickly moving across the highway into the fields to the south. They had to kill a small number of lower leveled wolves as they made their way to the wolf dungeon, the beasts natural aggression leading to no care given to the overwhelming difference in power.

They soon jogged up to the wolf dungeon and headed inside, not wasting any time making their way to the first room. They cleared the room quickly, the wolves possessing numbers and decent speed, but all those in the first room were in the single digits in level. Beth chipped in to get them through quickly, and the body of the last wolf was still tumbling across the ground when the group moved on to the next room.

Beth stepped back at this point, allowing the other girls to step up since there were a number of level tens in this room. It wasn't really that much of a difference, the three low leveled girls able to clean out the room in rather short order. They took half a minute to rest and catch their breaths but were soon on their way to room three.

This room was, of course, no longer the boss room, and posed a little more challenge than the last. Beth didn't step in to help at all again, and it took a little while longer for the team to clear out the wolves. Kim lost another scale from her armor and Sabs got a cut on her hand, but they were otherwise unscathed. After giving Sabs a few minutes to heal up with Regeneration, they moved on to the final room.

Beth opened the fight in here the same way as last time, but then stood back and observed, allowing the group to get the rest of the experience. It wasn't quite enough to push a level up, but Beth was pretty sure all three would be getting a level at the start of the next day's dungeon clearing. The room was dealt with in due time, and the girls took a longer break, the stronger and more numerous enemies having given them quite a workout.

Resting for a while, the girls were ready to go at last, and they set out for the CRA Hall. They only took about ten minutes or so to get there, Soph riding Blood as the others trotted along on foot. They entered the lobby as soon as they arrived, noting Tazeen was behind the front counter, as per usual. He gave the somewhat bloody group a calm glance, noting how Beth was much neater than the day before. She had learned her lesson that day and had struck the wolf boss a much more precise blow while continuing to move, getting almost no mess on herself.

Beth gave Tazeen a nod as the group passed by, and they made their way down to the basement of the arena, entering Beth's room and shedding their equipment. They took turns using the bathroom to shower again, running through the remaining supplies of clean towels in the room. Beth had showered first, and she left with a big pile of laundry after reattaching her belt and pouch, heading over to the laundry room.

She spent twenty minutes washing and drying the towels and clothes she had brought before heading back to the room, finding everyone but Soph had finished. Her youngest sister was a well-known bathroom hog, and often got into fights with Kim over use of their shared bathroom, so it was no surprise she was taking a very long shower. Beth turned the large screen on the far wall and brought up one of the matches she had previously watched. It didn't take very long for the other two to be enthralled, only Blood not as interested, having seen it all before.

They wound up watching quite a few videos before Soph deigned to emerge from the bathroom, finally showered and ready for the rest of the day. It was a good thing too, as the day was passing by, and they only had so much time with their instructors. Beth let the others out of the room, but didn't leave herself, instead staying to read the book on smithing again. She remembered Elana's warning that she needed to not just read through the book but comprehend what she was reading to be ready to answer pointed questions.

She spent the rest of the afternoon and evening working through the book another time before skimming different sections and making notes. She was determined to do well at this, especially since she'd already been made to experience the pain of equipment prices via Jaq numerous times. If she could get access to raw materials, she could make herself and the others armor and weapons for much cheaper, and even make pieces that were custom fitted to the user.

She studied fairly meticulously before sitting back with a sigh and rubbing her eyes. She checked the time on her phone, seeing that it was starting to get a little late, before standing up and shutting the screen off. She threw her gear on before motioning to Blood, leading the way out of the room and up to the lounge. She found Soph already there waiting for the rest and joined her sister at the table. They didn't have to wait more than a few minutes before the other two showed up at practically the same moment, both looking dog-tired from the long day.

The group made their way out of the lounge and down the hall before traversing the lobby to leave the building. It was already into the evening outside, and it was mostly dark as they started making their way back to the neighborhood. In just a handful of minutes they made it home, encountering nothing unexpected on the way, and trouped in through the back of the Bell house. They shucked their equipment in the mudroom before splitting out into the rest of the house.

Most of them had eaten at the CRA Hall, so they proceeded into the living room first to sit and rest, as well as discuss the day. It didn't take long, however, for weariness to win out, the younger sisters and Blood trooping upstairs while Beth turned to Sabs.

"So, uh, you wanna stay here tonight?" she asked, shifting a little on the couch while glancing downward briefly.

"Y-yeah, sure. I let my mom know that I wouldn't be back tonight," Sabs replied nervously, shifting back on forth on the couch herself as she rubbed her hands together unconsciously.

"Well, come on then. Let's head upstairs," Beth replied a bit more firmly, finding her courage as she leaned forward and took Sabs's left hand in her right, getting up and leading the older girl out of the living room. They headed to the back of the house and up the stairs, hooking a hard left to head down the hall to Beth's room.