LimitlessPath
patreon
Limitless Path Chapter One Hundred Forty-Three
🕑 Added 2023-11-22 18:00:03 +0000 UTC"Right, that makes sense," Beth replied. "Thanks for all the help. We have just under two days before we need to do stage one, right?"
"Yes, that is correct," the woman answered. "Feel free to utilize any of the facilities in the meantime."
"Thanks so much," Beth replied with a nod and a smile. "I think we'll look around first."
The two moved away from the counter, heading towards the front of the room first. Beth meandered left, heading toward the area with all the restaurants and, as they saw walking down the ornate hallways, bars. Beth stuck her head in the first place they came to, which had two sets of black and golden double doors with all four doors propped open. There was a large, dark wood podium a few feet into a lush entryway behind which stood a four-winged angel.
"Welcome to the Golden Disk. How may I help you?" the man asked.
"Oh, sorry, we just got here and are just, uh, scoping the area out," Beth replied, scratching her neck and flushing slightly.
"Not a problem. If you would like seats to have a meal, please let me know."
"Thanks," Beth nodded and led Blood back out and down the hallway. The next place Beth stuck her head in was similar, though named the 'New Platter.' They continued down the hallway, the next establishment Beth poked her head in being a bar. There was a massive bar along the right side of the room with two attendants behind it, as well as a row of booths down the left side. It wasn't a large area, but neither was it claustrophobic, the light colors and warm lighting giving the space a more open feeling compared to some dark-paneled, dimly lit hole-in-the-wall.
Beth just gave the staff a nod before turning and leaving, checking the rest of the places branching off the hallway. There were two more bars and two restaurants, making a total of four eateries and three drinking dens. Beth wasn't really interested in food at the moment, and figured it was best not to try alcohol for the first time in one of the most important and difficult trials she could undertake. They moved back to the massive lobby and walked across to the 'recreation' hallway to check what was there.
The first door Beth stuck her head in resembled something she'd read about on Earth but never gone to; a web café. It was a little different than what she had seen online, with the desk areas being larger and farther separated. The whole area also stretched back fairly far with some areas at the back that seemed like they were entire rooms. Beth wasn't sure what everything was, guessing some of the separate rooms might be for something like VR. She'd have to check it out later, as she was still interested in exploring what else was around.
The next establishment a way down the hall looked like some kind of spa, which is what one of the attendants at the desk basically told her it was when she asked. It looked like they offered a whole long list of services, including the aforementioned massages, and Beth thought it might be nice to check it out later.
The next place had a bunch of weird, large devices in individual sectioned off areas, Beth having to ask the one staff member at the counter what the hell the place was. It turned out it was an even more advanced version of the PC café from earlier, this place being for full immersion VR, capable of running both training and entertainment programs. Beth thought it might be an interesting experience, but wasn't particularly enthused to get lost in a virtual world at the moment.
They moved down the hallway further, finding a set of very ornate, gilt doors next. Beth didn't even need to ask the staff after sticking her head in the entryway area, seeing both of the workers inside, neither of whom had angel wings, wearing practically nothing at all. The establishment might be an interesting experience, depending on their services, but she was happily in a relationship and not looking to break up with Sabs any time soon.
The last part of the hallway had two sets of doors on opposite sides, and both of these led into the lobbies for different types of training facilities. Beth was a little fed up, considering she and Blood had ate, drank, and slept nothing but training for months, and Blood certainly seemed to share the sentiment, turning on her paw and striding away as soon as she had glanced inside. Beth was right there with her, following her back down the hallway to the central lobby area.
She wanted to check one last thing, taking the lead from Blood before moving back into their residence hallway. They walked down to the far end, Beth finding a spacious and brightly lit lounge with a full bar, a staff member behind the bar sitting on a stool, resting their feet since they were currently not serving anyone. The person rose to their feet when Beth and Blood entered, but Beth just gave him an offhanded wave, signaling they wouldn't be staying.
The two made their way back to the room, Beth finding the door opened at her touch. It was a little concerning that there was no key, but she wasn't going to be leaving anything valuable in the room anyway; at least, not for now. She turned to Blood after the door had shut behind them.
"Alright, quick bathroom break and something to drink, then let's get the first trial done. Any other thoughts?" Beth said.
'None. I am eager to start,' Blood replied in her mind.
The two cleaned themselves up rather quickly before making sure they had everything they would need. Beth let Blood lead the way, making sure the room was closed behind them before following the wolf down to the main lobby. There was still nobody else present, apart from the workers at the counters, and Beth led the way now to the only area they hadn't at least glanced in. Pushing open one of the sets of double doors at the far end of the large atrium, Beth stopped in her tracks, stunned at the sight before her. She had already become a little inured to strange and wild sights, but she still was awed by the room now laid bare before her.
The room she stepped into was massive, extending hundreds of feet in every direction and built of only the highest quality materials, or so she surmised at a glance. The size and impressive quality of the room weren't what had arrested her, though; no, that honor was all given to the massive construct in the center of the room, totally dominating the space. A huge web-work of what appeared to be brass and gold formed a complicated pattern of gears and symbols in a vast circle on the ceiling, mirroring a similar massive, elevated circle on the floor, though this one was made of what looked like platinum and some type of blue gem, somehow inlaid in seamless lines into the floor.
In between the two circles, hovering in the air, were a dozen pillars made of gold, more than one hundred feet high and twenty feet across. Each of the pillars was covered in runescript, the magical writing standing out quite boldly, considering it was all inlaid with pure diamond. The amount of wealth not just put on display but being used to power such a huge construct was staggering; if Beth remembered her geometry right, each of the twelve pillars had more than one hundred and twenty thousand cubic feet of gold in them. Beth wasn't sure of the precise math on it, but she knew that all the gold mined in Earth's history would little more than fill a single Olympic-sized pool, depending on its depth. That meant that just one of the twelve pillars had more gold in it, assuming it was solid all the way through, than what humanity had mined throughout the history of the Earth.
The impressive construct didn't end there, either. Within the area contained by the pillars, hovering just off the platinum and sapphire disk, were thirty large, glowing portals. Each was a different color, ranging from pale blue to dark red, though each was the same size and of the same spherical shape. Beth assumed, though she would have to ask to verify, that these were portals leading the thirty stages she had been told about.
At the back of the room, the entire wall was taken up by hovering screens, showing the various ongoing stages. It was also clear to Beth at a glance that the stage didn't have to be shown, as there were several screens that were active but only showed a blurred screen with the words 'Locked: Private' in the center of the screen. Beth wasn't sure that it would matter too much either way, but she would rather that nobody else could see her and Blood fumbling through the stages. She would have to ask somebody how to get that privacy setting for the stages, which led to her looking around the room to see who was present.
There were about half-a-dozen people standing near the back of the room, observing what was happening on the screens. Judging by the fact that they appeared to be fairly young, and were in a great variety of clothing and armor, Beth guessed that these were other participants watching the stages. That seemed correct as, at further glance, there were four of the angel-like beings wearing the uniforms that Aytasha and the counter-staff in the atrium used. Two of them were standing to the sides of the massive central construct, seeming to monitor what was happening to it and adjust various settings, while two of the staff were standing near what looked like a computer system by a short counter to Beth's left.
Beth led Blood over to the counter, deciding it would be better to bother those staff versus the two who seemed to be controlling the massive, unbelievably powerful construct. The woman on the left greeted them with a nod when they approached, Beth stopping in front of her and placing her gauntleted hands on the counter.
"Sorry, couple questions," Beth said to the woman.
"No problem. This counter is where you register when you are ready for the next stage anyway," the woman replied warmly.
"OK, answered one already," Beth said with a smile. "How can I get the matches or whatever to be private?"
"Simply request with us when you're ready for the next stage," the woman replied. "The moderators will still be able to view your stage attempt, but the screens will be hidden from the general public."
"Cool, thanks. Anything else I should know before I start stage one?"
"Simply do your best," the attendant responded. "All damage you take, even to the point of fatal damage, is reset upon stage clear or failure, so there's no reason to hold back."
"Thanks so much. I think we're ready for stage one," Beth said, looking over to Blood, the huge wolf giving an affirming nod.
"Please approach one of the Warders when you are ready," said the woman, making some adjustments to a screen on the counter.
Beth gave the woman a nod before walking over to the massive portal construct, stopping near the man on the side closer to the counter. He was rather tall with three pairs of wings, Beth having some vague idea that was some sign of strength, but she had never been into the whole religion thing, so she wasn't really too knowledgeable. She and Blood stopped a few paces from the man, finding that he turned to face them immediately while still holding his left hand toward the array.
"Stage?" he asked briskly.
"One," Beth replied quickly, getting a short nod from the man.
After making a quick gesture with his right hand he turned back to her, saying, "The portals start from the light blue by the doors and circle around clockwise until the very dark red one next to it. Go stand in front of the light blue portal and get ready; when I say 'Enter,' please immediately step into the portal with your companion."
"Got it, thanks," Beth said with another nod, leading Blood over to the indicated portal. They stopped in front of it and looked at the man, finding he was staring into the center of the array. After a moment he snapped out the word "Enter!" quickly and Beth and Blood immediately leapt into the first portal.
They experienced only a brief flash of light before finding they were standing on solid ground, a hilltop in a lightly forested area. It was clearly early winter, snow sitting heavily on the trees and standing almost a foot deep on the ground. Beth looked around to quickly assess for any threats, finding that they were overlooking something almost resembling a military camp a short distance from the foot of the hill. It was far enough away that Beth wasn't really concerned about being spotted, at least not right away, but her improved eyes allowed her to easily scan the camp. The combination of her much-improved sight and ability to see heat let her rapidly identify just what they were up against.
"Sloppily arranged camp," she said to Blood. "Full of goblins; looks like they are moving or sitting around in squads. Should be…ten to a squad, with the leader of the squad being bigger than the other nine. Either an elite or something like a hobgoblin."
'Total numbers?' asked Blood in her mind.
"Give me a sec," Beth said, continuing to scan the camp. "Looks like…maybe ninety? No, scratch that, looks like an even one hundred, ten squads of ten. Think we can move close without getting sighted?"
'We are downwind of them currently. You want to try stealth, sister?' Blood asked in response.
"For now. Maybe we can pick off part of a squad before getting spotted. The camp is pretty large, but if we start a fight, expect at the very least a constant stream of enemies. I'd also like to see just what their levels and types are before we just charge in."
Blood nodded and led the way down the hill, angling to the right and going wide, hoping to circle to the eastern corner of the camp to start. They took a handful of minutes to make their way over, Beth impressed with Blood's swift and silent movement, only her coloration in the bright white environment being a detriment. No cries or alarms rang out, so Beth assumed she at least did a passable job following along as they crouched down at the corner, peering through the camp.
