Limitless Path

Her next stop was one she had been thinking about off and on for a while, though she still likely wouldn't be making a ton of purchases. At least, not until she got a better portable accommodation than the tents she and Blood both had stashed in their necklaces. She did, however, want to at very least see what furniture a nice place would have available for purchase. She wanted something that was quite solid and could withstand some abuse; not that she intended to use an armchair in battle, mind, but she would likely sometimes deploy whatever she bought in a climate with slightly extreme temperatures, mana density, and so forth. It would be even better if they had any furniture with enchantments, though she knew that would be considered pretty luxurious, meaning it would be pretty pricey.

She was approached by a salesclerk immediately, not surprising considering how nice the place looked overall, who said to her, "Greetings and welcome to Founder's Furniture. I'm shop assistant Abby. What can I do for you today, ma'am?"

"I was sorta interested in browsing," Beth replied. "I was really looking to get maybe a nice chair and possibly a bed."

"Certainly, ma'am, we have a huge variety of both. If you'd like to tell me any more exact specifications, like what you were considering in terms of size for the bed, I would be able to tailor what we show you to suit your needs," the clerk said.

"Uh, for the bed, at least queen-size, if not bigger, and the chair should be heavily padded," Beth said while tapping her chin. "Uh, also, I don't know much about buying furniture, but do you sell enchanted furniture?"

Abby's eyes practically lit up when Beth mentioned enchanted furniture, causing her to groan internally, as she felt like she was about to be taken for a ride, and not the good kind. "Of course, ma'am, everything we sell at a minimum has a minor cleaning enchant, but we also sell pieces with minor repair, minor regular durability, and even minor comfort. Would you be interested in viewing pieces with the range of enchantments?"

"Sure, show me what you've got," Beth replied with a slight sigh, following the now grinning shop assist further back into the store. She noted as she walked that every single piece of furniture set in the display area was very well-crafted, displaying a very clear high bar of quality. Nothing but the finest woods and fabrics were used, and some of the upholstery bore patterns and stitching that looked like it was extremely complex and difficult to pull off. Beth was particularly struck by a dining set they passed where every chair appeared more to be a throne than a chair, and each of the four table legs was so carved with fantastic shapes that it was hard to remember they were mere table legs.

"Here we are," Abby said, pulling Beth out of her ruminations about dining rooms and focusing her on the assistant. They were in an area that displayed various kinds of chairs, many grouped together in seating arrangements that one would find in a typical home or business setting. It ranged from everything from two small chairs with very little cushioning, all the way to a set that had two couches, two loveseats, four armchairs, two end tables, and a central coffee table that was so heavily carved that the top surface being smooth almost looked strange.

"As you can see, we have an incredible variety of seating arrangements to choose from. If something here is to your liking, we can always customize a full set to your exact taste and specification," the saleswoman explained. "If anything here catches your eye, don't hesitate to tell me. Also, please feel free to sample any of the seating; we simply ask if you kindly not prop your feet up on any of the furniture."

"No problem," Beth said, walking through the section and looking at what was available. "I'm really looking for two chairs right now, nothing super fancy; I'm more looking for something durable and comfortable."

"Might I recommend a set of these, then?" Abby said, moving over to a set of thick armchairs that were covered in a fine black upholstery. "This set is built of a sturdy hardwood, and comes with minor cleaning, minor durability, and minor repair standard. The upholstery can be customized, of course, but the black is quite good at hiding any dirt or stains until the minor cleaning has had time to do its work."

"How much for a set of these and this small table?" Beth asked, indicating the little set which also included a table with heavy, squared legs and a thick top.

"As it's displayed, this set is eight golds," Abby said with a smile.

"That's not…so bad," Beth said with a slight frown. Honestly, she and Blood both had and made so much money just from their leveling sprees that she felt she had lost touch a bit with how much coins were actually worth.

"We can, of course, customize such pieces to your discretion," the saleswoman reminded her again with a broad smile.

"I don't think I'll need anything other than those enchantments," Beth replied. "How soon can you have a set ready?"

"If you don't require any customizations, we have several sets prepared that match these exactly," Abby said, her grin just as broad.

"That sounds good," Beth said. "How about a bed?"

"Of course. Right this way."

Abby led her over to a section of the shop that contained beds, taking up quite a decent bit of floor space. The selection here was rather staggering, with everything from small single beds that were little more than cots all the way up to several selections that made king-sized beds look small. Beth browsed around, the saleswoman pointing out some very nice, very large, very expensive beds that, while within Beth's near limitless price range, were way too much for what she wanted right now. She wasn't necessarily trying to future-proof this purchase for when they did have a mobile camp or something similar, but was just trying to get something she could pop out in one of their tents or in the open in her gate and use for four or five hours.

"What about this?" Beth asked the saleswoman, picking a queen-sized bed that had a very slim platform and a single mattress. It was made of a dark wood, polished so much that it almost shone, and the mattress was unbelievably comfortable. Beth made her equipment disappear, including her boots, and lay on the bed, marveling at how comfortable it was. It was at that point that she realized that even the beds at the CRA were not nearly the peak of quality.

"That's a luxury model that is one of our most popular out of all our beds," Abby replied. "It also comes with a full suite of enchantments including minor cleaning, minor repair, and minor durability. We can also customize it to suit your taste, including a full set of custom linens."

"Does the base model come with a full set of linens?" Beth asked.

"Yes, it does indeed," the saleswoman replied with a smile. "Is this the model you're interested in?"

"Yeah," Beth replied, getting up and making her equipment reappear on her body. "How much are we talking?"

"Ten golds," the woman replied with a large grin, likely thinking about the commission she was going to make off even this smaller sale.

"Alright, so, the seating set and a copy of this bed. Can I get that all now, or do you need to prepare some of it?" Beth asked.

"We can have all of it ready within a few minutes and delivered to a place of your choosing," the saleswoman replied happily. "Let's head over to the counter to get you checked out."

"Cool. Can I just get them here?" Beth asked as they walked to the counter.

"Certainly, if that's your preference," Abby replied as they got to the counter. "Alright, your total order comes out to eighteen gold coins. Would you be paying that directly or with a secondary account?"

"Oh, I'll pay direct," Beth replied, dropping eighteen coins on the counter.

"Thank you, ma'am," Abby said, taking Beth's money and using a device to create a receipt that she then handed to Beth. "An associate will bring the pieces out in a moment. Will you need any help with the transportation?"

"No, that's fine," Beth said with a chuckle. It was only two minutes later that a different associate brought out the items Beth bought on a kind of handcart with a large and flat bed. As soon as he stopped at the counter and gave Beth a nod, she walked over and touched the bed and made it disappear, followed by the chairs and small table. She did note the slightly widened eyes of the associates afterwards, likely somewhat shocked from the fact she had an item or power able to store such a volume without issue.

"Thanks for all the help," Beth said, giving Abby a smile and getting one in return before turning and leaving the store.

She spent a couple hours wandering around the building, trying to find any shops that had anything for their next rebirths or that were just plain interesting. It was a bit enlightening to stop by a shop selling equipment and see just what the prices were, especially the rarer or higher-end pieces. She noted that everything was a bit more expensive than what Jaq had charged her for comparable equipment, though not by a large margin. It was likely to do with it being a large city with quite the demand pushing prices somewhat high versus Jaq having cut her a good deal.

Beth spent the rest of the day bouncing between shops, finding a few interesting things, but mainly just purchasing a small amount of supplies. She found some dry rations that she was able to sample and enjoyed so she purchased two small crates of them, and she found a place selling very nice kits for gear maintenance and snagged two of them. Mostly it was just a day off, letting her decompress a bit before she headed back to the room in the evening to find the lazy lupine hogging the couch. Making the furniture appear was enough to get Blood up and investigating, sniffing every piece before declaring her approval and returning to the couch.

After relaxing for the evening they turned in around midnight and slept until right around dawn, getting up and ready for the day before heading out. Beth hadn't only gotten some shopping done, but had done a bit of information gathering, a bit of it unintentional, but she had found some information about possible good places to farm beasts or materials from the environment. She stopped at the front desk with Blood trailing and paid twenty silvers to extend the room for another twenty days, understanding they were likely going to be here for a while.

Beth led Blood along, the wolf quietly trotting along behind without complaining or really inquiring about what they were up to. They were going out hunting and that was enough for Blood, while Beth was specifically going to take them to an area she had learned about that might provide some resources for their rebirth. More specifically, she was leading them into the mountain range that they had passed on the journey to the capital, where rumors had it that there were still some undiscovered veins of minerals that could make one rich. Beth liked the idea of being rich, but she was more focused on the high possibility of finding gem hearts or something close enough to work for their rebirth lists.

The mountain range was some distance from the city, enough that Beth and Blood spent a couple hours running along the highway that they had used a few days before until they hit the tail end of the range. Once they were a bit into the hills, they deviated from the road and headed north, working their way into the higher foothills before they would hit the mountains themselves. It was very easy to notice the difference with the highway, as they began to be attacked by roaming beasts quite frequently as soon as the road was just a mile or so out of sight. It was clear that the constant traffic, and constant patrols, kept the highway much cleaner than even the surrounding area.

Beth's big concern was getting in over their heads, as she was well aware that there were areas where people only really felt safe with an Ascended or a large group of Enlightened holding down the fort. What she had heard and read led her to believe that the mountains weren't quite as dangerous as some of the other places near the capital, but they would have to keep their heads on a swivel. They could handle most things before level two-fifty, but that turning point would just be too much for them at this point, even considering her improved skill, so they would have to be careful of levels first and foremost.

Anything they ran into that was below two hundred they shredded, sometimes in just a few seconds. Beth used all the battles as a great opportunity to start to get used to what having a skill at gold-level was like, and boy, was it a hell of a difference. The passive effects of the skill now, without her spending any mana on it, made her so much stronger it was a little unbelievable. Her strength and durability had to be something like ten percent higher than if she didn't have the skill, if not even more, and it cost nothing for that much extra power and toughness. When she ran mana through her body, however, it was like lightning was blasting through her muscles, but chained lightning, a power that increased her strength explosively. It was a true increase to her strength as well, not just something that could make her attacks deal slightly more damage, but something that made her truly stronger. When she was under the influence of the skill, a push against the ground with her legs would cause the ground to further shatter, her body to be propelled forward faster and farther.

It took hours for them to start to really get into the mountains, and that was with them moving at quite a good clip, the constant fights not managing to slow them down that much. Looking at the towering peaks still in front of them, some of them distant along the horizon, made Beth realize she had somewhat underestimated the size and scope of this mountain range. The true size was likely a few hundred miles east-west at its widest, while it was likely a couple thousand miles north-south. Finding anything in this range was already going to be a bit of a needle-in-a-haystack sort of effort, made even moreso by the fact Beth was basically having them chase after a few vague rumors of "miraculous hidden motherlodes."