Limitless Path

It took a while for them to get to the area where they were encountering level two hundred enemies, though only a dozen minutes or less had passed outside the gate. It also took a while for Bjorn to slow down, the huge hulk digging deep divots into the ground as he slowly bled off his speed and got back to a normal level of movement. As soon as he was back to a reasonable jog, he turned to the nearest group of enemies and plowed into them, using the last of his momentum to smash several of the large hobgoblins to the ground. The rest of the group caught up a handful of seconds later and helped clear out the area, killing the group of a dozen beasts in a minute.

"Was that just you running?" Beth asked Bjorn before he moved to the next group.

"No. Skill," he said briefly. Seeing her questioning look, he sighed and said, "The skill's name is Unrelenting Charge. I have it at Gold. Combined with my defensive skills and powerful body, it's hard to stop me. Really, really hard."

"Cool," Beth said with a grin, getting a grunt in response before Bjorn grabbed the next group.

While Bjorn generally set the pace in grabbing enemies and killing them, Beth set the overall pace for their time in the gate. That meant long days with only one or two rests during the day and short nights. The others didn't complain, not at first, though there were some rumblings in the ranks by the tenth day, and morale steadily worsened from there. Beth finally gave them a full day, still in compressed time, to just do whatever, the rest of the group setting up their temporary camp in a clear area and taking the time to relax.

"I can't believe they're still fighting," Andrea said.

"Beth and Blood?" Adam asked rhetorically.

"Who else?" Andrea replied with a very obvious eyeroll.

"Just making sure," Adam muttered quietly.

"Warriors know when to rest," Bjorn grumbled, sitting on the ground and working on something involved in his armor.

"Not everybody's built the same, lad," Rell commented, sitting on a stool and smoking his pipe. "Rest is important, but everyone needs different amounts, and at different times. The two of them are capable of far more."

"They were surprised the first time we did stuff with them and wanted a break," Andrea added. "They're clearly used to going much harder than most people."

"Seems to be working for them," Kris added quietly.

"Careful about burning too bright, as you might burn out too soon," Itharion commented with a chuckle.

"Eighteen hours a day, seven days a week, and no breaks for months at a time. I certainly couldn't do it," Andrea said with a shake of her head.

"I'm confident they know their limits," Rell finished the discussion before puffing heavily on his pipe.

The group spent the entire fifty days they had first predicted in the instance slaughtering hobgoblins, going so far out that it took them half a day moving at close to full speed to make it back to the portal. When they emerged back into the cargo hold, they found nothing had changed, and a quick check of the ship systems showed that it had only attacked a few beasts that had managed to wander too close. The team immediately split up and headed to their quarters to bathe and relax.

"I think we need a day to rest," Rell said the next day, looking much better than when they had just walked out of the gate, but still sagging on the bench in the galley.

"We've got plenty of time," Beth replied. "Despite how amazing this ship is, it still takes it quite some time to fly great distances. We'll be in the air all day today to get to the special challenge by early evening."

"Then I'm going back to bed," Itharion declared definitively.

Beth and Blood were still rather chipper, taking the watch on the bridge, though Blood was actively flying the ship. She preferred to control the ship versus just let it fly itself even high in the air while mid route, and Beth was perfectly content to let her get more time hands-on. The two didn't really speak much, which was common for them, and Beth spent the entire time reviewing information on Mana Physiques. She went through all the basic introductory materials she could easily get her hands on, including a few free write-ups that were highly recommended by the CRA basic guide.

The main gist of what she read was as Rell had explained earlier, in that the Mana Physique was the direct welding of the person's mana and their physical body together. There were simple explanations in the basic materials, but then they went on to outline many of the common ways that the incorporation of mana and body were accomplished. The basic methods involved incorporating mana in a uniform pattern into the person's flesh, binding it into the person's cells. There were far more complicated ways to do it, and Beth started browsing through more complex materials. People built more powerful Mana Physiques by making more complex arrangements of their mana, creating arrays of runes linking their cells together. It didn't stop there, with people going to the point of imprinting patterns on the molecules that made up their body in specific patterns, organizing their mana in minute detail while binding it to their physical body.

All that told her that she needed to study runes in far more detail, and she sighed, sitting back in the captain's chair and rubbing her eyes for a moment. She reached out to the net to download a huge amount of data on runes and enchantments, getting ready to dive back into her study on the subject. She also understood a bit more why people who tried to sprint through rebirths got stalled at rebirth nine and rarely advanced from there. Someone sprinting through rebirths was not someone who would be very likely to stop and spend hundreds or thousands of hours studying runes, making yet another thing that stalled their progress.

"We're getting close," Blood said some time later.

"Find somewhere good to set down," Beth commanded.

"Sure."

Blood took them in near the hill where they had found the special instance twenty minutes later, finding a clear area to set them down in a little dip in the land. Beth could always pack the ship up later, but it was a good spot if they wanted to leave the ship out when they explored the challenge later. It was evening now and, while the time didn't really mean anything to more advanced Wayfarers who needed little sleep, Beth thought it would be good to take the night to relax. That would let the rest of the team fully reset their mental states and get back into top condition before they challenged a rather difficult instance. Beth checked their stats before heading down for the night, quite happy with her and Blood's progress.