This was the point where Beth and Blood could really get involved and shine, and it turned out they would be shining quite a bit tonight. The ground had not one, not two, but three elite units, though none of them were the rumored casters. Beth and Blood were deep in the thick of it from the moment their collective feet hit the ground, fighting two versus three against the elites of the enemy company. Beth found it a challenge, but not exceeding anything they had done so far, as it was clear ...
2023-12-28 18:00:04 +0000 UTC
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"What about my companion? What will she do while we're on patrol?" Beth queried.
"Uh, come with us, ma'am?" Shell answered, quirking a brow and frowning slightly, clearly confused.
"Uh, I don’t know if you noticed, Shell," Beth responded, pointing over her shoulder, "but she's a half-ton wolf. How is she supposed to ride a griffon?"
"Oh, that's no problem," Shell answered with a small laugh. "We'll ...
2023-12-27 18:00:07 +0000 UTC
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They'd covered raw physical power, then they'd covered much more speed orientated builds, but Beth wasn't really sure what could be next. There were several different possibilities that she could come up with, and none of them exactly thrilled her. The likeliest would be a totally physically overwhelming boss, a combination of strength and speed that outmatched them, but they would simply have to see.
Beth hopped up as the gate rolled up, prepared for what would...
2023-12-26 18:00:05 +0000 UTC
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They had a decent bit of time to rest before the next fight started, and they yet again meditated during that time. Beth had tapped her mana pool to a noticeable degree even though she had tried to be conservative with it, and the chance for twenty or so minutes of meditation was welcome. The time allowed Beth to recover a decent chunk of her mana before the gate rolled open to reveal their next foe.
What walked out next was something that Beth had briefly seen ...
2023-12-25 18:00:07 +0000 UTC
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Those few, however, did include two rather powerful individuals that Beth suspected held leadership roles within the gang. One of them was a tall and thin man that used a set of daggers to great effect, clearly boasting some kind of speed boosting skill such as Beth and Blood had. The second person of interest on the floor was a short, thickset man that used a set of heavy gloves with chains wrapped around them. It was interesting for Beth to fight another brawler-type, taking on the short ma...
2023-12-21 18:00:02 +0000 UTC
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Beth returned a quick, low-powered swing that the man deflected, but she was able to quickly recover from the swing thanks to the little strength she had used. She was able to immediately return a second swing back into the man, slicing his arm before he could respond. As he moved to swing at her again to retaliate, she intercepted his hammer strike by punching out with her right hand, still wrapped around the hilt of her sword. She moved at the same time to smash her left fist into his face,...
2023-12-20 18:00:04 +0000 UTC
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She looked through the documents on the table again, gathering up a number of them that had notes about criminal movements. The city had no good way in particular to track people's movement, with no great surveillance apparatus or system of cameras or such. A lot of what she had laid out in front of her was basically hearsay; guards or officials having taken note of places suspected criminals frequented. She was able to get a long and somewhat sketchy list of places to check out compiled, whi...
2023-12-19 18:00:01 +0000 UTC
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"Twenty diamond question; how much?" she asked.
"Five golds," he answered, smiling slightly as Beth sighed while making the coins appear on the counter. She thanked the man before taking her old equipment and walking back to the room with it, chucking it in the corner.
She then led Blood to the lounge at the end of their hallway, finding a woman sitting behind the bar. She stood immediately on Beth's entry, and Beth approached befo...
2023-12-18 18:00:17 +0000 UTC
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Beth was fully exhausted, but held on, not passing out as she surfaced from the inky depths of her fugue. She saw there were only a handful of beastlings left alive, looking off to the east to see the sky begin to burn a rose pink, the sun just starting to break the edge of the horizon. They had been fighting continuously for twenty hours or so, and Beth felt as if her soul was leaving her body, but she looked to the wall to see if they had held. She saw the wall still standing, the members o...
2023-12-14 18:00:01 +0000 UTC
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The next group was far larger, well over a hundred beastlings, and a number more trickled into the back of the ranks as the first were nearing the two girls. Beth used a trickle of mana to activate Swift, not fully bringing the boosting stat up to the max it could output at Copper[9], but instead running it more at about forty percent. This jump in speed let her easily outclass the individual beasts, and it gave her more time and precision in staying free from getting totally...
2023-12-13 18:00:02 +0000 UTC
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"Ah, you finally arrived," he said, eyeing the two of them a little critically. "Well, I don't know what the senior officers were thinking, but I can't exactly inspect a gift Draun now, can I?"
"I'm sorry, but what?" Beth asked, brows slightly lowered and one corner of her lip turned down a little.
"We're about to be sieged by the beastlings, girl," the man said in an exasperated tone while frowning at her. "I doubt the eight...
2023-12-12 18:00:02 +0000 UTC
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The two rested for just over an hour, enough time that Beth got most of her mana back, before they moved deeper into the labyrinth. They didn't encounter any other significantly strong enemies before the end of the labyrinth and the final boss, much to Beth's disappointment, but the final boss proved to be a bigger challenge than basically anything they had faced so far.
The final room in this labyrinth stage was an imitation of a lavish throne room. Beth though...
2023-12-11 18:00:02 +0000 UTC
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After defeating both of the enemies, the two continued down the hallway, eventually coming to another door. Beth opened this one slightly cautiously, concerned that she might be walking into a group of enemies. That concern was only partially founded, as there were only two beings within the room. They weren't the Echoes that they had just fought a moment before but were instead two humans. Before Beth could attempt to greet them, they both turned to her and rushed forward, clearly no good in...
2023-12-07 18:00:03 +0000 UTC
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And what a terrible stage it was.
They appeared in a small room that contained only a small table with a bowl placed upon it. Within this bowl was a small pile of marbles which Beth didn't need any help in figuring out, as the description helpfully popped up when she looked at them.
Water Adaption Pearl
{Consuming one of these pearls allows the wearer to breathe in water for a period of forty-...
2023-12-06 18:00:01 +0000 UTC
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Taking down such a creature would be a massive undertaking for a full dungeon group, something like Beth and Blood plus her sisters and Sabs, or even a broader group of ten to fifteen individuals, let alone the two of them by themselves. While Beth's eyes were much improved, and had gained another level in the copper stage, she couldn't identify something of even that size from such a large distance. Depending on the level and what inherent abilities the beast had, this would either be a diff...
2023-12-05 18:00:03 +0000 UTC
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She took a step forward and to the right while swinging a one-handed backswing, infusing the slash with Monstrous Blow, slamming into the second captain's sword right as she was thrusting to gore one of Beth's allies. The blow threw the captain's aim off, causing her sword to merely glance off the targeted foot soldier and go wide to the captain's left before cutting into the sod of field. In the moment the captain was distracted trying to pull her sword free of the ground, B...
2023-12-04 18:00:04 +0000 UTC
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Beth bowed before returning to her position, looking over at Blood, who was sitting behind and to the side of the ref. "Maybe we should get you in for a few?" she asked.
"There is no need," the ref said. "Experience is split evenly due to the special nature of this arena and your bond. This is also a competition meant for bipedals, so there is no need for her to participate."
"Seems a little…speciest, but sure," Beth replied with...
2023-11-30 18:00:03 +0000 UTC
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Beth, meanwhile, continued her spar with the boss, finding its swings fast but not particularly skilled. In fact, she would estimate, based on her own limited knowledge and experience, that the boss wouldn't even be equivalent to the top of Apprentice level, maybe at Apprentice[7] or even just under. She was rather easily able to dodge its rapid attacks without needing to get her own sword involved, using it as a bit of a training chance, taking any opportunity to help her get stronger. She f...
2023-11-29 18:00:03 +0000 UTC
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Clearing this building took an hour, the narrow corridors and rooms inhibiting the girls' mobility, but also meaning only one to two knights could fight them at a time. Close to three dozen knights fell within the span of that hour, Beth and Blood not getting a level out of it, but she did feel they got quite a bit of experience from the fights. Sadly, the lack of real challenge led to her not really upgrading anything, her skills either being maxed for now or higher tiered abilities that wou...
2023-11-28 18:00:04 +0000 UTC
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The only problem that the group really posed was the hobgoblins, and not for their great strength or skill, but for the fact that their commander designation allowed them to…well…command the surrounding beasts. The goblins were faster, hit harder, and took a little longer to put down thanks to the influence of the commanders, making the second half of clearing the camp take even longer than the stealth section they had just done. Beth didn't get frustrated, upset, or even tired, cutting t...
2023-11-27 18:00:04 +0000 UTC
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When Beth had described it as 'sloppy,' it might have been an understatement. The perimeter was likely supposed to be an earthen berm with heavy pikes or thick, sharpened stakes driven in around it. Instead, it was more like a dirt bump with a handful of thin sections of tree trunk embedded about in little clusters. The interior of the camp was a handful of medium-sized tents, enough perhaps for five or six of the goblins to sleep in comfortably, more if they crammed in together. They were ar...
2023-11-23 18:00:03 +0000 UTC
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"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 roo...
2023-11-22 18:00:03 +0000 UTC
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"And what's the average stage that people fail at, if you don't mind?"
"Oh, not at all," the angel replied warmly. "We see a majority of Trial Takers fail out somewhere between stage fourteen and eighteen. Anything less than stage fourteen is considered a little too poor a performance to take note of, while anything over stage eighteen is considered quite good. Anything beyond stage twenty-three is considered exceptional, and anything beyond stage twenty-seven i...
2023-11-21 18:00:03 +0000 UTC
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The elite didn't emit random frost or ice the way other kobolds had, nor did it explode into a massive cloud of ice. It was instead far more focused in its tapping into magic, enhancing its attacks with ice and frost, causing even missed or deflected swings to freeze Beth as she continued the long battle. Beth waited for her time, wearing the kobold down ever further until it was injured and exhausted, reeling from her constant attacks, before she activated the power enchanted into her blade....
2023-11-20 18:00:04 +0000 UTC
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"Fine then," Sabs said crossly as she glared at Beth. "If that's how you want to play; you turn into a fart machine at night!"
"I-I do?" Beth asked, tilting her head and raising her eyebrows.
"I don't always fall asleep first," Sabs replied grumpily, crossing her arms over her chest. "And when it's you first, you start farting like a machine; long, loud, and constant."
"Oh, uh, does it bother you?" Be...
2023-11-16 18:00:01 +0000 UTC
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"We'll take the next couple days and chill. I think I might even be ahead of where Baelvyr expected, anyway."
"How has that training been going?"
"I got Swords to Journeyman[1] and Unarmed to Journeyman[2]. Apparently, I'm actually pretty good with Unarmed overall, and I have to work a lot harder with the sword to get the same progress as with my fists and feet." &nb...
2023-11-15 18:00:01 +0000 UTC
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The next morning, Beth woke slightly late, though likely it was still fairly early in the morning. She felt her small, naked girlfriend pressed against her, feeling Sabs's even breaths still washing across her chest. She slowly and carefully resumed her grip of the previous night, gently kneading Sabs's rear with her right hand. It actually took a surprisingly long time for the shorter woman to wake, likely a combination of her tiredness as well as just how comfortable she felt solely in Beth...
2023-11-14 18:00:17 +0000 UTC
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***********
!!WARNING!!
This chapter is a SEX chapter. If that's not your thing, it bothers you, you don't like that kind of content, etc. then DO NOT READ THIS CHAPTER. If you don't mind it or that is something you're into, then I hope you enjoy the chapter and would appreciate feedback.
Tomorrow's chapter is a normal chapter. Every chapter that has some explicit content like this I will paste a warning like this in at the start.
!!END WARNING!!
***********
<...
2023-11-13 18:00:02 +0000 UTC
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"What do you take us for?" Beth asked before immediately following up with, "Never mind, don't answer that. It was rhetorical. Why are you here, anyway?"
Jaq just glowered at the three for a moment before tapping the screen, saying, "It is lunch time, and I am ordering lunch."
"You don't have some kind of cyborg super-food you eat in that basement of yours?" Beth asked as the three left the kitchen and returned to the dining area.&...
2023-11-09 18:00:01 +0000 UTC
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Beth had to say, it was enjoyable to spend a few hours relaxing and playing games, something she hadn't done in any form for weeks. In what felt like no time at all, it was early afternoon and Beth had gotten most of her quota of social interaction for the month. An impressive feat, considering it was only the first day of December.
"So, are you set on living at that new building now?" her mother asked as they were cleaning the living room up.
...
2023-11-08 18:00:01 +0000 UTC
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