Limitless Path

"OK, let's go over this," their father interjected. "Explain, if you can, what these are."

"So, you see how there's a skill section in your stat screen? You can apparently get a ton of different skills, and I guess punching a monster to death while using a boxing stance counted enough to get the lowest level of unarmed fighting skills," Beth replied to their father. "The class thing is what it says. You get to pick a class at level one, at least, I did. I had a few options, and I picked a really cool one."

"Alright sweetie, let's slow down just a little. What are these skills and how do they work?" their father asked, reaching over to grab his trusty notepad that he always had to hand.

Beth focused on her Unarmed skill for a moment and thought about sharing just that with her family. A box appeared in front of her and, from the surprised reactive head jerks of the rest of the family, she assumed everyone else as well.

"This is my Unarmed skill. As you can see, it's a skill that both shows I know how to fight unarmed as well as provides a very slight boost to fighting unarmed."

"OK, this is actually impressive, sweetie. What about the class, explain it thoroughly in a way us non-gamers might understand," their father requested.

"Um, like, to explain it so you can understand, a class is kinda like a job in games. It's kinda more simplistic, at least sometimes, but if you're a warrior, you fight enemies with weapons and wear heavy armor. If you're a mage you cast spells. So, at level one I was presented with the option of several different classes, and I picked one that focuses on unarmed fighting, which I might have got because of punching that ant to death," Beth laid out most of what she knew about the basics of classes to her family. She then did the same thing as before and made her class section available for her family to see.

After looking at her class screen, her father, who was now scribbling furiously, had further questions. "You fought and killed a large ant to get this? How difficult was the ant to fight? How tough was its shell? How quickly was it able to move?"

"It was almost like hitting a punching bag barehanded. It took me multiple punches to the same spot on the head, which might be a weak point, to kill it. I don't know if the body is still there, but we could go look at it if you want," Beth answered.

"I don't know that going outside right now is a particularly good idea. Perhaps we can take her word for it until we have some better information," their mother replied, giving their father a worried glance.

"I don't think I would have much trouble dealing with an ant, as long as it's not too big. It also seems like your daughter is something of an ant slayer," replied their father equitably.

"Well then, let's all stick together, but we must be quick about it, Thom," their mother answered their father with a sharp glance emphasizing the need for haste.

"Do we have to? It's hot, and dirty, and now there are monsters. Can't I stay in here?" Soph asked with a slight whine.

"It will just be a minute, and I think it will be good for us all to see firsthand what we're dealing with now," replied their father with a slightly stern look at his youngest daughter.

Everyone got up from their seats and, with much under-the-breath grumbling from her youngest sister, Beth led the family back to the mudroom. As everyone put on shoes or boots, they stepped outside, and once the family was assembled, Beth again took the lead. As they headed out of the backyard, however, Beth stopped in her tracks.

"What is it?" asked their father, to which Beth just pointed.

Beth had stopped just a few steps from the end of their backyard where the woodlot started, and she was pointing at an ant around thirty feet away.

"Somebody else want to hit it, or you want me to do it?" Beth asked, but the decision was seemingly made for her, as the ant turned towards her and started immediately scuttling forward.

"Beth!" Their mother exclaimed as Beth put her guard up and darted ahead to meet the ant. She ignored her mother's shout and did just as she had done in the strange dirt gate she summoned earlier, stepping to the side of the ant as it tried for her leg. With a twist of her torso and a Crush empowerment, her fist slammed down with the force near that of a sledgehammer swing. There was a loud *Crunch* as the top of ant's head was smashed in, the force driving it down into the ground where one of the mandibles imbedded to the hilt from the force.

Common Ant level 1 slain.

"Wow!" Beth exclaimed, not having to fake her surprise from the result of two more STR and one more level of Crush on the lower leveled ant.

The rest of the family seemed shocked by the display until Soph exclaimed "Gross!" while backing up a few steps.

"What was that?" asked her parents essentially in unison.

"That was what just having the Unarmed skill does, combined with adding some energy to my fist. And it is kinda gross," Beth replied, shaking some ant goo off her fist with a frown.

"Well, that was something. And this is also something, both good news and bad news," their father said as he walked up to the ant.

"What do you mean by that," their mother responded while walking over to Beth and taking Beth's hand in both of hers.

"Well, good news is Beth is already a little powerhouse," he replied, kneeling to examine the ant's corpse. "The bad news is there seems to be more than one of these ant monsters, and they're also getting close to the backyard."

"That is so gross. Can we go back inside?" Soph complained to their mother.

"Alright, you girls can head back inside. Best that everyone stays in the house for now," their mother waved the girls to head back into the house.

Soph immediately returned to the house, but Kim stayed, walking up to Beth and standing next to her. "How did you learn to do that?" she asked, looking to her side at Beth.

"Honestly, I don't really know. I just used what I learned at the boxing gym. It's, uh, not easy, but I actually kinda like it," Beth responded.

"Maybe I should look into some lessons," Kim said, lips pursed in a slight frown with a somewhat distant look in her eyes.

"I can help you, if you want," Beth glanced at Kim quickly before returning her gaze to watching their parent's examination of the ant corpse.

"Uh, OK, sure. If you're alright with that," Kim nodded, still staring out toward the woodlot.

Meanwhile, their parents had inspected the ant from just about every angle and side, as well as taking pictures of all of it with their cellphone cameras. They were discussing the ant and the surrounding area of the north end of the neighborhood in quick, terse exchanges. They were clearly in business mode, so the girls continued watching for a few minutes without interrupting.

It wouldn't all be peaceful, however, as Beth suddenly turned a little to look into the woodlot but slightly eastward. Another ant was trundling toward them at an oblique angle and would pass into their next-door neighbor to the east's yard unless it stopped at the edge of the wood, as the ant their parents were examining had.

While their parents still had their heads together over the first ant, Beth motioned to Kim to stay quiet and follow with two quick hand gestures. She then walked ahead of her towards the new ant. Kim's eyes widened a little as she briefly hesitated, but in the end, she followed her older sister.

The two girls approached the ant at a slight angle themselves, so as to pass to the ant's right. As they got closer, the ant paused and seemed to try to sense the area, its head slowly beginning to turn as its antennae started waving about. Beth took notice of this but kept walking at a moderate pace ahead of her sister. When she got closer, she suddenly exploded forward, using her newly elevated stats to rapidly close the remaining distance before stomping down on one of the ant's legs. Beth ignored the slight hissing screech the ant made as its leg shattered, stomping down again to shatter a second leg.

"Quick, quick!" Beth waved over to Kim, who was standing a few steps away, watching agog as Beth was systemically destroying the large ant. Beth bent down and grabbed a fist-size rock with a jagged edge, and when Kim scurried over to her, handed Kim the rock. "Smash it with that, Kim," Beth encouraged.

Kim looked at the rock somewhat dubiously, then looked down at the flailing ant. Her face scrunched up a little, but she took a deep breath and lifted the rock up to head height. With a rather un-ladylike grunt, Kim slammed the rock down on the ant's head. There was a cracking sound, and the ant flailed about, but was unable to accomplish much with its two shattered legs. Kim lifted the rock again, but this time grabbed it with her other hand as well. With a small snarl on her face and another deep grunt, she smashed the rock into the top of the ant's head again.

Common Ant level 1 slain.

"Well done, Kim," Beth said, wrapping her arm around Kim's shoulders and giving her a side-hug.

"That…that was intense," Kim shuddered while panting a little and leaned against Beth's side.

"You start to get used to it. Or maybe not, but it sorta doesn't really bother me that much," Beth grinned while rubbing Kim's upper arm.

"Alright, alright," Kim said, making a frustrated noise and elbowing at Beth.

"It's nice to see you getting along, but what are you girls DOING?!" their mother's voice snapped right behind them. Both girls jumped and turned, Kim looking to the side and blushing while Beth looked at their mother with a lopsided grin.

"Getting strong mom, what does it look like?" Beth answered while pointing to Kim, her finger hovering right in front of Kim's chest.

"What?" Both Kim and their mother said at the same time.

"What level are you?" Beth asked.

"One! Wait, it says class change menu available, is this what you mentioned inside earlier?" Kim exclaimed, looking over at Beth excitedly.

"While I'm very happy for you dear, you girls shouldn't be running around like this fighting. It's not safe," their mother admonished.

"The world was never really safe. With monsters and levels and stuff now, it's even more not safe," Beth replied. "We can either hide from the world and be weak, or we can fight and get strong. This isn't necessarily a tragedy or the end of the world or whatever. We can get stronger now, way stronger. Strong enough that even big monsters would be scared of us, not the other way round."

"I don't like this attitude young lady. Both of you back in the house; we'll discuss this further after your father and I finish checking these ants," their mother glowered at the two of them.

"See if you can grab the mandibles. Their bodies don't seem to be too strong, but the mandibles are really sharp, they might be useful for something," Beth responded while tapping her chin.

"I will mention it to your father, but I doubt we will grab any at this moment. And don't try to distract me. House. Now," their mother answered with finality, pointing back at the house.

"Fine," Beth harrumphed. She grabbed Kim's hand and started walking back to the house. Kim staggered a step and then fell into step beside Beth. Once they were back in the mudroom, Beth let go of Kim and they both removed their shoes before going to the living room. Soph was nowhere to be seen and assumedly was up in her room.

"So, tell me," Beth said, sitting beside Kim on the couch.

"Tell you what?" Kim asked.

"Don't be a dummy, what classes do you have? What are you going for?"

"Woah, calm down Beth, you know I don't really play games or anything. What do I do?" Kim responded.

"Alright, what you have to do is just think about selecting or opening the class selection menu. After that, a menu with a few options will pop up," Beth responded excitedly, gesturing in the air with her right index finger like she was pointing at things on a list.

Kim's eyes narrowed slightly then, after a few seconds, widened in surprise. She was looking at what Beth assumed was her class selection menu and Beth watched her face, nearly vibrating with excitement.

"WELL?!" Beth couldn't take it and grabbed her sister's right arm after a minute.

"Geez, relax," Kim grunted, poking Beth in the side. "I have three options. Young Warrior, Young Mage, and Tempered Fighter. What does that mean?"

"Well, I had the first two, but I had my Brawler option instead of that third one. What's the description of it say?" Beth started tapping her chin, decidedly ignoring any mention of the princess option.

"One who has faced varied challenges, tempering themselves as a balanced warrior. That doesn't seem that helpful, or good?" Kim's face scrunched a little.

"Actually, it might be the best of your three. What does it say for stat points?"

"Uh, stat points? Um, it says +1 to each STR, DEX, END, and WIS per level and 2 free points per level," Kim said.

"I can't make this decision for you, but I say Tempered Fighter. It seems already like the other two are some kind of default classes that everyone might get, but this third one is more tailored to you. If I remember right, the others also give a total of 5 points every level, while this special one gives 6. Maybe there's things we don’t know about stats yet, but that alone would make it my pick. Being level eleven and having ten more points than a Young Warrior might make a huge difference," Beth rattled off almost without taking a breath.

"OK, OK. You're such a damn nerd sometimes," Kim replied with another poke before she got a far-away look in her eyes for a moment. "OK, I'm a Tempered Fighter now, whatever that means."

"You should have gotten some free points for getting to level one. You should probably spend those as well," Beth ignored both the real and virtual jabs.