Limitless Path

Beth's next call was one she should have made a while ago, and she chided herself with a slight wince as the communicator connected.

"Hello, Beth," Sabs's sweet voice came over the line. "Please tell me you're okay."

"Yes, sorry, I'm fine," Beth answered a little nervously, glad she could have the conversation in her head or Blood would be laughing at her.

"I'm glad to hear that," Sabs said. "It's been a while."

"Yes, it has, sorry," Beth apologized again.

"I understand, Beth, you don't need to say sorry a hundred times," Sabs said with an exasperated chuckle.

"Sorry," Beth said before wincing. "Anyway, what have you been up to?"

"Well, uh, I've been training with your sisters mostly," Sabs answered, a little surprised Beth was calling to ask about her day-to-day. "Other than that, we've been trying to get a handle on the kobold area, as well as keeping the ants and wolves under control."

"There still isn't anyone else in the neighborhood that can do that?" Beth asked with a bit of a frustrated note to her voice.

"There are a couple," Sabs acknowledged. "James can handle them now, though he can't really do it solo. But a couple of the others that have started using the CRA Hall know about them and sometimes clear them out. Which is a good thing, considering they generate enough mana now that they refresh several times a day."

"I was wondering if that would happen," Beth said. "Good to hear other people are on it. So, how's the training coming? Are you more comfortable with your Presence now?"

"It's going pretty slow," said Sabs. "I know I've said this before, but whether it's just that I'm not a battle maniac or that I'm just not as quick to pick up on things related to fighting, I can't operate at the level you and Blood do. I feel like there's so much to understand and learn with how this new power works, I haven't even scratched the surface, and I've seen how you were able to use the power before. I don't think I'll be at that level for a long time."

"It's not a race, Sabs," Beth said with a small smile. "I just want to know that you're doing well and are generally happy with how things are going. You don't have to be trying to keep up with me; hell, you don't have to be doing anything you don't want to be doing."

"That would be such a damn waste, though!" Sabs cut in before Beth could say more. "I know you're just trying to look out for me, and I appreciate it, but we have a crazy opportunity right now. Did you know that the first fifty years of a world getting integrated into the Path produces more Ascendants than almost any other time in that world's history?"

"Yeah, Sabs, and it produces more corpses than any other time," Beth replied coldly. "I understand the opportunities we have right now, but I also understand just what kind of dangers are out there, and how many more will be popping up in the coming years. I'm just worried that you push yourself too hard to do something you're not all that into and, when that thing is fighting, that leads to a lot of dangerous places."

"Thanks for the concern, Beth, but I'm a big girl, and I can take care of myself," Sabs replied with some edge to her voice.

"Sorry," Beth said, wincing again. "I'm just worried, that's all."

"I know, Beth, I know," Sabs said, pausing for a moment, the silence stretching between them. Finally, she said, "How has your, uh, dungeon-thing been going?"

"It's really not that bad," Beth said. "Funny thing, this dungeon has a mini-boss or secret boss that's actually more challenging than the final boss, and we've killed that secret boss twice now. So I say we're on a pretty good track for finishing this up."

"Does that mean you can come down and visit now?" Sabs asked with some hope in her voice, making Beth grimace yet again.

"Sorry, Sabs, but if we take a couple days off now we'll get really far behind," Beth said. "We're trying to burn a bunch of excess mana away from this dungeon, and if we take time off, that's just time for the excess to really ramp up again. We need to focus on getting it down as quickly as we can, which is why we need to just spam run this right now."

"And, speaking of which," she continued, getting up and lightly kicking Blood's leg. "We really need to start our next cycle. It was really nice to talk to you, and I'm sorry I didn't call sooner."

"It's fine, Beth," Sabs replied quietly. "Stay safe in there and I love you."

"Don't worry about us, we're fine," Beth said. "And I love you very much."

With that, Sabs was the one to disconnect the call and Beth turned to lead the way down the tunnel, ignoring a raised brow from Blood. The wolf hadn't heard any of the conversation, but she could certainly see the slightly pained look on Beth's face once it had ended. She didn't pry, however, simply following the slightly shorter girl into the dungeon.

They were starting to become seasoned hands at this dungeon, and this run they put that experience and knowledge to the test. The goal was to clear the dungeon as fast as possible and, while Beth would have normally thrown 'as safely as possible' on the end of that thought, they didn't exactly do things the safe way. Safety a distant third, she though to herself with a small smile as Blood led the way in making a beeline for the armory. Despite their desire to speed up, the secret boss under the arena was just too juicy a prize, whether it was in terms of materials, challenge, or the benefit it had to their final grade, they would be fools not to fight it.

It didn't even slow them down that much as, while the armory was a bit out of the way, the secret tunnel to the arena passing under many city blocks saved them more time than they lost. They dealt with the secret boss in much the same way they had the last two times, Beth wondering how a team that hadn't grown their skills to peak of Silver nor had as much practice or expertise with their Presences/Humanizations would deal with such a tough powerhouse. Regardless of her thoughts and the difficulty the boss would pose for others, Beth and Blood ripped it apart in a few minutes, Beth sitting to rest as Blood tore the corpse apart.

They continued on from there to clearing out the arena underworks and then the area behind the arena on the way to the city hall. Once they had everything secured, they rested only briefly before beginning to clear the city hall, working through it in a couple hours. Another quick rest and they were in the boss room, Beth once again glad the dungeon’s final boss only had toughness going for it; a level of toughness that was less than the secret boss, as well. They killed the boss without much ado, finishing it off in a couple minutes, mostly due to Beth hammering its head into something resembling chunky meat paste. Best not to think about it too much.

First Hall of the Red Lizard King completed. Calculating rewards.

Calculating…

Relict City cleared in under seven natural days. Bonus points awarded.

Relict City boss defeated at a ten level gap. Bonus points awarded.

Hidden Sub-Boss defeated. Bonus points awarded.

Calculating…

Final score calculated at an B+. Disbursing awards.

They had managed the clear not just two days faster, as she had told Tazeen they likely could do, but they had done it four days faster, making it just over six days. That was apparently enough for the Path to give them a different consideration and bonus for clear time, calling out their clearing in under seven days in the reward calculation. Despite getting a B+ this time, only one pillar appeared once the reward calculation was complete, though this actually gave Beth some hope.

If it was only a single pillar, the item had to be good, or so she surmised as she walked over to exam what they had received. She found an object that resembled a large heart, certainly larger than what was beating in her chest, maybe even larger than what would be in Blood's chest after she transformed into her wolf form. Not only was it quite large, it looked like it had been petrified or transformed, as it very closely resembled an anatomically correct heart but was made of some kind of crystal or stone. It was dark purple, so dark at the center that it appeared to be pitch black, and drank in the light in the room, despite it being lit by quite a few mana-powered fixtures.

Entombed Heart of a Void Wyrm King

That was it. No description or anything else, and Beth picked it up to examine it closer, feeling a jolt of warmth and power flow up her arm as her palm made contact with the object, even through her gauntlet. The energy dissipated as it reached her chest, and she curiously examined herself in her mana vision, using the technique she always did of running her healing skill to look inward and detect changes to her body. She found nothing out of the ordinary and, as she looked closer and examined her arm and hand, found absolutely nothing out of the ordinary.

It was quite strange as she felt almost a…compatibility with the heart, was the only way she could describe it. At the same time, she also had a deep feeling that it wasn't something she herself could use, certainly not in her present state, and maybe not ever. Perhaps an alchemist could do something with the object, but she didn't think that was entirely right. She just had this feeling, something like a thought in the back of her mind, and as she hefted the heart in her hand, she was suddenly struck by it.

A memory surfaced, like a dream she had forgotten but that was now exerting itself, making its presence known to her once again. She was remembering a scene that she had never witnessed herself, but it was like she was there, sitting in a comfortable chair in a warmly lit room. Across from her sat one of the most beautiful women Beth had ever seen, her hair a lustrous gold and her eyes an orange so luminous it was like looking at the heart of the sun. She had a perfectly symmetrical, round face with a cute nose and full, deep red lips. She wore a red and black dress of a somewhat conservative cut and made of rather expensive materials. Even so, it did little to hide the woman's full, gorgeous figure, nor the compact but powerful muscles, the most obvious of which were clearly visible in her exposed arms.

"What's gotten into you, Helene?" Beth heard herself say, instantly recognizing Liveria's voice.

"I got something rather special recently, my dear," the stunning beauty, Helene, replied with a smile so wide it nearly stretched to her pretty ears.

"Oh? Do tell," Liveria commented as Beth’s-or rather, Liveria's-body stirred something into a dark liquid in a cup. As Liveria lifted the large cup to her face, Beth caught the distinctive smell of hunting spice, though the taste was rather different. It took her a moment to process, but she realized Liveria had mixed in something that added both sweet and salty notes to the drink, blending in to create an entirely new taste. She made a big mental note to look up whatever additive the empress (former empress?) was using, as she was definitely heating her hunting spice and using whatever this was from now on.

"Take a look for yourself, my dear," Helene replied, waving a hand so an object appeared on her palm with a flourish. Beth gasped, though Liveria's body didn't mimic the action, only a slight intake of air giving away her own surprise.

The initial reason Beth had gasped internally was that the woman was holding up a petrified heart and, while it wasn't exactly identical to the one Beth was holding in the dungeon while trapped in this memory, it was damned close. The heart was about the size of a milk crate or just over, making it somewhat larger than "Beth's" heart, but was transformed into a red and gold crystal. Beth could sense the power of it through Liveria's senses clearly, from the other side of the table, and she was even more stunned when she inspected it.

Entombed Heart of the Lost Kindler

It was a crazy item, something that she wouldn't have even dreamed of. "Her" heart was at the masterwork tier, the tier just above legendary, but the heart that Helene was holding out and proudly preening over was at relic tier, two tiers above masterwork. The tier in-between was artifact, which itself was monumentally rare and powerful, being the equivalent of Orichalcum skills or Divine crafting- or weapon-expertise. That made "Beth's" heart the equivalent of Mithril level skills or a Sage in crafting or weapons, while "Helene's" heart was at Adamantium or Hero level.

"Helene, where did you get such a thing?" Liveria asked, her surprise showing up as a light edge to her voice, though Beth could feel her leaning forward to examine the heart more closely.

"I made an expedition to a Forbidden Zone two years ago," the stunning beauty explained casually. "This is one of the two great prizes we managed to recover from the outer part of the zone."

"This was merely in the outer area?" Liveria asked, even more surprise seeping through. "Helene, you didn't…"

"Of course," the woman tilted her head and straightened her shoulders before giving a small movement to the side with her head. Beth really had no other way of describing it than saying she was preening.

"You journeyed into Hell's Eye?!" Liveria exclaimed, sitting back as she stared at the other woman with hints of both shock and anger.

"Too long have we left it to grow and fester," Helene replied more seriously. "You know as well as I do that something needs to be done about that. If we let such places sit, they can individually present a danger to the entire galaxy."

"I know, I know," Liveria groaned, rubbing at her temples with the forefinger and thumb of her right hand. "Who else did you drag into that madness. Just the key fighters, I don't need an exhaustive list of all the support personnel and novices you hauled off to their doom."

"It wasn't as bad as all that," Helene replied a bit sheepishly, making the heart disappear into whatever storage item or skill she had. "We had Ravaal, Vanessa, Adighe, Green Mountain, Terra, and Baelvyr as the core, along with myself."

Beth almost missed the next part of the conversation as she certainly recognized one of those names. Apparently, her instructor was a bit more known and seen than she had realized and she made a second mental note to ask him just what the fuck the Hell's Eye was after she was done relieving the pressure on the dungeon with Blood.

"As motley a crew as you could assemble for a Blood Stars’ damned forbidden zone, let alone the Hell's Eye," Liveria snorted. "Tell me, what was the other grand prize you pulled out of there?"

"A block of high mana density adamantium the size of Baelvyr's gut," Helene replied with a small snort.

"That's quite a lot," Liveria replied, chuckling softly.

"Indeed, but the rest were free to fight over that. Once I had my prize, I was more than satisfied with the results of the exploration," Helene continued rather smugly.

"How far do you think you can push with that?" Liveria then asked, confusing Beth a little, but clearly the two knew at least one use for such a thing.

"I'm nearly at the Rune Stage already, and I expect to push into it with this," Helene replied, confusing Beth further at first.

"You have to be careful advancing your humanization through such a means," Liveria warned, though her tone was more perfunctory than anything.

"I'm well aware of the risks involved," Helene replied primly. "But the chance to push so much further is well worth the risk, the same as the expedition was worth the risk."

"Well then, I expect good news from you," Liveria stated coolly.

As soon as she had finished speaking, Beth's consciousness was fully back in her own body, finding that no time had passed at all. It must have been less than a minute, as Blood was just now finishing with the boss's corpse and walking over to her. Beth scanned the room again before checking the heart a second time, making sure that nothing was out of place.