Limitless Path

Beth planted the tip of her sword in the ground and looked around, breathing heavily from the exertion of swinging the large blade around so many times. There was no reaction, either from the nest or the ants further out. After catching her breath fully, Beth cleaned her sword roughly with the now very dirty cloth and headed to the foot of the ramp.

Seeing nothing special about the ramp, Beth climbed up to the top. The top of the nest was about ten feet across and was simply a large opening. A ramp led down into the depths of the nest, and as Beth stepped up to the edge of the new ramp, she received a new message.

Basic Ant Dungeon discovered.

{Properties: Open, Simple, Discrete.}

Beth was really excited now. A dungeon! It meant challenging fights and tons of monsters, but it also meant tons of experience and maybe even loot. She didn't really know what any of the descriptors below the dungeon name meant, and she tried focusing on the properties to find out.

Open - Anyone can enter or leave without restriction. The dungeon is not split into different instances or reality pockets.

Simple - The dungeon extends a kilometer or less. The layout is generally contiguous without branching.

Discrete - The dungeon is supplied by a naturally dense mana pocket at this location. Enemies are spawned at a rate based on mana density and factors of type. Clearing the dungeon will result in a temporary halt of monster spawning while mana is refreshed.

The details gave Beth quite a bit of information. In multiplayer games many people could run the same dungeon without being in one massive group, as a unique or "instanced" version of that dungeon was spawned for a single group. It looked like Open meant that the dungeon was not instanced but just a place existing in the real world anyone could enter.

Simple seemed to be the part that defined size. Many dungeons in games were as big as the developers made them, but it looked like the system or gods or whatever controlled the Path had a descriptor to show the rough size of a dungeon.

The final piece was Discrete. It seemed that it described some of how the dungeon operated. Perhaps a different modifier here would mean that the monsters would spawn continuously or even not at all. It was all something that Beth would have to try to figure out more in the coming weeks. A trip to the Combat Ranking Association (CRA), as Liveria had mentioned doing, would be useful just to get some information on all this, if nothing else.

Beth decided to explore, as it seemed she wouldn't be trapped or teleported. At least, nothing the Path decided to do would hamper her, though she could still be swarmed by ants. Just as she was about to move onto the ramp, a new ant trundled up. Beth used Identify on it then frowned.

Common Ant Level 1

It seemed like it was a weaker ant leaving the hive. Likely it was some way the open dungeon protected itself or dealt with excessive monsters inside. This also might confirm her guess that weaker ants went to the fringe while stronger ants were more central to the nest. She wouldn't waste time on this, and casually walked up and sliced the ants head off with a single swing of her claymore.

Continuing on, Beth descended the ramp. She was worried about being submerged in inky darkness, but either she was system-blessed in her luck, or the ants also needed some light. There was a type of moss growing on some of the dampen earthen walls and ceilings in the nest that glowed faintly. It wouldn't be great to explore or especially fight in the dim light, but it would be just barely manageable.

The ramp leveled out after somewhat under one-hundred feet, leading Beth to believe she was only a moderate distance underground based on the angle of the ramp. There was only a single tunnel in front of her, so she simply walked forward into the nest.

After about half a minute of walking, Beth entered a room roughly fifty feet across. There was only a single other doorway, leading into what looked like another plain tunnel to her right. In the center of the room were two ants, which Beth immediately used Identify on.

Common Ant Level 4

Common Ant Level 4

She slaughtered both of those ants, moving on to the next room, where she killed two more, getting a copper coin for her trouble. As she cleaned her blade and took a brief rest, she spotted another level one ant, trundling into the room from further down. She dispatched it with a quick cut before resting a minute, moving onto the third room of the first floor to find two more level one ants, killing both with some more effort, feeling a bit tired at the end.

Common Ant Level 4 slain.

Level acquired.

Beth was immensely satisfied. She hadn't found any treasure, but she had slaughtered what was an, admittedly, tiny army of ants and gained a ton. A new skill, a shiny new copper coin, and even a class level were pretty good for a single afternoon's work. She was tired, but the slight increase in stats from her level up had done a little to help refresh her.

She grabbed the hilt of her blade and with two sharp tugs and a deep, un-ladylike grunt managed to pull it free. Standing up, she looked around before walking the length of the room. Again, she came up short, finding nothing but dirt and moss. With a weary sigh she returned to the first tunnel and made her way back.

When she emerged from the top of the nest the sun was just setting, casting everything in hues of creamy orange and fiery red. Beth surveyed the area from atop the small hill, seeing nothing unusual. The groups of level threes were still in the distance in three directions, so she made a mental note of their placement and trudged down the outer ramp. She headed south towards home, trudging through the copse first, followed by the open field. There was still an ant on the far side of the field to the west near a very small stream, but Beth ignored it and continued on into the wood lot.

After a few minutes she emerged at the northern end of the neighborhood to a surprise. There was a ditch dug about three-foot-deep set ten or so feet from the start of the wood. The dirt had been piled on the far side at the back of the yards of the houses, forming a mound that one could stand on. It looked like there had been a number of teams working on beginning the building of the defenses while Beth had been hunting.

She walked forward and easily hopped over the ditch onto the berm, realizing her strength had increased noticeably again, making the ditch not even a small impairment. She hopped down on the other side of the berm into her yard to see a few people gathered at the two large tables. Her family was there as well as the Smiths and Scotts.

"Beth!" her mother exclaimed. "We were getting worried." She approached Beth but stopped a short distance away wrinkling her nose, "What in heavens name have you been up to?"

"Killing ants. A lot of ants," she replied with a sigh, walking over to grab one of the sharpening kits and some rags off the edge of one of the tables. She plonked down in one of a handful of wooden chairs that were on the patio around the back door and started wiping the ichor and guts off her sword.

"Well, there's plenty of food. You should eat before you wash up," her mother continued, sitting back down at one of the tables.

Both of the Smith and Scott wives were present; pretty, middle-aged women with easy smiles and light laugh. The Smiths had two sons, both somewhat older than Beth, with the elder being a senior in high school. The Scotts were similar, but with two girls, the elder of whom was just starting her first year of community college this fall. Mr. Smith was to Beth's right on another wooden chair between her and the other large table.

"What's with the ditch? Part of the wall plan?" she asked him as she continued cleaning her blade.

"That's right. Your father figured a more old-school approach would be good for now. Dig a ditch, pile up the earth, then use wood stake or logs piled up at the top to make a simple wall. Not gonna stop anything really strong, but a couple ants? Sure as shootin'," he answered.

"Yeah, we had digging duty today. Hot and pretty boring. What exactly were you doing?" asked John, the older Smith boy.

"I wanted to see where the ants are coming from, so I headed north, killing ants on the way. I eventually found their nest, which is a dungeon, and started exploring it. Only got part way in before I got pretty tired and it was getting late. Came back to eat and rest," Beth answered, getting out one of the whetstones now to do a little sharpening.

"A dungeon, did you say? And it is where the ants originate?" her father perked up, leaning forward in the chair opposite her.

"Yeah. The ants spread from the dungeon based on strength, I guess. The ants here are level one, but the closer you go, the higher they get. The ants in the first level of the nest were level four and in groups of at least two. New ants emerge from the depths of the dungeon every once in a while and head out into the surrounding area. Don't know if that's from me killing 'em, or if it's natural, or if it's something else," she explained, everyone now paying attention.

"Don't tell me you fought groups of level four ants alone?" her mother questioned sharply.

"I can handle level fours without too much trouble. I only killed two groups before I stopped. I'm pretty confident in knowing my limit, though I don't suggest anyone else try it," Beth answered calmly.

"You think we couldn't kill some measly ants?" asked James, the younger Smith boy.

Beth used Identify on him quickly.

James Smith Level 0 Human

"I'm level four now with a Copper[3] skill that is good against the ants and I need to hit them multiple times to kill them," Beth replied. "I think if a level 0 human like you tried to fight a level four, you would be maimed or killed."

"You’re saying I'm weak!" James retorted, starting to get worked up.

"James. Sit," said Jack coldly. James immediately sat down, but still sported a dark look on his face.

"Look, it's late. I'd be happy to take people out into the woods tomorrow and show them how strong higher-level ants are," Beth stated.

"I think Zack and a few others might take you up on that. He's eager to get people trained to fight now that there are threats popping up all over," her father replied.

"What do you mean 'all over'?" Beth asked in return.

"We had two people get hurt by a wolf that charged at them out of that big field of scrubs and some trees south of the development," Bill Scott answered her. "They're alright now, but it seems ants aren't the only threat."

"Hm, wolves would be an interesting fight," Beth muttered, tapping her chin as she paused in her sharpening for a moment.

"Beth…" her mother replied in a warning tone.

"Yeah, yeah," Beth answered, going back to the last bit of sharpening.

Beth's father had pulled out his notebook and now started asking questions about the dungeon. Beth answered with everything she knew about the ants and the dungeon so far as he rapidly jotted notes. When she was done taking care of her sword, she stood and re-sheathed it, walking over to get food. She filled a large plate to its limit and grabbed a large drink. Kim stood up from the table and motioned to her spot so Beth wouldn't have to hold her plate and eat.

The rest of the group discussed the work on the ditch and news from the wider world as she gorged herself. She listened in, learning they had quite a number of people on the wall-work, and had around a quarter of the neighborhood covered. The group discussed the state of emergency that had been declared worldwide, with authorities urging people to shelter-in-place as far as they could.

Beth was interested to learn that many governments had apparently actually taken some actions, mobilizing troops and government workers to aid in protecting food supplies and critical infrastructure. It looked like there might be some issues with food supply, but the group also thought animals and plants growing both rapidly and larger might provide a good offset to supply chain issues.

Beth was on her second massive plate and second large drink when Zack appeared, walking around the side of the house. He greeted everyone and grabbed a chair on the patio behind Beth beside her father to sit in.

"I've got some questions when you finish chow," he said to Beth.

"She's offered to take some people out into the ant area tomorrow already, Zack. I think some hands-on experience might be the best answer to most of what you want to know," her father responded.

"Likely true. I still want a couple answers tonight. No sense in going into an op unprepared when you have a good intel source," Zack responded.

Beth finished her second plate and replied, "That's fine, let me just finish eating." She then got up and proceeded to fill her third massive plate and get her third large drink.

After finishing her third plate, with many wide-eyed glances from the rest of the group, Beth turned to Zack. "Alright, what's up?"

"I think you're the only one that's ventured northward since this whole thing started," Zack began. "I'd like some intel on what you've found out."

"Like I said earlier, the ants get higher leveled. They follow a pattern of a few individual ants and then a group of the same level. Just into the field of the farm to the north, I don't remember who owns it, is an ant nest. It's considered a dungeon, meaning both a lot of strong ants as well as that's where they spawn. I haven't fully explored the dungeon, and it would be too dangerous for anyone else to enter until they got more levels."

"Sound like more digging tomorrow," John sighed.

"Maybe, maybe not. I'll pick a few people to go with Beth tomorrow morning to do additional scouting. If you didn't know, there is no school this week, including colleges. Most offices and businesses are closed; only food service, medical, and people critical to infrastructure operation and maintenance are going to be heading out this week," Zack replied to John, outlining some of the current situation for the group. He continued, "The meeting hall is, obviously, our meeting spot. I want everyone there by 900 tomorrow morning. We'll divvy up who does what for the day, including who gets to join Beth, at that time. Clear?"

"Understood," replied many of the parents and a few of the kids.

"I'd like to go wash the ant guts out of my hair now," Beth said, getting up and heading into the house.