Limitless Path

She immediately put word to deed, having healed her shoulder sufficiently to get back into the action. She and Blood move a little counterclockwise around the field, giving Soph and Kim a bit of space to get back to their own farming, hopefully far enough that they wouldn't be counted in the kills. They picked a level ninety-one for their next target, Blood starting the fight by darting in and slashing it with a series of claw attacks. She had started to take advantage of the fact that the attacks moved even faster than she did, stacking them by slashing when she was still some distance out before slashing one or two more times on the way in. This let her arrive behind a wave of energy claws that were just slightly staggered, a very powerful opener that most Wayfarers would struggle with, let alone beasts.

The stupid kobolds generated by the underground area were no exceptions, not having any good way of stopping the attack without simply taking a huge chunk of it. The only thing that kept the beast from being seriously injured and easy pickings from that opening salvo was the stat differences. Especially since skills worked as a multiplier of stats, even using high-level Silver skills couldn't bridge that gap created by their much lower stats. Still, it was enough to rip and tear flesh and enrage the beast, driving it to rush forward and swing wildly. Not that it would have been any calmer had Blood walked up and introduced herself, but throwing an enemy off their game, even in a small way, was always a plus.

This kobold took, maybe, just slightly less time than the previous one did. Beth glanced over to see that Soph and Kim had killed two and were finishing up a third beast in the same amount of time, going to show the difference that stats made, even if her sisters' skills weren't as good. The good news was that it was still considered a pretty crazy feat, with plenty of excess mana in the form of experience leaching into them. The two got four levels from the second kill, marking their return to double-digits in overall level already.

They were not making particularly great time overall, as they spent quite a bit of time killing one enemy, then quite a bit of time healing and resting afterwards, but they did get another six levels in the next hour. They took time to circle up with Beth's sisters to rest while eating some early lunch, but then again they'd likely also have a late lunch. And an afternoon snack. And early dinner. And regular dinner. In fact, they all ate quite a bit, though everyone else seemed to prefer something more than ration bars whenever they could avoid them. Even Soph packed away food, Beth having no idea where the pint-sized sorceress stored it all.

They spent another couple hours in proximity to Kim and Soph, killing a handful more beasts and getting to level twenty-one. They circled back up in the mid-afternoon, the other two having finished with their grinding for the day, which was perfectly reasonable. Beth knew from her discussions with Sabs that other people just weren't built to fight eighteen hours a day, seven days a week for several months at a time, and she didn't blame them. There was probably something wrong with her brain that let her enjoy it so much, and she just dragged Blood along behind.

"How are your skills and stats, anyway?" Beth asked her sisters as they started trudging back to the Hall.

"Take a look," Kim replied with a shrug, flicking her screen open, with Soph following suit.

Name

Kimberly Joanna Bell

Class

Tempered Fighter

Level

88

Strength

200

Dexterity

118

Endurance

118

Intelligence

40

Wisdom

95

Free Points

0

Titles

-

Skills

Battle Focus Copper[9]

Burst Slash Copper[7]

Fire Resistance Copper[3]

Greater Leap Copper[6]

Identify Copper[9]

Meditation Copper[9]

Pain Tolerance Silver[0]

Regeneration Copper[9]

Sweep Copper[9]

Swords Journeyman[3]

Wealth

18g 98s 1c

Name

Sophia Stephanie Bell

Class

Early Sorceress

Level

90

Strength

74

Dexterity

50

Endurance

84

Intelligence

216

Wisdom

187

Free Points

0

Titles

-

Skills

Casting Trance Copper[9]

Elemental Casting Copper[9]

Enhanced Meditation Copper[9]

Fire Resistance Copper[1]

Identify Copper[9]

Mana Control Copper[7]

Pain Tolerance Copper[7]

Regeneration Copper[6]

Staffs Apprentice[8]

Wealth

20g 1s 6c

"That's some improvement since the last time I saw it," Beth commented, examining both of their screens. "Have you used any elixirs?"

"We've all, including Sabs, gotten a couple items that increase our stats. My STR is higher than just from leveling right now, though we haven't really gotten anything too crazy," Kim explained.

"What the hell is Burst Slash?" asked Beth.

"A fast sword slash that causing tearing damage if I hit the enemy with the blade," Kim said. "It's really effective against unarmored targets, and still can damage armor or scales."

"And I've got a new mana skill," Soph butted in, thrusting her chin in the air. "It lets me directly influence mana around me, and also makes my other casting a little more efficient."

"Good job, twerp," Beth said, trying to ruffle her hair and getting a blast of lightning for her troubles. It didn't really hurt, but she stopped in her attempts to goad the tiny terror.

Returning to the Hall, they spent the rest of the short afternoon eating, making use of the cafeteria to get a ton of good food quite cheap. It gave Beth more time to talk with her sisters and Blood more time to fawn all over Soph. The other two eventually left, still staying at their parents' house in the neighborhood rather than 'wasting silver,' as Soph put it huffily. Beth had to just roll her eyes, the 'ludicrous' price of one silver per day barely noticeable, especially when three high-level people were sharing that cost.

She and Blood returned to the room, showering and taking it easy for a while before Sabs returned and joined them. It was a pretty sedate night, and they turned in a bit early, as they all wanted to be up and moving early the next morning. The only bit of work Beth did before turning in was to patch the older chest armor she was using where it had taken several hits from several different kobolds, though nothing had done more than knocking a scale off here and there.

---------------------------------------------------

True to form, they were up quite early the next day, taking care of their morning routine before heading up and out. Sabs joined with Soph and Kim today, but Beth took Blood off on a different track, the two of them running pretty far out into the middle of nowhere. They got to a spot somewhat close to where they had done all the grinding for the first rebirth and Beth popped her portal, the two diving in quickly. They ran from the entrance quite a distance out, not even bothering to slow for anything before they had made it through a few of the 'rings' of enemies.

The reached a point where the enemies were five levels above them and then started killing the groups. They split up, Blood rotating clockwise around the ring while Beth went counterclockwise, each of them tackling the pairs first. They met back up on the other side of the ring some handful of minutes later and took a step out to fight the groups of three. Beth had the settings on the most basic, an empty plain with groups of goblins spread out into infinity, the time dilation set to the maximum of ten times.

They spent almost twenty straight hours doing this before sprinting back to the gate, having managed to rack up six levels each during that time. They made a full camp at the gate, setting up a tent to sleep in before eating and drinking. When they got up and broke the tent, they hopped out of the gate for Beth to reset it, considering it was nicer not to have to run for an hour to get to something that would give them decent experience. She left the settings the same as she re-summoned the portal, the two diving in as soon as it was open. Not even three hours in total had passed outside the portal, meaning it wasn't even noon of that same day yet.

They repeated the same process twice more, finishing in the evening at level thirty-five. It was enough that they now had the stats of someone around level seventy-five and, combined with their skills, they could likely competently fight the kobolds without it taking fifteen minutes for the two of them to kill one. They would have to check that all out tomorrow, as Beth dismissed the gate and they loped back to the Hall, finding Sabs already back in the room and showered and fed. They quickly caught up, washing and eating for themselves before spending some time glued to the screen in the living room. They turned in a little later that night, or at least Sabs and Beth did, particularly considering what they got up to once they had entered the bedroom.

--------------------------------------------

This next day was a bigger deal, and Beth made sure to let Sabs know that she should stick with them today, and to tell her sisters to stick close if Sabs saw them first. Once they were cleaned, fed, watered, and all ready to go, they swung by the lounge first, luckily encountering both Soph and Kim just as they were getting in for the morning. Beth signaled them to come over, waving at both of them and getting slightly puzzled looks in return, sitting at Baelvyr's table to a dissatisfied grunt from the massive ogre.

"What's up, Beth?" Kim asked as they joined the table.

"We're gonna go as a group today, and maybe the next couple days," Beth explained. "Considering where the three of you are at, I figured this is a good time to group together, and we can push all three of you to a hundred before Blood and I get bogged down in this other dungeon we have to clear."

"Navere ain't gonna do yer job for ya forever," Baelvyr rumbled, which Beth just ignored, much to his chagrin.

"We'll use the kobold area for now, but we could change locations, depending on how it goes," she continued, the others nodding along. For the most part.

"What's the big deal about level one hundred? I've heard people say it's important before…" Kim asked.

"Honestly, it's a lot better to show you than tell you," Beth responded with a mysterious smile. "Anyway, let's stop bothering this brick and get moving."

The others stood up after Beth, being much more polite to the Senior Enforcer than Beth was, but they quickly hurried out to catch up to her. She led the way, at least until they were out of the building, at which point Blood took over with a single withering look. Beth immediately backed off and let their scout do her job while simply pacing the other three. It didn't take more than a couple minutes to get to the kobold area, Beth noting that there were slightly more than a couple days ago. Hopefully, bringing the other three up to one hundred, or more, would really help them get a handle on this area, which would also keep it from becoming too big of a danger.

"Alright, we're here," said Sabs as Blood circled up with them. "What's the plan? Specifically."

"First, I want to see what Blood and I can do at level thirty-five," Beth explained. "If we have sufficient stats now to kill these ninety-something guys without too much struggle, the next thing we're gonna do is kill them as a group. By that, I mean the five us are going to kill them, and we're going to try to go fast. By fast, I mean killing five to ten of them per minute, and we're only going to rest once an hour."

"That's…a lot, Beth," Sabs said, having pretty correctly interpreted Soph’s and Kim's frowns. Frowns that mirrored her own.

"We'll adjust," Beth replied simply with a shrug. "If that's too much, then we can slow down. But you do have to remember you have us here. Even though we're low-level right now, we're still fucking strong, and we'll also be leveling during the course of the day. The more we do right now, the easier it's going to get. If we have to start slower and go a little faster later, that's fine.

"We should also probably stop for today once Sabs hits a hundred, if we can manage that. We're gonna have to clear the field up here quick and push downstairs to get to that point, but I think we can get you through it either today or tomorrow. Three levels sounds like a lot once you're talking about being in the high double-digits or above a hundred, but we can just go on an absolute tear, even challenging up level, and you'll get that in no time."

"I don't know about a hundred today," Sabs said with a shake of her head. "I'd like to get back home before midnight. Let's start with trying to get at least one level and see how long that takes, okay?"

"Sure," Beth shrugged. "But enough jabbering; time to fight."

They started fairly simple, with Blood engaging one enemy, just to see how Blood fared against it now that she had some decent stats. It took her some time, but she was at the point now where the kobold basically couldn't hit her, allowing her to just tear it apart with barely any risk. It still took a little while, as Blood had really pumped DEX so far to get back that feeling of speed and agility, meaning her STR left something to be desired. It was still enough, especially with her claw skill, to get the job done, and that left Beth.

She grabbed a kobold quickly as soon as Blood was finished, pounding it into meat paste. She hadn't gone quite as crazy in boosting her main stat as Blood had, but she had a bit of a bigger advantage in that her main stat parleyed a little better into damage. Having two hundred STR versus have two hundred forty DEX wasn't quite as big a gap as it may seem, as many DEX skills still needed a certain level of STR to hit hard, while STR-based skills only needed the DEX to land. And against the kobolds, the more than a hundred DEX she currently had was plenty to land her hits, especially combined with max Silver Swift.

After Beth turned the kobold into a messy pile of shattered bones and torn flesh, the two were quite assured they could fight up fifty levels against the ninety-something beasts. The big jump at one hundred would likely introduce a little bit of a hard variable, but Beth thought they could just cross that bridge when they got there. She led the group a little bit further into the field and had Blood pull in three kobolds to start, the five of them needing to work on their coordination a little.