Limitless Path

Not that there was anything dangerous there, or much of anything, really. The underworks were mostly empty, with only a handful of lizardmen, none of them special types, and not much else down there. That also included loot, as they were unable to find almost anything as they mapped the area, but Beth hadn't forgotten her first thought, namely that of the power generation system. She wouldn't go snooping into something like that normally, not wanting Jaq showing up waving a knife angrily at her breaking something, but if she broke something here, that would just be more for the dungeon to deal with rather than being a problem.

Beth eventually had to give up, having not been able to find any way further down into the underworks. That was important because there wasn't any sign of the power generation equipment on the current floor they were on and, with no sign of anything moving that power upward apart from the walls of the arena itself, Beth was beginning to suspect some kind of dungeon fuckery was at play. Once she had thought of that, she couldn't shake that conclusion and decided they had looked enough. It was time to see exactly where they had wound up in the city, though she knew the arena was somewhere close in to the center.

When they emerged from the building, they found it wasn't just close to the center, but was directly next to what Beth could only surmise was the city hall. She wasn't certain that they were quite ready for that yet, but that wasn't much of a problem, as to say they were in a target rich environment would be an understatement. The center of the city was densely packed with high-level lizardmen, and not just regular lizardmen, but special variants were dotted around fairly regularly as well. It was perfect for making sure they were as prepared as they could be, and Beth led the way in starting to thin the numbers.

They fought for a few hours before slipping back into the arena to take a long rest, Beth managing to find a room that had running water. They were able to get themselves mostly clean, Blood having no problem aiding Beth in cleaning harder to reach places, which she gladly reciprocated. They dried off quickly and sloppily, still a little damp when they sprawled out on some bedding to sleep for seven or eight hours.

Clearing the innermost city wasn't their goal, nor something Beth thought even possible, surveying the area around the south end of the arena after they woke up and got ready. This was the end of the arena the abutted the city hall and the very core of the city, and there were still swarms of lizardmen visible everywhere, including many special variants. The one good thing she could say about it was that Blood was harvesting plenty of materials, including quite tough scales that would make pretty damned good armor.

She finished her musings as Blood reported back with an update on numbers and positions of the enemies and the two got to work. They spent several days fighting, both to level and to try to establish a somewhat clear area in the city center, including a clear path from the arena to the city hall. Resting again and fighting again, they gained quite a few levels in just a handful of days, breaking through the two-ten mark before Beth wanted to check out the boss.

She didn't necessarily want to fight the boss yet, but they were now getting close to their current cap, and she wanted some information. Knowing where the boss was, what it was, if it had elemental strengths and weaknesses, if it had guards or a mob of adds to wade through, and so much more could lend them a huge advantage in the upcoming fight. It was with that in mind that she had had them clear the path to the city hall and clear an area around it, allowing them to lure out some of the beasts inside and thin the numbers.

The building was a five-story masterwork of stone and marble, with decorative façade carved everywhere on the outside and more polish than a marine recruit's boots. Beth estimated the building took up about half a city block, though it was a bit hard to get a fully accurate picture based on how everything in the city center was laid out in a bit of a non-standard pattern. Based on her estimates and the number of lizardmen that had already poured out of the building at their provocations, she thought it might take about a day to clear it out to the point where Blood could scout without getting bogged down.

It turned out her power of estimation weren't quite dialed in, which wasn't much of a surprise, considering she had seen some explanations, including a popular TV show about disproving common fables, showing just how bad most people were at estimating pretty much everything. It took them almost two days just to get the building cleaned enough that Blood could investigate. At this point Beth was just assuming the boss was inside, and it could easily turn out that the final boss of the run was somewhere else entirely.

Fortunately, they wouldn't have to do this scouting again for a long time, as it was highly unlikely for a set dungeon such as this to change its layout dramatically without undergoing some type of large transformation or upgrade. Such things were possible, and happened from time to time, moreso on Earth at this point as the mana continued to build, but it wasn't super likely to happen any time soon.

An hour of work proved Beth's small fears to be groundless, as Blood was able to locate a massive lizardman seated in a huge chair in a room that took up three-quarters of the fifth floor. Identifying the beast gave her a return of a level two hundred thirty Empowered Wyverian Lord, which she thought might not be quite as strong as the boss they had just killed. Every ten levels was a jump in power, and being at two hundred thirty would mean the boss was very strong, but its naming convention didn't indicate the kind of the power the hidden arena boss presented.

The only way to know for sure was to fight it, a task they couldn't engage in quite yet. They still needed to do some clearing, Beth not wanting even half a building full of enemies to swarm them as they were dealing with a boss seventeen levels above them. Or sixteen levels, since they hit two hundred fourteen in clearing most of the rest of the building out. They took a moderate rest before engaging the boss, ready to get their first clear done and dusted after almost three weeks in the dungeon.

The boss itself wasn't anything particularly special, as Blood had guessed, but it was still a boss of a level two hundred-plus dungeon. For some reason, likely the differentiations in naming convention and type and what that meant for beasts, this boss just wasn't as tough as the sub-boss. Blood still had difficulties in damaging it without going all out in her attacks, but Beth was able to dish out quite a bit of damage with her Presence running at full power. That, combined with the final boss of the dungeon not having quite as good regeneration as the sub-boss, meant Beth was able to build up a considerable amount of damage rather quickly.

Beth focused on the head and face, not just because it could provide lethal damage, but even more moderate damage could interrupt the target's brain and mess with their thinking. Flash KO's were certainly a thing, as were several types of brain damage or trauma that were overall minor but could cause a serious interruption in thinking…and a serious interruption in permanent function if it happened repeatedly; just ask any pre-Path boxer that practiced the profession for more than a couple years.

By the time ten minutes of Beth repeatedly Crushing and Celestial Annihilating the boss's head and brain had passed, it was staggering around the large room, all ten feet of its wobbly height crashing through the massive, throne-like chair it had been seated in when they first entered the room. Punch-drunk didn't really begin to describe it, and Beth was pretty sure that a decent chunk of the boss's brain was either pulped or just flat out missing at this point as it tried to pull itself out of the wreckage and half-staggered into the wall. Beth didn't feel any pity for it, driving into it and slamming it into the wall as it tried to push itself away.

She cocked back and slammed her fist into the side of the boss's skull at full power, Crushing its head into the wall with a massive *BANG*. The boss flailed half-heartedly, trying to scrabble away from the wall, but Beth's fist hammered it into the wall again…and again…and again. Blood joined her, overlapping waves of dark red energy combining to carve deep furrows into the boss's skull and neck.

Beth finished the fight with an enormous Celestial Annihilation that carved away a huge section of the top of the beast's head. She stepped back with a slight grunt as chunks of the boss's brain sloughed out onto the floor and Blood made sure the beast was fully dead. Beth scanned around the room for a moment as the boss's death was confirmed and then the dungeon completion came up. She found only a handful of gold coins, which she tossed in her status screen, before looking at the dungeon clear details.

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

Calculating…

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

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

Hidden Sub-Boss defeated. Bonus points awarded.

First time clear of any instance. Bonus points awarded.

Calculating…

Final score calculated at an A-. Disbursing awards.

Beth had had a bit of a suspicion that this dungeon, being high-level and not having dropped any rewards apart from the bodies and beast cores of the beasts themselves, that they would get a rating and award at the end. She had no idea what to expect, and watched as three pillars appeared in the boss room, each of a fairly plain stone with no ornamentations, the base being slightly larger than the column. Each pillar, as the last time, had a single item sitting atop it.

The first pillar had what Beth assumed was a necklace on it. It was a thin, finely crafted chain in a loop with a clasp at one part and an ornament affixed opposite the clasp. She picked it up and looked it over before inspecting it, just checking the workmanship and quality, noting that the chain was made of something resembling mana silver but not quite the same. It was either an alloy of mana silver and some other metals, or it was something like truesilver that was fairly similar. The ornament was about half the size of Beth's thumb, made of diamond and, considering she had rather long thumbs, represented quite a hefty gem, especially as it was carved in some kind of octagonal shape. Finally, she Identified it to check what exactly it was.

Necklace of the Enlightened Mind

{This necklace, of simple but fine make, increases the wearer's perception of mana and ability to control the flow of mana within a small area around them. Is enchanted with durability, repair, and minor mana battery.

15% increased WIS.

Minimum Level 200.}

She handed the necklace to Blood, who examined it closely while Beth grabbed the item from the second pillar. Beth noticed out of the corner of her eye Blood shoving the necklace in her necklace and slowly spun her head to the side, staring at the lupine woman. Blood gave her a shrug and pulled the necklace back out, demonstrating that it didn't suffer any damage or interference from their own necklaces, which should have been obvious. Beth narrowed her eyes for a moment before returning to the second item, a sphere of some kind. It was made of a red crystal and glowed just faintly in the mild light of the boss room. She Identified it to get a better idea what exactly they had been rewarded.

Fire Acolyte's Simple Focus

{This Focus concentrates the power of the wielder as they channel mana, particularly through fourth form or below spell constructs that are aspected in relation to fire. Is enchanted with durability, repair, and minor cast speed assistance.

10% increased INT.

10% increased WIS.

Minimum Level 200.}

"More junk for Soph," Beth said, handing it to Blood to check.

"Bah, she's hates fire spells," Blood grunted. "Better for us to hang onto it for now. Or sell it."

Beth grunted as Blood tossed the orb into her necklace, turning to the third and final pillar. The first two items were fairly good, but nothing really mind-blowing, especially considering they got an A- on a first clear of a fresh dungeon on a newly integrated world. She looked at the third item, hoping for something great, though it appeared fairly plain, or so she thought based on her first glance.

However, first impressions could be rather deceiving, and this item was certainly a case of that. When Beth picked it up to examine it more closely, she found the cube was quite heavy despite looking like it was made of glass with two small pieces of metal that formed an equals sign on each face. Beth wasn't sure that it was an equals sign, but that's certainly what it looked like, someone having made a slightly larger than fist-sized dice with an equals sign on each face. Holding it a bit closer to her face, though not pressing her nose against it, she could see the metal symbols had runes engraved so densely it had fooled her into appearing smooth at first glance.

She could sense a strange power in the cube even through her gauntlet, the surrounding mana clearly being affected by at least the runes and likely even more than her unenlightened eye could detect. None of the faces were any different based on her examination, though she might be able to see some very slight differences in the runes if she really squinted. Then again, her understanding of the language of magic was so novice, especially compared to something that was clearly quite advanced, that she genuinely had no idea what she was looking at. She decided her inspection was complete other than Identify, which she did next with the good old Frostflame to see what it really was.

Ephram's Cube of Skill Improvement

{This cube will upgrade a chosen skill by up to two tiers upon use. The cube will be consumed upon use and cannot be recovered. Upgrade amount is based on the current tier and level of the skill; higher tier skills have a lower chance of upgrading more than once and skills above tier five cannot be upgraded. Higher level skills have a higher chance of upgrading more than once. The skill selected will transform to an improved or new skill based on a matrix of skill variables.

Minimum Level 100.}