Limitless Path

Beth quickly got dressed and headed downstairs, followed along closely by Blood. Just as she was getting to the kitchen, she received a message on her phone, immediately turning back and walking out to the front door. Opening it, she found Sabs right in front of her with her right hand raised in a tentative wave.

Beth ignored the raised hand and stepped forward a single step, wrapping her arms around Sabs' waist and lifting her off the ground in a smooth motion. Sabs only got a short squeak before Beth pulled her inside, able to hold Sabs up with one arm while she closed the front door behind them using the other. After hugging Sabs for another second, she released the smaller girl before leading her back to the kitchen.

There was nobody up at this time yet again, Beth rising earlier than the rest of the house. She said to Sabs, "You can hang out while I cook," but was immediately refuted, Sabs replying, "No way. I'll help out."

The two proceeded to start cooking a huge amount of food, Blood sitting off to the side and watching attentively. Beth was glad there still seemed to be a supply of food, and mentioned as much to Sabs as they prepared oatmeal, pancakes, toast, potatoes, sausages, and bacon by the heap.

"It's because the governments are actually doing something for once, as shocking as it is to even think. They've got military and civilian workers protecting food production, distribution, and supply points. That, as well as a number of private companies and groups stepping up to help keep food flowing has prevented things from spiraling out of control. Hopefully, we won't be down to ant legs and wolf shanks any time soon. No offense Blood," Sabs explained, nodding at Blood at the end. Blood just yipped in response and continued watching the preparations.

The girls continued for a while, cooking up a huge amount of food and discussing the plans for the day. As they were mostly done, Kim slouched into the kitchen and joined them, petting Blood casually before helping with the food. Not much later the rest of the family showed up, even Soph staggering into the kitchen while rubbing sleep from her eyes, hair sticking up in multiple directions.

The three young chefs piled the island with food, Beth filling a plate with meat and some fruit chunks for Blood, as well as a big bowl of fresh water. Everyone sat around the table and ate, little discussion happening as the food was consumed.

"So, it is ants today?" asked Thomas near the end of the meal.

"All ants, all the time. It'll be great. And by great, I mean gross, sticky, stinky, sweaty, and just generally unpleasant," Beth replied with a nod.

"Just be sure to be careful. I have seen what your clothing is looking like lately, young lady, and it tells a story all on its own," Thomas responded, giving each of the girls a serious look.

After breakfast all the girls, apart from Soph, helped with the cleanup detail before heading out to the mudroom to get ready. Soph joined them as the three were getting their gear on with Blood watching from the side.

"And what can we do for the young princess today?" asked Beth.

"I'm joining you," Soph replied determinedly.

"OK, just make sure you know what you're in for. This'll be a big pain in the ass," Beth replied.

"Just like that? I thought you hated me and would tell me to piss off or something." Soph responded.

"Nobody hates you Soph, they just sometimes find your attitude annoying," Beth said, walking over and hugging her sister.

"Get off me, you oaf," Soph struggled to break free of the hug, but eighteen STR was certainly not something she could overcome at her level.

"Fine, just keep the stuck-up attitude in check and you're welcome," Beth let go of her and moved over to ruffle Blood's ears.

When the, now four, girls were ready, they moved out with Blood trotting along behind. They headed through the yard and into the woods, not encountering any ants in the woodlot. They did see one in the field and Beth took over, leading the group forward before stopping them and getting into trainer mode.

"Has everyone distributed their points from their level ups?" she started off with.

"Yes.", "No.", "No," she immediately received in reply.

"OK, Kim is good, let's take care of you two. Stats page Sabs," Beth continued. Sabs made her stat page visible to the group:

Name

Sabrina Melissa Michaels

Class

Young Duelist

Level

3

Strength

6

Dexterity

10

Endurance

7

Intelligence

7

Wisdom

9

Free Points

6

Titles

-

Skills

Dice Copper[1]

Identify Copper[0]

Wealth

1c

"OK, not bad stats. Young Duelist sounds cool, probably something really good along that path. All six points still free? Hmm, let's see," Beth thought a moment as she examined Sabs' stats. "Alright, my recommendation is 2 STR, 3 END, 1 INT. I assume you get DEX every level?"

"Yeah," Sabs replied, "I get 1 STR, 2 DEX, and 1 END."

"OK, you're physical fighting based, so we want to pump that a little here to give you a good chance against the lower-level enemies. Getting two more levels will really help bump those stats, and you can drop two more into STR as well. END is important for stamina and taking hits, while INT is important for mana reserves, as well as…well…intelligence," Beth explained.

"So, you think I should boost my physical stats to have an easier time fighting, then use some more free points to get them a little ahead of the curve?" Sabs confirmed.

"Right. You don't want to neglect INT or WIS as a physical class, they will be important, but early on you're killing shit by hitting it, and surviving by not getting hit. We're not at the kind of END with the kind of armor where we can just shrug off attacks. Any attack is a dangerous attack, remember that. Bring your INT up a little, then pump physical stats for a while to keep up with or even get an edge on the beasts," Beth carried on explaining.

"Alright, I'll do that, sounds as good as anything else," Sabs agreed, distributing her points immediately.

"Alright, Soph. Your turn," Beth said, turning to her youngest sister. Soph shared her stat page next:

Name

Sophia Stephanie Bell

Class

Early Sorceress

Level

2

Strength

4

Dexterity

6

Endurance

4

Intelligence

12

Wisdom

11

Free Points

2

Titles

-

Skills

Elemental Casting Copper[2]

Enhanced Meditation Copper[5]

Identify Copper[0]

Wealth

0c

"OK," said Beth. "We don't want to skew too far, like I was just explaining. You need INT and WIS for your class, but we need to balance that with some physical stats. You need to be able to move around the battlefield, jump when needed, run and sprint when needed. You're not doing that with those stats. What do you get per level?"

"I get 2 INT, 2 WIS, and 2 free points," Soph responded.

"Same suggestion. You need to pump those awful physical stats. Hit STR and END with a point, then do it again next level. Hit DEX with two at level four and STR and END with one again at level five. I would be concerned for a little with just shoring up your physical stats. You won't last long in a fight if you can't move around or get tired after beating one enemy," Beth expounded, tapping her chin while she reviewed Soph's stats.

"I don't want to become a gorilla girl like you," Soph replied with a little moue of a frown while squinting at her eldest sister.

"Oh, you don't have to worry about that. With those stats and two free points a level it'll take you a thousand levels just to get to gorilla strength," Beth replied lightly, a slight gleam in her eye.

"Fine, fine. I'll follow your advice," Soph pouted slightly but distributed her points as Beth suggested, nonetheless.

"Alright, here's the plan," Beth told the group. "We're going to check the ant nest. Depending on what's in there, we'll clear it out. It will give you all a chance to fight and level, as well as let us practice working together, which will likely be key later on for fighting tougher beasts and monsters. Any questions?"

The group, including Blood, shook their heads at her ending question. Beth led the group closer to the ant on the other side of the large open field behind the woodlot, stopping a little out of its detection range.

"OK, what's first, class?" she asked the group with a slight smirk.

"Rushing it while screaming a battle cry, likely," Soph scoffed in response.

"Wrong, minus one point. Anyone else?" Beth shot back.

"Use Identify to check the enemy if you can, scan it by eye as well to try to judge its strength," Sabs answered.

"Correct, plus one point. What next?" Beth continued.

"Playing favorites," Soph muttered.

"I'm not giving her points because she's cute, I'm giving them for correct answers." Beth snapped back tartly.

"Fine. I get it," Soph mumbled while Sabs blushed deeply.

"Once you figure out how strong it is, fight it if you think you can?" Kim interjected, sticking strictly to business.

"I will give you a point, but I would put that at step three. Step two is to check the area and make sure there isn't another enemy or something natural, like a storm or something, that will interfere with the fight. Then attack the beast or monster if you think you can win," Beth explained, tapping her chin again.

"It's level two, not really much of a threat. Are we going to fight it?" Kim asked.

"No, we are not going to fight it, you are going to fight it. You, specifically. You will all be fighting, alone or as a group, today. I will be watching and coaching. I will only help if needed," Beth replied.

"Why do you get to loaf around?" asked Soph huffily.

"Because I'm level six and could kick all four of your asses together," Beth replied, flexing at her younger sister. "Also, these guys won't give me much experience or skill practice, better for me to watch and give some pointers. I'll help if somebody gets in a tight spot."

"Alright, I've got this," Kim replied, once again bringing them back on track. She set out toward the ant, drawing her sword as she did so. When the ant noticed her, it turned and charged like all the rest. Kim remained calm and continued forward, waiting for the ant to be within range. As it approached directly in front of her, she activated Sweep and chopped across the beast, slicing its head apart.

"Easy," she said, flicking her blade clean.

"Not bad at all. Alright, let's keep this moving," Beth replied, motioning the group forward. They trotted on through the field and into the copse of trees near the farmer's field. They encountered another ant at the edge of the field, just inside the trees.

"Level three," called out Sabs.

"You're up Soph," Beth commanded.

"Me?!" Soph squeaked.

"Is there another Soph here?" Beth asked, peering around as if to locate a missing third sister.

"Fine, fine. I'll do it," Soph walked forward, moving toward the ant. As she started to get close to the zone where it would notice her, lightning began to dance across the fingers of her right hand. When she was close enough that the ant noticed her and charged, she stopped and stood for a moment, more electricity now coursing over the back of her hand. When the ant was about fifteen feet away, she pointed her right index finger at it and said, "Shock."

A bolt of electricity about half the thickness of Soph's long, delicate finger leapt from the finger's tip and slammed into the head of the ant, boring into it. The ant spasmed for a few seconds before dropping dead on the ground, smoke rising from the hole in its forehead.

"Pretty impressive. How many of those babies can you throw?" Beth asked.

"I should be able to throw ten of those, ugh, 'babies' before I have to rest," Soph responded.

"Yeah, we need to get you some levels and stats. That's at most ten kills, and I could guarantee that you'll need at least two if not three babies for a level five as you are now," Beth replied.

"Can we not call lightning bolts I shoot from my fingers ‘babies’?" Soph asked with a slight whine in her voice, shoulders already slumping a little from her sister's antics.

"Alright," Beth continued, ignoring her youngest sister's pleas. "Let's head to the nest."

She led them out of the tree line and towards the ant nest. As they drew near, they saw that there was an ant standing at the top of the nest. When they were just out from the bottom of the ramp, Beth signaled the group to stop.

"First?" she asked.

Kim looked at the ant and responded, "Level four."

"Next?" Beth continued.

"Nothing else around," answered Sabs.

"Alright, go ahead and give it a blast Soph," Beth ordered.

"Me? Why am I doing all the work," Soph replied.

"I think you might be surprised here. Just give it a blast," Beth answered.

Soph walked forward onto the ramp and drew the ant's attention. As the ant charged down the ramp toward her, she again summoned lightning upon the back of her fingers. She pointed at the ant as it drew near and again commanded "Shock."

This time was a little different, as Beth had suspected might happen. The bolt of lightning shot out of Soph's finger and into the head of the ant, smashing a large, fractured pattern across the top of its head. It did not, however, punch a hole right through as it had with the previous ant. The level four ant staggered for a few moments, reeling from both the amount of energy as well as the nature of it, that being electrical, having just slammed into it.

"Kim, take care of it," Beth ordered.

Soph backpedaled, hurriedly trying to get off the ramp and out of the way, seeming out of breath just from that small exertion. Kim climbed up to the ant, drawing her sword as she approached. The ant was just recovering as she stepped up to it, and with an adroit lunge, skewered the creature's head, taking advantage of Soph having halfway blasted it apart already.

"Exactly what I meant. You're still at a low enough level, with low enough stats and skills, that you can't just waltz around blasting everything. A level four would take you two hits. A level seven might take all of your mana to bring down. How would you hit it with all your mana when you need to spend it all just getting far enough to see a level seven ant?" Beth turned to Soph, now recovered beside her, continuing her lecture.

"Fine, fine. I understand. You don't need to go on about it," Soph replied with an eyeroll and a slight sniff.

"Alright, up and in," Beth continued.