Eve sighed as she stared at the full body length mirror on the inside of bedroom walk in closet. It was a sad fact, made readily apparent by a simple inspection.

Dammit, I look like a younger, hotter, better version of Mom. Eve thought in exasperation for the millionth time. Even changing her skin color, or hair color, or eye color didn’t change the basic outline. It just added a more exotic look to her appearance.

Grumbling, Eve moved to head to the kitchen to eat.

Although her body had been beyond difficult to move upon first waking from the changes, a good night’s sleep had changed that. Her mind updated her body, and her body updated her mind, until everything worked better than before. If her previous body had been a nice sedate family car, she was now driving the luxury vehicle.

Walking was smooth. Almost like moving on glass. Balance was perfect. The extra jiggle at her chest was a tad disconcerting, although she knew it would pay dividends in any negotiation with a man. Her face copied her mother’s European ancestors with sharp angles, phoenix edge eyes, and silken hair. Her body followed her father’s side of the family with lush curves that would make any man lose focus.

Granted she didn’t have any dress worth it in her closet, and most of her cloths screamed girl-next-door, but it was the thought that counted.

At least that’s what I’ll console myself with until I can rob a princess. Eve thought with a smirk. Assuming they have royalty of some type in this new world.

At breakfast she started the grind on her sole remaining Spell that would be viable, Inkless Words I, since she no longer had books to summon. For a moment she had entertained the thought of creating her brother’s books from memory.

When the new Sense Danger went off in her mind like an atomic bomb at the idea, Eve decided to let sleeping Systems lie. There was clearly some sort of soft interdiction on knowledge entering the world from outside. Pushing the boundaries might be ok for her personal life yet anything that could educate the masses was a no go.

Finishing her meal, Eve cleaned the dishes, storing the empty vacuum sealed container in a small glass jar by the sink with the others. Sitting back down at the table, she asked politely, “Can you show me the Class Spell List again?”

Eve rolled through the list committing it all to memory for later use. By querying the System she had found that every five levels would grant her a new Skill or Spell slot. However, once she reached Level Ten it was required to choose the direction her Class upgraded towards. Actions before reaching the milestone would grant greater evolutions of the basic Scholar. Combined with the First Contact Protocols, Eve was pretty certain her version of Level Ten wouldn’t be anything close to a normal individual’s.

The levels up to the Class Evolution milestone had a simple setup. Level One was a hundred experience to reach. Level Two was two hundred experience, and so on up to the Tenth Level. Once the Class Evolution was achieved, things could go in several different directions. The most common was a direct evolution of the Class, for example Scholar into something like Town Scholar. It was a simple, direct, and easy upgrade that would provide the new Classer with even better information on their local town.

Something that her brother emphasized explicitly sprung to mind.

There are no weak Classes, only idiots who use them incorrectly.

Granted she took that advice with a grain of salt. For example, it would be hard to see how an Archmage could lose to a Farmer. The possibility existed, it was just too small a chance for her to believe it could occur.

All the Spells available through the Class Spell List were the base variations. Once a person began to use them, they would evolve in various directions, exactly like Scholar could. Her theories of creating ultimate level Spells were shattered when she found that there was a built in limiter to gaining Power.

Spells could increase in power without limit only if they were Core Spells. Eve flicked to the memory where the System explained it better.

Only the User’s personal Core Spells or Skills can increase without limit. Core Spells and Skills are those the User has chosen to increase to Rank V before the first Class Evolution.

Matt was utterly correct. Information is literally one of the most valuable things in this world. Eve thought as she sat at the kitchen table her eyes staring out at the forest visible through the small slit that had replaced her normal window. I need to hunt soon. Because, if I don’t leave my house soon. I might never be able to muster the courage to do so again.

“How long does it take to grind a Spell from Rank I to Rank V?” Eve asked.

Assuming the same benefits as the User’s Body and Mind currently have, seven days per Spell would be the likely outcome. The same time limit would apply to a Skill too.

Twenty eight days. That will put me just under fifty percent of my food stockpile, and thirty percent of my water. Eve thought. On the other hand, can I take the chance that if I kill something out it pushes me straight to the milestone?

No. The best play was the safe play. The forest might be filled with squirrels, rabbits, and butterflies but Eve didn’t think so. She had been here several days and not a single creature had entered the glade that she had noticed. Nothing came to disturb her garden, and nothing approached the house.

In a normal forest that was borderline impossible. The only reason for the complete lack of prey animals taking an interest in her new home led her to two possible conclusions. The first possibility was this forest managed to be completely devoid of all fauna, which while strange could occur. The second was much worse, this area was the territory of something or someone, and the prey animals were hiding till it passed.

Considering she had a garden of what appeared to be magical plants of unknown types that was much more likely. She wasn’t sure exactly how magical the plants were, however the fact that her garden was a multi-colored rainbow gave clear indication they were. Plants just didn’t come in those colors without selective breeding over generations. Some colors were flat out impossible, for example the black or blue roses she could see.

The other reason she felt she was in a predator’s territory was the low level Sense Danger that was going off in the back of her mind. There wasn’t anything specific that she could point to, yet somehow her mind felt the need to warn her.

“I would like to trade Summon Book I for Create Paper I please.” Eve requested quietly as she watched the Spell switch out of her status for the new one.

Taking a deep breath Eve shifted to a light trance as her mind started to put in the work. Her new super brain gave her an optimal loadout for training in a cyclical manner.

Levitate Paper II into Inkless Words I into Create Paper I causing a fresh sheet to appear. Scholar’s Sight was used both at the start of the cycle and the end.

Days passed in a monotone as Eve pushed her mind doing everything she could think of to increase the training speed. Multiple sheets of paper at once were levitated, inked, and created in an ever expanding loop. Her eyes started to gain a noticeable twitch as the appearance of new objects created a habit of using her Skill.

Finally on the twenty-sixth day a slew of messages greeted her at lunch.

The Spell of Levitate Paper IV has reached 100%.

You may choose the following upgrades to the Spell:

Increase range of the Spell.

Increase paper strength for each sheet used in the Spell.

Increase time per Spell use.

Increase number of pages per Spell use.

Decrease cost of the Spell.

Add an Elemental Effect to the Spell.

Encrypt the information on the paper.

Option unavailable at this time.

Option unavailable at this time

Option unavailable at this time.

Checking each available upgrade Eve was able to see the following.

Increase range of the Spell.

The range will be increased by double current.

Increase paper strength for each sheet used in the Spell.

Stronger than before by double current.

Increase time per Spell use.

Double current time limit.

Increase number of pages per Spell use.

Double current number of sheets per Spell.

Decrease cost of the Spell.

Halve the cost of each cast.

Add an Elemental Effect to the Spell.

A single effect can be added to the paper from Air, Earth, Water, or Fire.

Encrypt the information on the paper.

The information on the paper will be gibberish unless the individual has an innate understanding of the Language used to encrypt it.

Eve was slightly intrigued by the Elemental option, but stuck to the same thing she’d chosen the past four times.

“Decrease cost of the Spell, System.” Eve said as she selected the same option for Inkless Words IV and Create Paper IV.

User has selected to decrease the cost of the Spells.

The effect can become permanent as long as Mana is set aside from the User’s mana regen rate.

User has decreased the cost of the following Spells by 100%:

Levitate Paper V

Inkless Words V

Create Paper V

Does the User desire to mark these as Core Spells in all future Class Evolutions?

“Yes.” Eve said firmly.

The Skill of Scholar’s Sight has reached 100%.

You may choose the following upgrades to the Skill:

Mana Sight I

Observe I

Identify I

“Mana Sight I, please.” Eve said. A burst of pleasure met her choice as her eyes shifted revealing the plethora of Mana that surrounded her for a moment. Observe could show her information on people, while Identify worked on non-living objects, yet neither would assist her in growing as a magic user.

Synergy detected between the following:

Mana Sight I

Body of Mana

Mana Organ

Mana Core

Eternal Youth

Diamond Skin

Diamond Bones

Diamond Organs

Chromatic Resistance

Lightning Reflexes

Lightning Thoughts

Do you desire to consolidate these Physical Talents into one?

Eve paused for a moment before shrugging as she said, “Yes.”

There was a brief stutter in reality like the first time she had been connected to the System.

In the same vein as before, pleasure flooded her mind and body without end. Eve’s eyes rolled back into her head as she slumped at the table while her body twitched in blissful torture. When she finally managed to gain coherent control of her body she wiped the drool off her face before ignoring the wet mess on her chair.

Physical Talents consolidated into a single Talent.

Status. Eve thought checking the new Talent.

Name: Eve Smith

Race: Human

Class: Scholar

Level: 0

Health: 460/460 (4.6 hps regen)

Mana: 540/540 (75 mps regen)

Stats: Str 47, Dex 48, Con 46, Wis 52, Int 54

Skills:

True Sight

Spells:

Levitate Paper V (0%)

Inkless Words V (0%)

Create Paper V (0%)

Mental Talents:

Eidetic Memory

Polyglot

Mental Math

Encrypted Thoughts

Detect Lie

Sense Danger

Physical Talents:

Celestial Body

Taking a long look at the new Physical Talent granted Eve was impressed.

Celestial Body

Your body does not age.

Your body has a minimum damage threshold that must be exceeded to receive injury.

You mind sharpens in combat slowing the perception of time around you.

Your body sharpens in combat speeding the reactions of your physical form beyond mortal limits.

Your body passively absorbs and purifies mana increasing your regeneration rate by 10 times.

You gain True Sight permanently.

Holy shit! Eve thought as her mind caught up with the changes. I’ve hit Olympus level, time to throw in the towel find a bunch of hot guys, and let the world run itself!

“Is this a normal level of power?” Eve asked aloud, she wasn’t unhappy just depressed at how strong every enemy could be.

Yes.

“Really? This is a normal level of power!?” Eve said, shocked her mind spiraled deeper into depression before another message appeared.

Yes. This is a normal level of power for a First Contact Protocol individual.

Realizing she had been played, Eve stood up and moved to the bathroom to take a shower. Tomorrow the results of all her efforts would finally begin.

“No delays anymore. If I can’t survive now, I might as well hang myself.” Eve murmured as the hot water began to clean her mind. Finishing her shower, she toweled herself off before going to bed.