Beth finally couldn't take it anymore and tore into her own fruit from earlier, eating around the pit until all the flesh was gone. Following that it was a free-for-all, as Beth and Blood devoured the fruits on the bush, eating their fill of both. Despite this terrifying destruction, they hadn't even eaten a quarter of what was on the plant. Beth pocketed some of the seeds, thinking maybe she might be able to grow her own tasty fruit bush back on Earth.

"God, I wish I had a backpack or something," Beth grumbled, looking at all the fruit left on the bush. "Screw it, I just really want a storage ring. Being able to keep everything including the kitchen sink just on my finger would be so cool." She turned to Blood and raised an eyebrow, "You want to camp out here to rest?"

Blood responded by shaking her head before walking around the bush, making a few growling noises, before moving away, only to stalk back and snarl at the air. She then moved to the side and acted like she bit into something or someone before looking at Beth again.

"I'm not super bright but let me see if I got that. Other things like the rats, or maybe even worse, would be coming here for food…so we should find somewhere else to camp?" Beth asked her companion, who nodded in response before coming over and rubbing her head against Beth's torso.

"I'm glad I have such a smart friend with me," Beth said, rubbing Blood's neck in return.

Blood set off after another minute, continuing in the direction they had been traveling previously. Beth followed along after, happy to let the wolf, who seemed naturally at home in the forest, lead the way. They journeyed for some time before they found a little depression in the land between three particularly large trees. Beth spent a moment combing around for several large branches before easily climbing what just a handful of days ago would be a large distance to break off a number more.

She didn't have anything to bind them with, but she was still able to wedge a couple large, mostly bare branches into the ground near the top of the gully and stretch them out over part of it before enmeshing several leafy branches together on top. Blood assisted with dragging some branches and heavy material over to build up the sides some, and with a few more branches and some loose brush added in, it formed a sloppy but viable shelter.

The two found some loose, leafy material and some thick frondlike plants which they gathered up and spread across the floor of the makeshift shelter. Once they were satisfied, they crawled inside and curled up together, Beth wrapping an arm around Blood and snuggling against her before dropping off to sleep. Their luck held up, or there was simply nothing else there, as they woke up unmolested only about five hours after they had nodded off. The massive boosts to their Endurance were clearly kicking in even more now, as the two had been quite tired after all the fighting but were back up to fully refreshed after a relatively short sleep.

They got up and made their way back to the dark fruit bush, doing further work on the ripe fruit hanging there. Afterwards was a stop at the small creek, where they not only drank deeply, but also took some time to scrub themselves off a little. The water was only a little cool and not cold, and after they had washed, the relatively warm air dried them quickly. Now fully rested and refreshed, they made their way back to the location of the double door, ready to head to the next floor to continue the trial.

"We should do a little exploring after clearing the next floor, too. Damn, I regret being too eager on the last few floors," Beth said as they stood at the door. Blood just bumped Beth's torso with her head. "Right, no point moping. Good thing we can learn somewhere a mistake doesn't just instantly kill us. Have to pay better attention going forward."

Beth once again stepped up and opened the door to the next floor the same as all the others, and the two walked through after it had swung fully inward. A moment later they found themselves standing on an open plain with grass that came nearly up to Beth's waist. Beth, by the way, was now just a hair over six feet, meaning the grass was rather tall. She was immediately put in mind of the pictures she had seen of areas in Africa such as the Serengeti, with the obvious exception being that the sun in this sky had a slight bluish tinge.

The two girls looked around for their next opponent, taking a minute to distinguish them in the tall grasses. Once she had spied what they were up against Beth barely bit back a string of curses. There was no other way to describe the beasts than as lions, though their fur was a more silver-bluish color to better blend in with the grasses in this environment, both the light of the sun and the grass itself a factor in the coloring. Beth and Blood spent a little time surveying the area, getting a feel for how the lions were moving and trying to gauge their strength and speed based on their patrolling.

"Well, what do you think? Not an easy opponent, for sure," Beth said, turning to Blood. Blood made a motion like a shrug and then a grin, showing all her quite large fangs.

"Right, guess we just have to get on with it. The more time we take on this, the more times we have to sleep on the ground in the middle of a weird forest." Blood chuffed at that, the wicked grin disappearing.

"Look, it's fine for you, but I prefer a bed, especially one in a warm room after a delicious meal, alright?" Blood fully rolled her eyes on hearing the second complaint before turning to move towards the first lion.

"Guess that conversation's over," Beth muttered, trailing after the massive wolf.

Blood trotted forward to a distance close to the first lion but still just outside its range of detection. Luckily, the range at which beasts sensed threats around them didn't expand very far per level at low levels, though Beth had already read something about that not being true at higher levels in the basics book she had worked through. She used Identify on the lion to see what they had to deal with.

Level 14 Silvermane Lion

That didn't really tell Beth a whole lot, just what she had expected, in fact. The beasts were one level higher than the previous floor and they were some form of lion. Blood glanced over at her, Beth grinning a little at how the wolf was at eye-level with her, before trotting toward the lion. The beast responded quickly, and Beth's thought of how sad it was to fight such pretty animals was quashed immediately, the beast charging Blood with a roar, a nearly demented snarl on its face.

Not a sight to preserve the beast's noble, beautiful disposition in Beth's mind. This was not just a wild animal but a beast, a creature pumped full of mana hellbent on killing anything that came near it. Beth observed as it closed with Blood that it appeared to be female, being small compared to the massive wolf, but still fully grown and lacking any kind of mane.

The lion appeared to be strong and agile, but like all other low leveled beasts was made almost mindless by the raw mana circulating in its body. As it neared Blood it leaped through the air, arms extending with claws gleaming, its jaws opened wide to display large, sharp fangs. Blood responded quickly, the more agile and nimble of the two despite her far larger size and mass. The wolf danced forward and to the right quickly before suddenly cutting back in and to the left, leading with her shoulder, slamming into the lion near the apex of its leap. It wasn't quite perfectly timed, but it was still a powerful blow, Blood's shoulder smashing into the beast with a heavy thumping sound, like someone had just hit a sack of grain with a bat.

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Beth had been watching the fight when suddenly she sensed that something wasn't right. She identified the issue instantly, her improved senses having been informing her of the near silent approach of another lion. She turned to face the stealthy predator right before it leaped, stepping forward to meet it while swinging her sword. She started without adding any extra oomph to the strike, wanting to test how tough the enemies were with a normal hit. The blade of her sword swept in from her right and hit the left side of the lion squarely in the center, Beth's high Strength wounding the beast and sending it tumbling. She was less than relieved, however, as though she had done a decent amount of damage to the creature, this engagement of two at once right from the start did not bode well.

Fortunately for Beth and Blood, their stats and skills combined were enough to be able to not just compete but even suppress the lions, if they were careful. The fight turned something that resembled a marathon, as the lions constantly engaged the two girls as a group of at least four. Beth stuck to her fundamentals, avoiding attacks and gaining advantage through solid footwork and movement. It was this that helped her last through the long battle, a hundred lions dead by the time they were done.

She wasn't totally exhausted, but she was tired and wounded after the protracted fight. The two moved away from their area of slaughter, finding somewhere to sit and rest, meditating and using their regenerative skills. Blood had gotten the worst of it over the course of a hundred kills, her sheer size working against even her high Dexterity through such a long fight. She did, however, minimize the damage to a non-life-threatening level, even as it became somewhat of a struggle close to the end.

The two rested for an hour, Beth taking the opportunity to quickly distribute their points after having hit level sixteen from that fight. She noted they had made a little less than half a silver from another hundred kills, Beth hoping more and more that there was a rather valuable reward from the dungeon completion. She also noted a level for each of them in their regeneration skills, getting hurt and healing being a rather effective way of leveling the skill. She checked their status screens after she was done.

Name

Elizabeth Anne Bell

Class

Brawler

Level

16

Strength

40

Dexterity

24

Endurance

30

Intelligence

14

Wisdom

14

Free Points

0

Titles

Silver Flame Empress Inheritor

Skills

Ancient World Gate[0]

Crush Copper[9]

Focused Meditation Copper[5]

Identify Copper[6]

Lordly Reconstruction Copper[6]

Monstrous Blow Copper[6]

Pain Tolerance Copper[8]

Swords Apprentice[5]

Unarmed Apprentice[4]

Wealth

3s 22c

Emblems

CRA Copper Badge

Bonds

Blood

Name

Blood

Race

Red Wolf Queen

Level

16

Strength

30

Dexterity

40

Endurance

36

Intelligence

16

Wisdom

16

Free Points

0

Titles

-

Skills

Identify Copper[2]

Meditation Copper[5]

Regeneration Copper[4]

Swift Copper[7]

Wealth

3s 1c

Bonds

Beth

Now that they were fully rested, Beth led them in getting up and beginning to look around. This time she felt a little lost, spending a little time wandering around the area. Half an hour later she was ready to move on when she saw a small cave at the base of a little hillock. It was low enough that she and Blood had to crouch a little to make their way inside, but the passage opened into a little larger cavern after a dozen feet. While still somewhat low, the cavern was high enough for them to stand comfortably, as well as being fairly wide.

It appeared there was a hole or two in the ceiling, as the cave had a little bit of natural light alleviating the darkness. Beth and Blood looked around the area, Beth looking up at the ceiling as Blood sniffed around the floor. Blood caught Beth's attention with a bark, and she walked over to see what the wolf had found. It was slightly difficult to tell, but her increased level and her little eye mishap earlier had sharpened her vision, so Beth was able to see Blood had found some kind of ore. Looking around the area, the two of them found several different pieces, all of which Beth gathered up before taking the armload outside.

Beth put the ores down in a small clear area near the cave entrance and picked up one of the largest pieces to examine. It was a little bigger than one of her closed fists and had a definite silver luster to it. Beth wasn't sure what it was, as she would have guessed silver before the introduction of the Path, but now it could be anything. Still, it was likely to be valuable either way, and now she was trying to figure out how they were going to carry it with them. In the end, she made the rather crude decision of trying to get some hide to hold them.

The next hour was a rather gross and disturbing experience, as Beth badly mangled skinning two lions with her boot knife before she could get a decent section of hide from a third. She cleaned it as best she could, still leaving a somewhat bloody and messy section by the end. She then sent Blood out to see if she could find anything, even slightly sturdier grass, that they could use as ties. The wolf came back nearly an hour later with some thin but strong vines in her jaws, and Beth was able to very sloppily make what she hoped passed for a pack from the hide and vines. She placed the various ore pieces inside, enough that when melted together they would be a little more than half the size of her torso and hefted the pack.

"Time to move on. Hopefully we can just drop it in the clear space by where the door puts us every time and not have it get messed up," she said to the wolf, who gave her a look as if to say, 'How could it possibly get any more messed up?'

"Well, everybody's a critic these days," Beth said as she walked up to the door to the next area, pushing it open as she had the previous. The two of them walked through the doorway and onto the next floor, ready for the next challenge. They emerged to an ideal vacation destination, white sandy beaches and crystal-clear blue ocean waves accentuated by small whitecaps. Ideal, that is, apart from the two suns in the sky, which Beth didn't remember from her last beach trip. That and the enormous, crab-like beasts wandering around all over the beach in quite a large circle around them.

Beth dropped her rather gross sack as soon as the doors had closed behind them and disappeared, absentmindedly wiping her hands on her pants with a slight frown. She looked at the beasts they had to square off against in the next fight, not very happy with yet another armored opponent. While she knew she could work on using Monstrous Blow to deal damage and work on her sword technique, she thought it might be a floor where she would have to end up using the heavy smashing power of her fists and feet to pull off a win without sustaining too much injury. She cast Identify on a somewhat nearby crab to check it.

Level 15 Crab

Well, she hadn't really expected much more, but that was pretty basic. Just like she dreamed of getting a storage ring, she was already dreaming of getting a much better version of Identify. She looked at the large red beast, just like a giant version of a crab on Earth, towering at nearly four feet tall. The crabs, like all the beasts they had fought in this trial, wandered idly in a very small area around where they seemed to have been placed.

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