Limitless Path

"What have you got there-" Blood started before Identifying the item and exclaiming, "HOLY SHIT!"

"Yeah, pretty crazy," Beth said, handing the heart to her.

Blood took the object and inspected it closely for a minute before handing it back to Beth, saying, "Weird that it doesn't have a description. What are we supposed to do with it?"

"We'll have to ask Baelvyr about it, but I know things like this can improve a sapient beast's humanization," Beth replied.

"Oh, really?" Blood asked, suddenly a lot more interested in the item.

"Yes, really, but I have no idea how it works. If I'm not mistaken, the person I know about using one had a fire related one and they were a fire-aspected phoenix, so I wouldn't necessarily get your hopes up," Beth explained.

"Ah, damn," Blood grumbled, turning to the dungeon exit.

"Rest when we're out, clear the surroundings, then back in again," Beth said as the two exited the instance.

"Gotcha," Blood replied as they walked down the tunnel.

They made another sweep of the area around the dungeon entrance, clearing out a hundred or so lizardmen before taking a break and resting. Once Beth was sure they were back in good condition, they re-entered the dungeon and made their way to the armory again. It was a bit disappointing that there wasn't anything laying around for them to grab, but Beth supposed the ending prizes for a successful clear more than made up for it.

And speaking of successful clears, they notched their fourth one with even greater speed, clearing the instance in a bit over five full days. Beth didn't really feel like they were getting any stronger, but they were definitely getting more experienced with fighting that particular enemy type, and she would gladly use them as training fodder in her gate power the next time they needed to level quickly. She waited for the reward calculation again as she continued pondering their next handful of steps.

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.

She wasn't really expecting anything else at this point, but she was glad they were consistent, if nothing else. She frowned slightly when she saw three pillars appear after the reward calculations completed, understanding that fewer prized meant each prize was better. Three from this dungeon meant they were getting rare or uncommon items for each, which weren't exactly impressive. Then again, if Beth and Blood weren't battle maniac anomalies, they'd be clearing this dungeon with a large team, likely having even more personnel to support them, and the amount that even an uncommon from here would sell for would keep such a group running for a while.

None of these three items were particularly interesting, as she had assumed, with another potion meant for calming the mind as one of the three. The other two items were just as underwhelming; first was a potion that healed the imbiber and boosted their regeneration for ten minutes, the Living Blood Potion. The second was a crystal that contained a large amount of fire mana and was meant to be used in crafting. Beth Identified it with her eyes:

Fierce Fire Crystal

It would likely be quite useful for her smithing later, but Beth just chucked it in her necklace along with the potions. She was unimpressed with the three items, but glad they had finished their fourth run so quickly. She explained the crummy loot to Blood once the wolf was done with her tender ministrations on the boss's corpse and then the two exited the instance. They cleared the lizardmen out of the surrounding area before taking a quick rest and then re-entering the instance.

The fifth run was just as routine as the fourth, with them clearing their way to the armory rather quickly. They killed pretty much everything in their path, not because they needed the experience or money, but because they wanted to force the dungeon to use more mana to reset the instance. Dungeons like this would often had several instances created and ready at once, and would recycle an instance when a new group entered. The more of the instance that was cleared, the more mana it would take the dungeon to reset it, though that was only a part of the formula. Them spending a month in one instance to fully clear it out would be less useful than getting a thousand or so kills and forcing a reset, especially when special variants and bosses took much more mana to replace.

The formula for how the rewards worked, in particular where the mana to either make or summon them came from, was a little different, but claiming prizes was also another usage of mana. A tactic that was sometimes used to clean something like a dungeon that was in danger of overrun was also to hit it with numbers, depending on the exact parameters of the dungeon or special zone. Hitting something like the dungeon they were doing right now with twenty or thirty groups at once would force the dungeon to create multiple "extra" instances over what it normally maintained, which would drain a large portion of the extra mana in the process.

All that was nice to know, but it really boiled down to them just needing to cycle the instances as fast as they could while slaughtering anything that got in their way. It was a relatively simple strategy, but simple didn’t' necessarily mean bad, and they pushed to go as fast as they could, trying to get their current run done in less than five days. They were experienced enough now that that would be entirely possible, and they made it to the hidden boss in record time, killing it just as quickly.

It was less than a day later that Beth was looking at the rewards for clear number five, two pillars having appeared in the boss room after its untimely demise. She was starting to suspect the dungeon was either cursed, and thought about walking out and using her anti-curse gem on it, or that it was just attuned in a weird way. They had gotten a third calm mind potion, which Blood tossed in her own necklace, and they had also gotten another of the fire crystals. Beth suspected the crystals were worth quite a bit, but she wanted more rewards like the skill evolver or the heart, not potions.

They reset the dungeon again, clearing the area around it another time before heading back in, doing their sixth run in just under five days. This time they were given three rewards, with two of them being yet another potion and another fire crystal. The last reward was a small piece of mithril of high purity and moderately high mana density, about two pounds worth, enough for one item or possibly two if it was mixed into an alloy. The stuff was certainly rare, but it wasn't impossible to find, so Beth just shrugged and tossed it in her necklace.

They exited the dungeon after claiming the rewards and Blood started to clear out some of the lizardmen in the area. Beth, however, had something else she had to take care of first. She paged Tazeen on her communicator and the stoic elf answered immediately.

"Ms. Beth," he said.

"Tazeen, we've done another four clears, so six total. Before we start number seven, I'd like to know where we're at. Is there any way that you can scan the dungeon and see how much excess mana it has?" Beth asked.

"Hold a moment," Tazeen replied. Beth waited for a few seconds, her right eyebrow arching as the time seemed to stretch on, before suddenly jumping as Navere appeared beside her.

"Holy shit, you scared me!" she exclaimed.

"Apologies," he said calmly.

"I take it you're here to analyze the excess mana?" Beth asked.

"Indeed," he said calmly before producing a device from thin air, a small cube with a little sphere on top and a pyramid shape on the front and back faces. He tapped it for a moment before looking at a result only he could see. He then disappeared into the tunnel, likely using the device directly on the gate into the dungeon, before he reemerged beside Beth.

"The excess mana has been almost entirely bled," he stated. "I will do another run of this dungeon to train and that will take care of the remaining excess. You may report back to Tazeen now."

"Thanks, Navere," Beth said, the tall elf nodding to her before disappearing into the tunnel again.

“We’re on our way back, Tazeen,” she informed the other elf, still on the line.

“Very well, Ms. Beth. I will see you when you return,” he said before disconnecting the call.

Beth then called Blood over, the wolf asking, "Time for another run?"

"No, we're done," Beth said with a small smile. "Congrats on your Silver."

"We still have to turn it in," Blood replied, but she was grinning now.

"Let's get that done then," Beth said with a small chuckle and Blood took off, leading the way back down to the CRA Hall.

When they arrived, their first stop was the front desk, Beth hanging around more for moral support than because she really needed to be there. This show was all Blood's, and the lupine woman went through everything with Tazeen, including filling out the sections of the report that needed her input. Afterwards, Beth waited while Blood had to undergo the written and oral testing, Tazeen easily arranging that with several of the other Seniors. When Blood returned to the lobby, Beth could tell from the look on her face just how thrilled Blood was with all the paperwork, but the look turned to one of genuine joy when Tazeen upgraded her emblem to silver, bringing her level with Beth.

Once they were finished with that, the next stop was their room, as they needed to bathe, in particular. The room was empty, at least in terms of other occupants, though it wasn't unusual, considering it was midday. The two made use of the bathroom to get clean, though Blood wanted a bath after showering and Beth passed, not really feeling like soaking all afternoon. She had a number of things to look up, though she figured most things would be easier to ask Jaq or Baelvyr about.

She was still buried in looking up information about Entombed Hearts, which was surprisingly difficult to find, when Sabs returned. She gave the older girl a smile as she entered but got a look in return, which didn't bode well for any upcoming conversation. Sabs greeted her but entered the bathroom quickly to wash off, having been both training and fighting that day. Once she was out, she walked over to Beth and sat on the coffee table in front of her, taking up all of the taller girl's focus.

"Beth, we need to talk," she said.

"Oh," Beth said. "This doesn't sound good."

"It's not good, Beth," Sabs replied, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath before sighing heavily. "I talked to Tazeen earlier and booked a different room."

Beth goggled for a minute, opening her mouth only to close it after a handful of seconds of no sound escaping. Eventually, all she came up with was a quiet, "Oh…"

"I'm sorry, Beth," Sabs said, voice quavering slightly. "But I can't do this anymore. You disappear for months at a time and I have no idea where you are or what you're doing. You barely ever even call, and I know," she continued, holding up a hand to keep Beth from interrupting, not that the reeling girl could formulate an interruption, "that you're busy. I understand that you're really focused on all of this, the leveling, the CRA ranks, and everything. But I want someone who's going to be here more than three times a year."

"Sabs, I…" Beth replied, floundering. She hadn't expected to be receiving a break-up right after getting back, though now that she thought about it, it wasn't as much of a surprise as that initial emotional gut-punch had felt. She had been a rather shitty girlfriend, all things told. "I'm sorry, Sabs. I haven’t treated you right."

"It's OK, Beth. I understand. I just can't handle it anymore. I think we need some space and, honestly, I didn't want to just try to take a pause or something like that. I think the only way forward right now, at least for me, is a clean break," Sabs said, looking down at something in her hands that she was fiddling with as she spoke.

"I'm really happy that you were my first girlfriend, Sabs," Beth said quietly, leaning forward to hug the small girl. "I'm sorry I didn't do right by you, but it was still an amazing time."

She could feel Sabs shudder a little, and knew her own eyes were moist, but the older girl seemed to get herself together after a second. She returned the hug briefly before breaking it off, standing up and handing Beth what she was holding. It was a room key, Beth realizing it was the extra key she had asked Tazeen to make Sabs what was now more than a year ago.

"Sorry, Beth," Sabs said finally, leaning upwards and giving her a quick kiss on the cheek. "See you around."

Sabs then left, walking out the door, it closing behind her with a gentle click as Beth stood there with the extra key in her hand. She rolled it over on her palm for a moment, thinking about the past year and what she had done, and what she hadn't done. Finally, she gripped the key tightly, staring off into the far distance for a few seconds before making the key disappear.

Blood emerged from the bathroom then, glancing around the room but clearly able to detect that Sabs was gone. She walked over to Beth and gently grabbed her shoulder, pushing her back down on to the couch before sitting beside her and wrapping an arm around her shoulders. Beth just slumped forward, staring at nothing for a while before leaning back and against Blood's shoulder.

"I take it that didn't go well?" Blood asked.

"Yes and no," Beth sighed back. "It didn't go well in that I'm single now. It did go well in that, even moreso now, I realize I was treating Sabs like shit. I should have done better."

"I don't think it was your fault," said Blood. "I mean, I don't think it was all your fault. You definitely could've done better, but you also weren't very…compatible?"

"What do you mean by that?" Beth asked, sitting up to look at Blood.

"Hey, look, I don't really know much about relationships," Blood started a little defensively. "But what I do know is that you’re supposed to share at least some interests. I mean, honestly, I'm not sure you and Sabs shared any interests. Hell, even the kinds of TV you liked to watch were super different. Beyond that, I think you need somebody that can actually keep up with you, that loves fighting and exploring as much as you do."

"I mean, I guess you're right," Beth said, still with a bit of a distant look.

"Oh, but also, you were kinda a shit girlfriend," Blood said.

"Hey!" Beth said, punching Blood's shoulder.

"I mean, we were gone for like six weeks and you called your girlfriend, what, once?" Blood continued mercilessly.

"Ah, you're right," Beth sighed, rubbing the heels of her hands into her eyes. "I think I need to be single for a while and figure my shit out."

"Sounds like a plan," Blood said.

"I'm gonna get drunk," Beth said then.

"OK, I like that plan a little less, but sure," Blood said.