Limitless Path

Soph glared at everyone in the room but didn't speak further, sitting down and seeing about her own breakfast. The rest of the meal proceeded smoothly, apart from more glares from Soph, almost exclusively directed at Beth's gorging. When everyone was done, they all pitched in, the girls with various degrees of reluctance, to clean up the kitchen.

Everyone left the kitchen and made ready to go to the meeting hall. Beth grabbed her armor and sword from her room, equipping herself for another long day of battle. She stopped for a moment after buckling on her sword, thinking about how crazy and scary her life had become. But she dismissed such thoughts, her excitement for this new world outweighing her more negative emotions.

The family headed out of the house and towards the meeting hall, bumping into a few other people on the way. When they arrived at the hall, there were several tents set up outside, including the one Zack had been using two days prior. Many people were standing around under the awnings talking, as there was still some time until 9:00 AM.

Ten minutes later at 8:59 AM, Zack stepped out of the meeting hall and called everyone inside. The central part was full of chairs, and there was space left still to stand. The hall was full, with many people standing around the edges, but it wasn't everyone from the neighborhood. This was not a mandatory event, and they had no way to make it so. A few people in the neighborhood were sheltering in their houses and did not want to leave for any reason.

"Alright, let's run through this. I'll make it quick, we have a lot of work to do, so listen up," Zack started the meeting with a loud clap and a quick statement. He quickly went through work assignments for the day, mainly crews for the ditch and wall effort. There was also a crew that would be making a drive to some of the local grocery stores to try to stock up on a large amount of food and necessities. He finally dismissed the meeting, saying, "If you weren't called, stick in the hall. Everyone else, fall out! Oorah!"

The rest of the people emptied out, and Beth assumed the remainders would be who joined her today on the first trip into the woods. She was a little surprised at the people that remained, as it included the neighbor boy, John, the oldest neighbor girl, Jessica, Zack, two middle-aged neighbors she was unfamiliar with, a neighbor girl who looked to be about her own age, and even her own mother. Zack walked to the back of the room by Beth and motioned everyone else over.

"We'll talk under the big tent," he said as everyone walked up, leading them out front. There weren't any people directly out front, as everyone was already headed down the street in one direction or the other, getting to their assignments.

"Alright, here's the situation. This group is going to be heading through the north end of the neighborhood with Beth here, where we will be heading into the woods. Beth is the only one who has been consistently fighting these monsters, so I want you to listen to her. If she or I tell you to jump, I don't want you asking, 'How high?' I want you in the air. Understood?" Zack glared at the group and received nods in return. "Good. Before we march, any questions?"

"Are we going to be able to fight?" asked John.

"Yes, John, you will get a chance, though you might not find it to be everything you hoped for," Zack answered. "Anyone else?"

Nobody else seemed to have any questions, so Zack motioned for them to follow and led the way up the street further into the neighborhood. The group was all armed in some form, with Beth being the most obvious so far to embrace the new adventurer style. Zack was more traditional, with a pistol on one hip and a large knife on the other. He wore a tactical vest over a heavy shirt that had several pouches with ammo or other small supplies in each, as well as two smaller knives strapped to it. Beth would have bet money he had at least one knife in a boot on top of all the others.

The rest of the group was far more moderately outfitted. Most of them wore regular clothes with only a single weapon. For basically the entire group this was some form of knife, with the other girl that was Beth's age having what looked like two kukris on her hips. Beth figured they could at least deal with level one ants if nothing else, and she was there to handle anything bigger. It would seem like the morning would be long as well, since only Beth, her mother, and Zack had leveled beyond zero.

The group arrived by the Bell's house and walked around the structure into the backyard. Heading into the woodlot in a loose grouping, it took until just past the rock jut for them to encounter an ant. Beth used Identify to check it.

Common Ant Level 1

"Level one," she said.

"How do you know that?" asked one of the two middle aged men in the group.

"Before that, let me make sure we all know who's who," Zack interjected. "You all know me, and either Zack or gunny is fine. This is Beth, who is currently likely the neighborhood's best combatant. Next to me is her mother, Rachel. Then we have John and Jessica here," he pointed to each person in turn. "Over here are Andy and Chris. Finally, we have young Sabrina over here." Everyone gave either a nod or a wave when Zack had finished with the rough and dirty introduction, Beth making a note of the dagger-wielding girl's name before the conversation moved on.

Andy was the one who had asked about the level. Beth turned to him and answered, "Just look at the ant from here and think about trying to see its stats or more information about it."

Everyone else in the group turned to follow her instruction. In a moment there were several surprised exclamations and even Chris waving a hand in front of his face. When the group calmed down, Andy continued asking, "So, how much more stuff like this is there?"

"Not really sure what you mean. I haven't really found anything other than using a sword with some tiny level of skill got me a Swords skill. Everything else I have came from my class, which I got at level one," Beth replied.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

"Alright, cut the chatter," Zack stepped in again. "Let's get this ant taken down. I think it would be better for the people who haven't been out in the woods yet to do rather than see. Why don't you handle this one, Andy?"

"Me? Sure, I guess. Let's try," Andy's voice quavered a little, but he still started heading toward the ant.

"They notice you within about twenty or so feet at level one," Beth called out, Andy nodding in response as he continued.

Beth watched him approach the ant, reaching down and slightly loosening her sword in its sheath. She knew that anything could happen and was ready to step in, just in case. Andy drew the knife he had on his hip as he got close, the ant taking note of his presence and turning toward him. Andy took another step when the ant charged, and he suddenly stumbled a little, seemingly taken totally by surprise. He recovered as the ant neared, brandishing the knife awkwardly to his front.

The ant arrived and Andy inexpertly slashed at it. Without looking over, Beth could hear Zack facepalm. "Not going to get a knives skill like that," she muttered, likely only Zack and Rachel being able to hear her. Andy's blow deeply scratched the chitin on the ant's head but did little else. The ant lunged for his leg, and Andy stumbled back, flailing the knife at the ant.

Beth heard a clicking noise and looked over to see Zack had undone the leather strap at the top of his holster, getting ready to draw his pistol while shaking his head. She held up her hand to him in a wait gesture and started walking forward. "Fall back, Andy," Zack barked, shaking his head even more as Andy staggered backward, clearly well out of his depth.

It took but a few moments for Beth to pass the stumbling Andy. She didn't even bother to draw her sword, empowering just her right fist before she lashed out in a viper-quick strike. With a loud crackling sound, the top of the ant's head seemed to implode, a spurt of ichor flying up and back.

Common Ant Level 1 slain.

Andy stopped his stumbling, getting the glazed look of screen browsing for a second as he too saw the notification, and likely several others. Zack had refastened the safety strap of his holster, in the meanwhile, and walked up to Andy. "That was just about the most piss poor performance I have ever seen a recruit display," he lectured, flipping slightly into drill sergeant voice.

"Hey, these things are actually pretty scary. I'm just a regular office worker," Andy protested.

"Well, this," Zack answered him, gesturing at Beth in her equipment and the dead ant, "is the new regular, so get your head screwed on. Why don't you stay back now that you have a level."

"Alright, fine. I just have some questions about this class stuff," Andy replied.

"I'll help," Beth volunteered. She then gave the whole group a quick rundown of stats and classes, including explaining the two seeming "default" classes that everyone had been getting. After her explanation and answering another couple questions about stat points from the group, they moved forward into the field beyond the woodlot.

"We're in level two ant territory now, so pay attention," Beth warned the group. "In fact, we shouldn't go any farther until everyone is at least level one, if not level two."

"Seems sound advice for now. Let's stay frosty, people," Zack said.

It didn't take long for the group to come upon another ant. Beth motioned everyone to stop and used Identify on the lone ant.

Common Ant Level 2

"Someone tell me what you see before using Identify," she requested of the group.

"Well, it's an ant," replied John.

"Clever. Anyone else?" she asked.

The group looked at the ant closer for a minute until Sabrina answered in a calm voice, "It's bigger than the first one. Not much, but it is definitely bigger."

"Yeah, she got it," Beth nodded. "You can use Identify now. You'll see it is a level two ant. The ants here are plenty slow and spread out. They also alert only when you get close. But other beasts might not be so forgiving. It's important to be able to recognize differences in them. I'll ask again if we get to a level three. You should all use Identify now."

After everyone had used Identify and either nodded or murmured their acknowledgement, Beth turned to Zack. He nodded to her and asked, "Okay, who wants the honors?"

"I'll do it. It's just an ant; how hard can this be?" John answered.

Beth shook her head and Zack made to facepalm again before forcibly stopping himself. Beth simply gestured ahead toward the ant and watched as John drew his knife and walked forward. Beth sighed and looked down at her right glove, shaking it a little to try to dispel the small amount of ichor on it. She looked back up to see John getting close to the ant.

The ant orientated on John and charged. "They have a pretty simple SOP, don't they?" Zack asked.

"Yeah. Feel you approach. Face you. Charge you. Haven't seen anything different yet," Beth replied, watching John prepare to receive the ant.

As the ant got to John, he seemed a little steadier than Andy. He stabbed down with his knife trying for the ant's eye. The level two ant was a little too quick for John to just do as he pleased, however, and swayed its head to the side. This caused John's stab to glance off to the side, only nicking the side of the ant's head. This clearly caused the ant further displeasure, as it resumed its charge. John held steady and tried for another stab, which was not a good strategy. The ant was too close, and John was not skilled with a weapon, causing him to swing awkwardly to try to avoid stabbing himself.

Beth sighed and trotted forward, the ant latching onto John's right leg in the meantime. John panicked and began screaming, cursing the ant and firing off random expletives. Beth drew her blade as she approached the struggling John and with two quick steps forward and a simple slicing motion, removed the ant's head from its body. Ichor spurted out of the stump of the ant's neck as its head remained firmly gripped onto John's leg.

Common Ant Level 2 slain.

"Oops," Beth said, planting her sword point first in the ground. She grabbed hold of the ant's mandibles and, with a loud *Snap*, broke them both off. John collapsed backwards on the ground, panting and whining about his injured leg, as the rest of the group moved up.

"Let me see," Jessica commanded, having brought a medical kit with her. She and Zack crouched down and Zack rolled John's pantleg up to above the knee. The ant had grabbed John near the middle of his shin, and he had two bloody cuts on his leg where Beth had tugged the mandibles out. Zack examined the wounds for a moment while Jessica got ready to clean and bandage them before he stood back up.

"Not really that bad, those mandibles must be more like knives than I thought," he commented, looking down at the mandibles Beth had dropped.

The group waited for Jessica to finish bandaging John's leg before getting ready to move again. After John was back on his feet, the group looked to Beth to see what to do next. She gestured to the side and started leading the group west instead of north, looking for more level one or two ants. It didn't take very long to find another ant, with Beth quickly using Identify.

Common Ant Level 2

"Who's up?" Beth asked the group. After a second, the quiet Chris raised his hand. He took a firm grip on the handle of his knife, not yet drawing it, and walked toward the ant. Beth watched him go and turned to the group briefly, asking, "Everyone is using Identify on all of these, right?"

Everyone nodded or muttered their assent, and Beth turned back to watch Chris's attempt at ant slaying. He approached the ant the same as the rest but stopped shortly after it noticed him. He drew his knife and planted his feet, waiting for the ant to close on him. As the ant rushed to right in front of where he was standing, Chris stepped forward and gave it a swift kick in the side of the head.

The ant reeled back slightly, recovering quickly, but Chris took advantage of this moment of distraction. Having learned from John's earlier fight, he didn't go for the eyes but instead stabbed downward into the neck. The knife sunk deep in the ant's neck, and Chris immediately jerked it to the side, partially decapitating the ant.

"First one that didn't need help," Beth said, relieved that she didn't have to step into every single fight of the day.