Limitless Path

Beth looked at all the messages with widened eyes, mouth hanging slightly open. The ant princess' corpse tugging on her arm, exacerbating her broken knuckles and cuts, pulled her out of her stupor with a hiss. She grabbed the head with her left hand and ripped her right arm out, hissing a second time at the pain from the various injuries. She moved away from the ant bodies and tried to use what clean parts of the cloths she had brought with her were left to wipe herself off. The results were mixed, to put it generously.

Beth next sat on the ground while lightly cradling her right hand before entering meditation. She was most concerned with her broken knuckles, the base knuckle of both the pointer and middle finger. Fortunately, she had used less mana in this room than she thought, so she focused on dropping into meditation, remembering that ants may still spawn in the room. She wasn't worried; as long as something like the princess didn't spawn again right away, she had time. She focused on forming the mana thread, finding it to be even easier this time. She had enough mana to just barely fix her broken knuckles but was tapped out afterwards.

After resting another few minutes, she opened her eyes with a sigh and stood up. Stretching to crack her back, she also looked around to make sure nothing was out of the usual. Frowning, she looked around, then checked her messages again. It said she had been awarded some kind of badge, but she didn't see it anywhere. Curious, she checked her stats page.

Name

Elizabeth Anne Bell

Class

Brawler

Level

5

Strength

15

Dexterity

11

Endurance

11

Intelligence

10

Wisdom

9

Free Points

0

Titles

Silver Flame Empress Inheritor

Skills

Ancient World Gate[0]

Crush Copper[7]

Focused Meditation Copper[1]

Identify Copper[2]

Lordly Reconstruction Copper[2]

Pain Tolerance Copper[5]

Swords Apprentice[1]

Unarmed Apprentice[2]

Wealth

5s 5c

Emblems

CRA Copper Badge

She had an entirely new section at the bottom with the label Emblems. She didn't really know what this was and focused on the CRA Copper Badge. A token appeared in her right hand causing her to start before staring at it. The token was a half-inch thick copper shield about three inches across and four inches high. There was a sword engraved laid horizontal close to the bottom of the token, with a large tree engraved in the middle of the shield face above it. Above the tree branches was a series of letters or words engraved, Beth wasn't sure which, but they did look similar to what was on a copper coin.

Speaking of coins, she thought about putting the emblem away and it disappeared, she assumed returning to whatever magic storage her coins also sat in. She summoned a silver coin and looked at it. The coin looked exactly like the copper coins but made of seemingly pure silver. When she held the coin between her thumb and forefinger and squeezed, the tiniest mote of energy left her and entered the coin. A silver symbol glowed above the coin for a few seconds then faded. It seemed different than the copper coins’ floating symbol, but she still had no idea what they meant.

Putting the coin away, Beth started looking around for anything interesting. The room was just like all the others, containing plenty of dirt and weird moss. She sighed with a little pout after a few minutes. Weren't boss rooms supposed to be full of treasure? Or have magic swords in them? It looked like the silver coins and the experience earned were the only rewards. She still wasn't sure just how valuable a silver coin was, but she supposed if a group cleared out the dungeon after it refilled with ants and each got one silver coin, it might prove quite valuable.

She began the long trudge out of the nest, passing through room after room with nothing but dirt, moss, ichor, and ant corpses in them. It was a little depressing, in a way, but Beth ignored it, knowing that these beasts were aggressive creatures that would attack anything as soon as they saw it. After an interminable length of trudging and some grumbling, she was back on the ramp leading up to the top of the nest. When she emerged a minute later, the sun was setting, casting the sky in orange and lavender hues. She looked around for a moment to make sure nothing was about to attack her, then took a minute to admire the sunset.

With a roll of her shoulders and a sharp twist of her head to crack her neck, Beth descended the outer ramp of the hive and started heading for her home. After some time of walking, she emerged from the woodlot to see the ditch and earthen berm. The berm wasn't quite high enough to block her sight, and she could see her family along with a number of other people in their backyard, talking and laughing.

"Elizabeth Anne Bell!" She sighed as her mother's voice rang out after her mother had noticed her, focusing a burning gaze on her.

"Never mind, I think I'll stay with the ants tonight," Beth responded, starting to turn around, causing much laughter to ring out across the yard.

"You will hold it right there, young lady," her mother said, getting up and walking to the berm.

Beth turned around with a sigh and faced her mother. "Yeah, yeah. Can I at least get food while you lecture me?"

"Yes, you may; but do not for a second think you are not in deep trouble," her mother responded acidly.

Beth nodded and took a step forward. "What are you-" her mother started to ask before Beth leaped, using her new stats to not just clear the ditch, but even sail past her mother on the berm and land behind her.

Rachel just gaped for a second. How did she do that? That was like fifteen feet of distance! Shaking her head, she turned and followed her daughter back to the tables and chairs gathered near and on the patio.

"What the hell happened to you?!" Kim exclaimed, followed immediately by a "Language!" from their mother.

"I fought. Ants," she replied, moving over to where there was a ton of food in dishes and bowls covered by foil. She loaded a large plate up with a mass of food and grabbed a drink, setting them at a spot at a table. She unhooked her sword and tossed it aside before peeling off her gloves and setting them on the table.

"You should treat your equipment better than that," commented Zack, nodding his head at her sword.

"It's already scrap. Besides, it's a chunk of metal, tossing it isn't going to hurt it," she replied as she sat down and started eating.

"Scrap?" asked a few people as Zack walked over and picked it up, unsheathing it partially to inspect the blade.

"Seems serviceable, just needs a clean and sharpening," he said.

"Dshnt urk," Beth replied around a mouth full of food.

"Don't talk with your mouth full. Finish what you're eating and answer properly," her mother shot at her, sitting across the table and giving her a look.

Beth finished what she was chewing before replying, "Ants are too tough. Level six ants it just bounces off."

"You fought level six ants?!" her mother exclaimed.

"And a level seven," she replied before resuming stuffing her face.

"Where and when? I need details," Zack commanded, both he and her father getting out notebooks.

Beth made to answer but seeing her mother's glare, stopped and swallowed what she was eating first. "I finished a run of the ant nest earlier. It was pretty good, made some really good gains from it. The third floor was full of level six ants. The boss room had two level sixes and a special type of level seven ant."

"Alright, slow down. Boss room? Special types? And the third floor? I want layout details as well," Zack replied, peppering her with questions as he scribbled furiously.

Beth proceeded to explain the layout of the dungeon, her experience fighting the higher-level ants, and the one silver clear reward. She neglected to mention the solo clear reward and her first time solo clear reward, figuring that was her business only. She slowly finished the first plate during her explanation and got up to fill her second.

When she sat back down with another full plate and fresh drink, her father turned to her and said, "This information is valuable Beth, but we really need your help with the wall effort. We cannot have you running off." He folded his hands on the table before him while giving her a stern look.

"Actually, it's the opposite," Beth replied, pausing for a moment in her devouring of the food. "I should be doing as much of this as I can."

"You absolutely should not," her mother said, getting up and walking around the table. She took hold of Beth's left arm at the wrist and said, "Look at this. How many injuries like this will it take for you to understand this isn't a game?"

"Watch," Beth commanded, using a napkin to wipe the blood and grime off around the wound. She then closed her eyes and focused.

"Watch what? I don't know what you think you're doing, but I am certainly not playing around," her mother responded.

"Rachel, just give her a moment. She's obviously doing something," her father responded.

Beth tuned everyone out and concentrated on making another mana thread. The process still took focus and effort, but it was getting easier over time, like she was becoming more comfortable with a part of herself she had only just discovered. She eased the thread up into her arm and coated the slash with it. It took all the initial mana coating and she had to apply a little more, taking herself back down to fully drained, but the gash was healed without even leaving a white mark.

Beth opened her eyes to see everyone staring at her silently. She reached up with her right hand to her left forearm, still in her mother's grasp, and casually brushed at the scab.

"Beth-" her mother started before stopping with wide eyes. The whole group watched in shock as the scab quickly and easily flaked off, the old blood disintegrating away. Beth's arm was undamaged, smooth skin showing everywhere below where her mother still grasped her wrist.

"I understand this new world better than anyone," she responded to her mother's earlier scolding coldly. "You're the ones who don't get it. There are monsters close by that would treat that ditch like nothing. And, if you used wood from trees before they were infused with mana, most beasts would get through them in only a second or two. Do you really think that a ditch will make everything safe?" She stared into her mother's eyes, letting the question hang in the air.

"Well, having children run around in dangerous places unsupervised certainly will not help," her mother replied acerbically.

"Then you should just lock me up, because I'm not going to stop," Beth replied. "Besides, I don't think you can, anyway."

"What?! Young lady, that's enough," her mother shouted.

"Beth-" her father started to say at almost the same time. Many of the other people gathered in the backyard started muttering and trying to interject as well.

"Enough!" Beth barked, making use of her 15 STR and her new understanding of her mana to add thunder to her voice. The additional STR she had now reinforced all of her body, including her lungs and diaphragm. Her mother took a step back in shock, releasing her arm.

"You guys don't understand. The whole world is dangerous. Everywhere. What happens in a month or two when a bunch of level twenty ants decide to wander into town and start destroying everything. You think some sticks and a little hole will stop them?" Beth continued, exasperated. "I have almost superhuman strength and speed. I use a massive sword that most people would have trouble swinging more than a couple times without their arms giving out. Swinging that sword with all my might barely hurts a level six ant. Even a gun wouldn't hurt a level twenty."

She stood up, pointing her finger at her mother, holding it a short distance in front of her chest. "You want to hide in the house, cowering? That's fine. You want everyone to run away and hide? Who's going to protect you as you're shivering in fear when the monsters come? They will come, and there's nothing you can do about it. Except get strong. Strong enough to kill anything that attacks you. I don't care what you say, or what you do, or how scared you get; I'm getting strong."

Beth turned and walked away from the group, slamming the back door to the house as she entered the mudroom. There was silence for a few moments, Rachel's mouth hanging open and her eyes wide as everyone stared at the door where Beth had disappeared.

"I think this might be a discussion to have when we have all had time to cool down," Thomas said, looking around at everyone gathered. "Also, dear, I think maybe we should listen to Beth's perspective before challenging her ideas. She seems to have adapted faster and better than anyone else we know. We should approach her with a more open mind."

"I just…I just don't want my family to get hurt. I want my daughters to be safe," Rachel responded, clenching her left hand with her right just in front of her stomach while looking down and biting her lip.

Kim stood up from where she had been sitting watching the scene unfold and walked around to her mother, wrapping her arms around her and holding her tightly.

"We've all had a long day. I think it might be time for everyone to head home and get some rest. Zack, we should talk first thing tomorrow," Thomas said to the group.

"Roger," Zack responded as he got up with a nod, leaving the yard. The rest of the group followed his lead, murmuring their goodbyes. Kim took her mother's hand and walked into the backdoor with her.

Thomas sighed and looked over at Sophia, the only other one in the backyard still. She was reading through something on her phone, seemingly unconcerned by all the earlier happenings.

"Not bothered by that little scene, sweetie?" he asked her tiredly.

"You mean the gorilla shouting?" Soph scoffed. "No. Shockingly, she is right for once."

"Oh? That is surprising, to hear you agree with your oldest sister. And do not call her a gorilla," Thomas replied.

"She's correct," Soph replied, setting down her phone and looking at her father. "She is, of course, doing things the hard, dumb way like the big idiot she is. I prefer a more refined approach. But she is correct in her thinking; if we don't become strong, we'll just be food. We need at least a certain number of people that can fight, and fight well, or that's it. One strong ant, one strong monster, and we die."

"Well…not a comforting pre-bedtime conversation," he replied, shifting in his chair as he looked at his youngest daughter. "I do not necessarily disagree with your observations, but I am just not sure our protector needs to be a seventeen-year-old girl. Come now, sweetie, let us head inside. It is just about time for bed."

"If I must," Soph replied airily, getting up from the table and heading into the house ahead of her father.