Creating paper armor was hard. Everything in her argued against it. Paper being able to cut through metal, sure, no problem she could see it with enough force, power, mojo, whatever. It worked. It made sense.

Paper armor did not.

Eve had finally after grueling hours of being stabbed, slashed, thwacked, poisoned, hit by acid, and drowned managed to barely get a small degree of success.

Folding. Folding was the secret. Hidden within the ancient art of Origami, one of her favorite hobbies, the power of folding showed it’s true might.

Eve could eventually see in the future how she might manage to create a working set of armor.

The very, very, very far future if her current level of success was any indication.

When she finally stopped Kudzu sounded suspiciously upbeat as he waved at her retreating back. Eve huffed before grabbing a shower and then making lunch. Her new furry rug slash chair ornament devoured the offering, and as they were eating she broached the idea of moving deeper into the forest.

“The lake where the ferrets were at, do you think it would be ok if I moved there?” Eve asked as she slowly ate her lunch. “I admit to feeling exposed this far on the fringe of the Pack’s territory, and the access to a water supply would be extremely useful for me.”

Fang paused in his eating before responding, “This request is not unreasonable. Of course, we would require a small favor in return.”

Eve could mark the strange movement in his magical field that seemed to indicate whatever method he was using to communicate with the Pack. “As long as it isn’t a big deal, I’m up for pretty much anything.”

“There are a few larger creatures that the Pack would like removed from the area. Killing is acceptable, but driving them out is ok, too.” Fang said, his ears twitching. While he gave no indication of it, there was a series of flickers going on in his magic field. Eve narrowed her eyes in thought before saying, “Are you arguing with the Pack leaders on this?”

Fang turned his head and closed his eyes before saying, “A young who has barely learned to hunt being asked to take on larger prey before they have mastered their Stalking method this bad form.”

Or he just doesn’t want his supply of delicious meals interrupted. Eve thought flashing a grin. “That’s ok, I’ll do my best to take care of the issues. I have a new power I want to try out.” Eve said, thinking of her new Loot ability. She took a moment to check the Skills she planned on getting when she hit twenty which was just around the corner. The Skills would cut her regeneration by a large margin, but she valued the possibilities they represented.

Paperweight I

Celestial Class Limited Skill.

Only available if mana regeneration is higher than 2,500.

Sacrifice 30% of your mana regeneration.

Your mana regeneration can never exceed your total mana.

The Domain of Paper can now adjust the weight of the paper generated up to one quarter ton.

As the mana regeneration lost rises, so too does the weight capping at one and one quarter ton at Rank V.

Origami Ascension I

Celestial Class Limited Skill.

Only available if mana regeneration is higher than 2,500.

Sacrifice 30% of your mana regeneration.

Your mana regeneration can never exceed your total mana.

The Domain of Paper can now gain Runes of Intent on the paper created within it with proper folding.

As the mana regeneration lost rises, so too does the number of Runes available capping at five upon reaching Rank V.

Current Total Runes Available: 1

If they followed the same logic as when Levitate Paper I was upgrading she would end up with one ton worth of weight behind her attacks. At the same time she could place four Runes on each sheet of paper. Since it was pretty obvious she wouldn’t figure out how to create armor in the near future, this was a viable workaround.

Whenever something isn’t working mechanically her dad’s advice was always to just hit it really hard. Eve figured she would apply the principal here and see how things worked out. So far her days had been marked by getting incredibly powerful abilities, and running around naked. It wasn’t how she envisioned her life in another world, truth be told.

On the other hand, who knows if the whole world is filled with cannibal pygmies? Eve thought, her attention drawn back to Fang as he spoke again, “If you are successful in solving the Pack’s current unwelcome intruders, the argument could be made that looking after the young at your place would be a viable option.”

Eve froze before she rose from her seat with a triumphant pose, “THOSE MEATBGS ARE SLURRY!”

Fang managed to get her to sit back down even though she was jittery with excitement at the thought of having puppies at her house. Lunch passed relatively quickly after that, and Eve took care of the dishes in record time.

“Go, go, go, c’mon old bag of bones, show me where these intruders are. I have furry balls of fluff to play with.” Eve said, walking beside Fang as they exited her house.

Fang rolled his eyes, before breaking into a lope to enter the forest. Eve kept pace making sure to use all the lessons she had learned to increase her speed, without leaving traces, or making noises. Any entry into the forest had subconsciously caused her to start entering the combat readiness from her military days. This was only heightened by her Celestial Mind occasionally replaying moments of danger when she hadn’t been paying attention to her.

After traveling for a few hours, both of them finally reached a large stone cave that led deeper into a hill in the forest.

“The target is a Giant Stone Bear. It has the ability to use stone like you use paper. I need to go report to the Alpha, so the rest is up to you.” Fang said. Eve nodded and watched the old wolf lope off towards the Den. She wasn’t worried about predators this close to the Giant Stone Bear because anything stupid enough to be around would have been eaten.

Testing the ground around her Eve spread her ambush paper around. It blended in with the forest floor, tree bark, and greenery. Slowly in an ever expanding network Eve searched for a very specific place.

Finally one of her papers ran across a section nearby that had no stone in a twenty by twenty meter area. Looking deeper at the spot when she arrived, she found the stone nearby dipped down here underneath the forest floor before going back to a few feet in depth. While she was curious what could have caused the change, Eve was more interested in preparing her trap.

Using her control of paper to dig, and her inventory to store it, the surrounding dirt was removed until there three-quarters of the way to the stone was gone. There were still several meters between the dirt left, and the stone beneath, so Eve wasn’t concerned. Unless this bear was a Domain user, the distance should be enough to prevent the bear from escaping. She lined the inside of the trap with a copious amount of paper on the sides, and also papered over the top to conceal the traces. Eve even went so far as to layer the paper over the trap in dirt for a final trick. She left a single piece of paper folded to look like a stone as the marker. More markers were left as she moved back towards the cave.

Once the setup was complete Eve checked around using her paper spy net, she didn’t want to be dealing with the bear, and then be ambushed from behind. Nothing was nearby, neither prey, nor predator. Chalking it up to the fear of the creature inside the cave, she started the first part of the operation.

Several sheets of paper entered the Giant Stone Bear’s den, moving stealthily on the ceiling. She had only a moment to react when her paper allowed her to view the bear before was pierced by the stone above it. A massive roar split the forest around, as everything nearby went dead silent.

It was at this point that Eve realized two things. First, the word giant was not a misnomer. Second, this bear was fast!

Eve was already running when the creature burst from the Den, a small halo of tiny rocks above the Giant Stone Bear’s head. Those rocks flew at her form, causing her to dodge by seeing the shots through the paper she had left behind. As soon as the bear had no more rock ammo, it moved towards her at a rapid pace.

Eve started to sweat, her Celestial Mind telling her the cold hard truth.

She wouldn’t make it without getting hit.

Her mind dropped into the same calm as when she managed to save Fang, only this time it was focused on saving herself.

I cannot create armor, yet. I need another way to mitigate the strike. As long as it doesn’t rip me in half, I should be able to regenerate. Eve thought, her legs pumping as her arms moved in a sprinter’s motion. If I adjust to take the hit. Yes. I can use that origami chain format!

As she approached the trap, merely a few steps away, Eve folded paper released from her inventory behind her. Her Domain of Paper I let her see the blow that struck towards her in eerie slow motion. In front of the massive paw, paper folded in a dizzying array thickening to create a shield.

It wasn’t enough.

The Giant Stone Bear’s claws ripped through her back like multiple samurai swords. The one good thing that occurred was the strike pushing her up and over the trap. Eve focused on regenerating her back, choosing to triage the wounds instead of heal them fully. The bear barely even stopped moving forward to close with the downed prey.

At this point, the Giant Stone Bear was introduced to the incredible concept of gravity. The enormous bulk that made up the forest king’s fur was also the reason it fell into the trap with lighting speed. Eve hadn’t wanted to chance creating spikes at the bottom from nearby trees, in case the Giant Stone Bear had a good memory of their territory. Crawling over to the edge of the trap Eve looked down at the enraged bear. The bear was hemmed in by the earth around it, the few attempts it made to climb out failed due to the soft eart walls covered in paper preventing it from getting a solid grip.

It was confused, and she clearly felt magic rippling off it reaching for stone nearby. There was a small reaction, which told her given time the creature might manage to escape. Fortunately the bear wasn't able to manipulate the loose soil around, nor compact it in order to create a ramp due to the paper lining the sides of her trap. Were the bear stronger, instead of completely focused into stone, this might have ended much differently.

Eve’s eyes glowed a cold silver frost as she said, “Except, you won’t have another opportunity you giant fucking death machine, this is the end for you bastard.”

Paper begin to spin within the trap, as more was added from her inventory. Like a giant tube, reminiscent of a worm, the inner blades of paper got to brutal work. At first there was barely any effect, and for a few minutes Eve was worried she had bitten off more than she could handle. Gradually though, tiny wounds started to appear on the stone fur that the bear had as armor.

Tiny wounds at first, the bear didn’t pay them any attention, attempting to pull stone nearby to escape. When the wounds started to bleed though, Eve could see the moment the bear realized the terror of the trap around it. As the paper blades continued to create a whirlwind of death, the bear looked directly up at her.

Eve could felt the hate filled gaze, and met it with her cold silver eyes. There was no mercy in her gaze, no compassion, the bear was no longer anything other than the means to an end. She watched until the wounds grew too large, and the bear’s blood started to fill the bottom of the trap.

Moving her eyes from the dying creature she spread her paper around to ensure there was no predator that would be stupid enough to attack her in her weakened state. The growls of hate slowly turned to whines before they were silenced completely. Eve closed her eyes, and rolled into the trap letting her Celestial Body handle the landing. It was the work of a moment to collect everything into her inventory before creating a series of paper steps and getting back out.

Eve was about to return home before thought of a possibility. Turning back, she approached the Den sending her paper inside to scout. It was with a heavy heart she discovered the inner portion of the cave had three small forms. They were much smaller than the Giant Stone Bear, however the relation was clear.

I could leave. Pretend I didn’t see it. Pretend they weren’t in the Den when I killed the other one. Eve thought. Her mind was telling her with cold certainty there was no other option. These were predators, threats. They were small, cute, and cuddly now sure, but they wouldn’t stay that way. She had no agreement in place with these creatures, no System contract to keep them from murdering her. Her heart agonized and it took a long moment before she took a deep breath and moved into the Den.

Puppies. Think of the puppies, Eve. These things are a threat to the puppies. They will grow up into big giant puppy eating machines. Eve thought, repeating the mantra in her head as she finally reached the inner part of the bear’s Den.

Eve made the execution quick, sending a blizzard of paper to kill the young bears whose skin didn’t have the same level of resistance as their parent. Collecting their corpses, Eve spend a long moment trying to keep the emotion from overflowing. When she left, a small tiny rivulet of tears managed to escape her eyes before she used a piece of paper to wipe them dry.

“Shitty world. Shitty giant magical murder machines. I hate this place. I want my puppy mental health recover team, dammit.” Eve muttered as she cleaned herself before blending into the surroundings and heading home. The excitement of gaining experience was dampened for her today.