They ran for quite a while before encountering anything, already getting close to their destination by that point. They bumped into a huge deer, a buck with a massive rack that put its head down and charged them as soon as it saw them approach. Blood leapt towards it and twisted to the side at the last moment, far too fast for the level fifteen to keep up with, even if it hadn't had all its strength focused on linear acceleration. The huge wolf easily got around the antlers and inside the beast's guard, nearly fully enveloping the muscled neck of the deer with her massive jaws.
Blood twisted her hips and shoulders to the left and then moved her shoulder back to the right, twisting her back with the motion. Beth could hear when the spine of the magically enhanced deer snapped, a loud cracking sound indicating the end of the creatures life. Beth waited off to the side, grimacing a little as Blood tore into the carcass, hellbent on getting some tasty organ meat. It was a rather messy process, but a few minutes later Blood was much happier, almost bouncing on her paws after the treat.
The two resumed their run, needing less than five minutes to get to the chasm descending deep into the ground. Beth noted she got her first level in Swift right as they arrived, the combination of the run and using it during the morning apparently giving her just enough experience to get it to copper[1]. The two quickly jogged down the spiraling ramp, more cautious and alert here. Even though they hadn't seen any tendency of the kobolds to really wander yet, they still didn't want to be taken by surprise by another hulk variant, something that could easily spell death.
Reaching the bottom of the ramp, the two headed into the righthand tunnel, making their way downwards at a good clip. With nothing behind them, the only danger could be from the front, and with the lightstone showing the way, they weren't going to be surprised by anything running up on them. They decided to bypass the secondary rooms and tunnels, Beth eager to get on with the dungeoneering, not wanting to go over the same mostly empty rooms she had already searched.
They made good time to the large, hexagonal room at the bottom of the tunnel, now quite some distance underground and quite a bit colder. Beth knew that it shouldn't actually be this cold, as underground areas were normally cooler but not freezing. She suspected it was some combination of a 'natural' aspecting of the mana along with the influence of the kobolds, which seemed to have some kind of frost nature. At least, this particular group seemed to be heavily aligned with frost and cold, from what she had seen so far.
Beth and Blood trotted across the central room, noting the lamps were still lit a few days later, though they had started to fade just a little bit. They were apparently quite mana efficient, and Beth guessed they could remain lit for a week or just over before darkening entirely. They entered the opposite tunnel of the one leading down, trotting back for a little less than a minute to find the room with the silvery, glowing portal hovering in midair.
This dungeon either didn't pop out enemies like the others she was familiar with, or it did so at some kind of different interval or in some other way. Yet another thing to ask the instructors, once again making her realize just how little she knew. It wasn't really a problem, as that just meant more to learn, and her enhanced INT and WIS meant she basically memorized pretty much everything she heard and saw. It wasn't a totally perfect memory, but she assumed she would get there by the time the two stats crossed the hundred threshold, though that might take a rebirth or two at her current rate.
She walked up to the portal, trailed by Blood, and put her hand up to it again, checking that it was still the same as she remembered. It gave her the same message and description and, after a look back at Blood, receiving a reassuring bark, she gritted her teeth and stepped through with a quick motion, almost a leap. She felt a very brief moment, almost an eyeblink, of disorientation as she was somehow moved into a dungeon instance, and then she was standing in a pitch-black room, the darkness only slightly dispelled by the lightstone on her belt.
Blood popped up next to her a second later, the massive wolf shaking her head with a slight growl before sneezing, Beth chuckling at her companion's even greater disorientation. The wolf was recovered a moment later, giving Beth a bit of a glare, before she silently padded forward. Beth followed, noting the room they had appeared in was a fairly small cube with only a single feature apart from its rough stone composition, that being a doorway leading into a tunnel.
Blood padded ahead, silent and looking quite deadly in the dark tunnel. After about a minute, she turned back to Beth and shook her head with a chuff, Beth figuring out after a second that the wolf didn't want Beth bringing the light any further forward. She stepped to the side and leaned against the rough-hewn wall of the tunnel, letting Blood silently pad forward into the gloom. The wolf was gone for a couple minutes before returning, suddenly emerging into the lit area like a red-hued ghost, a troubled look on her lupine visage.
"I don't like that look," Beth said quietly, stroking her bond's muzzle for a minute. Blood relaxed a little before finally poking the lightstone and shaking her head. "What if I hold it and angle it down?"
The wolf tilted her head for a moment, eyes blinking, before she nodded. Beth detached the stone from her belt and held it pointing down, angling it slightly back with her hand to try to prevent it from casting all but the faintest trace of light forward. She followed along behind Blood as the great lupine led her forward at a moderate pace, maintaining silence being a far greater priority than speed. The two came up to another room after a tense minute, Beth peering inside and just vaguely making out a few shapes within. She tried using Identify on the nearest and was only slightly surprised when she got a result.
Level 38 Enfrosted Kobold Miner
Beth quickly tapped Blood and shook her head, motioning at the tunnel they were still in. The two quickly and quietly padded back down the tunnel, moving all the way back to the initial room before Beth spoke.
"Uh, I really don't like our chances here," she said. "Every ten levels is a minor bump in strength for beasts, and the very first ones we can see are almost at the next level bracket above us. I don't think we can do this right now."
Blood responded with a little growl and bumped her nose into Beth's forehead, eliciting a "Hey!" from the tall girl before the wolf walked into the starting and growled again, much deeper. Beth followed her in and looked around, getting a sinking feeling deep her stomach.
"Uh, Blood, my most beautiful of lupine companions, where's the fucking door?!" Beth asked, voice lowering into a bit of a panicked hiss at the end. The wolf stepped over and bumped her on the forehead again, to which Beth replied, "Really not helping."
Blood just looked at Beth, narrowing her eyes and barking, trying to convey something through their bond as well. Beth stared back, raising her hand to tap her chin and almost blinding herself with the lightstone, which she re-attached to her belt with a muttered curse. She then made the attempt again, this time not blinding herself as she started tapping. After a minute of thinking, she lit upon the solution that Blood was suggesting, but frowned a bit as she did so.
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"You want to use the gate to level?" she asked the giant wolf, just to make sure. Blood nodded in response, giving a positive bark. "Do you think it will even work?"
Blood just narrowed her eyes and frowned as best she could with a muzzle, as if saying 'It's your power, just try it, dummy.' Beth sighed and shrugged, selecting her Ancient World Gate power and setting it to five times time dilation before picking ant and setting it to plains. She could've picked from among a whole host of things, but decided to go with what they were most familiar with and could tear through likely the easiest. Besides, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.
As soon as she activated the ability, a dirt arch rose in the center of the entry room, filling with the shimmering black nothingness her portal always had in the center. With a glance at Blood and a shrug, she stepped forward into the arch, passing through the blackness to find herself on a grass plain under a midday sun. She looked around and noticed the closest two ants, far enough away that they wouldn't attack somebody right by the gate.
"Everything seems normal," Beth said to Blood once the wolf had joined her, getting a shrug in response. "Well, I guess it's time to grind," she continued with a sigh, not looking forward to the upcoming days of ant slaughter that waited for them.
And days of slaughter it was, Beth and Blood having to take multiple breaks, including at least three for sleep, while they increased their levels. The biggest two points of note were the greater occurrence of enemies with special classes or types, such as soldier ants, and the increased toughness once they had started progressing into the thirties. The ants continued increasing in speed and strength, Beth getting a few nasty slicing wounds at several points she had to use Lordly Reconstruction to handle, but their toughness was the biggest factor that slowed the girls down.
Beth was somewhat eager to compare other enemies of the same level range, knowing they would have the chance with kobolds once they were done here, but the ants seemed to be getting incredibly tough in the thirties. Beth's best guess centered around the fact it seemed END was the highest stat for the ants, coupled with their exoskeletons, which had become even more heavily armored, giving the ants an enormous amount of defense. The only bright side, at least for Beth, was the fact that Crush continued to do absolute work against heavily armored opponents, the skill easily cracking tough carapace and pulping more delicate innards.
The leveling grind was made even more tedious by the fact that Blood had a tougher time against the ants’ heavy exoskeletons, meaning she just took that much longer for her kills. Beth couldn't even step in and help, as the more Beth contributed to the fights, the less experience Blood would get. At least it gave more time for Beth to rest, meaning she could push herself just that much harder. She couldn't wait to get Blood a few more skills, though she did note that once Blood got into the thirties in level herself her claws and fangs seemed to undergo a significant bump, increasing greatly in sharpness. That helped counterbalance things a little, but the ants were still a real struggle for the wolf.
It took them more than ten days of compressed time, slaughtering ants at a truly prodigious pace, before they were able to match the first kobold they had seen. This wasn't enough for Beth, and she pushed them to grind for another eight hours, taking them over the eleven-day mark, so they could hit level thirty-nine before leaving the Gate's space. They had camped several times during the process, but the first thing Beth did when they were back in the entry room was set the tent up and pass out after eating a half dozen ration bars, leaving the pack out for Blood. The wolf could slide bars out and tear the packing open herself, so Beth was unconcerned about her remaining fed if she slept forever.
And while it wasn't quite forever, Beth did wake up nearly fifteen hours later, checking her phone to see the time that had passed. She had to do a little bit of quick arithmetic to figure out where exactly the outside world was, but she finally estimated it was early Tuesday, still technically Monday night for most people. It was annoying that her phone kept tracking the time while they were in the Gate, and she grumbled as she exited the tent, finding Blood sitting off to the side. She moved to the back corner of the room after greeting the wolf, taking care of her business before moving up to the front of the tent and eating several ration bars.
"You sleep, girl?" Beth asked Blood, getting an affirmative bark in reply. After chugging from one of the canteens and letting Blood have her fill, she packed everything up and secured the pack on her back. "Ready to conquer this shitty dungeon?" Blood barked an affirmative as Beth checked their stats before setting out.
Name
Elizabeth Anne Bell
Class
Brawler
Level
39
Strength
107
Dexterity
60
Endurance
78
Intelligence
30
Wisdom
30
Free Points
0
Titles
Silver Flame Empress' Inheritor
Skills
Ancient World Gate[1]
Blacksmithing Apprentice[4]
Crush Copper[9]
Focused Meditation Copper[8]
Identify Copper[8]
Lightning Resistance Copper[4]
Lordly Reconstruction Copper[8]
Monstrous Blow Copper[9]
Pain Tolerance Copper[9]
Swift Copper[5]
Swords Apprentice[9]
Toxic Resistance Copper[5]
Unarmed Apprentice[9]
Wealth
12g 44s 40c
Emblems
CRA Copper Badge
Bonds
Blood
Name
Blood
Race
Red Wolf Queen
Level
39
Strength
70
Dexterity
106
Endurance
60
Intelligence
37
Wisdom
37
Free Points
0
Titles
-
Skills
Identify Copper[7]
Meditation Copper[8]
Lightning Resistance Copper[3]
Regeneration Copper[8]
Swift Copper[9]
Toxic Resistance Copper[4]
Wealth
51s 99c
Beth noted the levels in Swift, happy that the days of work had helped. It also helped that she leveled it using nothing but combat, the skill seamlessly blending into her fighting without throwing her off, an issue she could see happening if she had leveled it just by running around. She and Blood had both gotten a level in Identify in those eleven frantic days, and she had gotten another level in her meditation skill. She was somewhat surprised to see her Ancient World Gate had finally gotten a level, making a mental note to check that later. The only other thing she noted was that, while she hadn't put any extra points in END, she was up five over where she should be, having been at sixty-two the last she checked before the leveling binge. It seemed the Ironblood elixir had given her a nice little bonus five points, certainly nothing to complain about from that part of that experience.