Eve sat in a paper chair on top of the roof of her house. It was the only way to get a little quiet to herself. The puppies were very rambunctious individuals, and she had been forced to puppy-proof the house with paper. Had she not, it was likely elementally sharpened teeth would have left her technological marvels in pieces.

Staring out at the water, Eve was nervous. She could swim, anyone in military special secret squirrel squad training had to after all, but the large lake in her view made her paranoia ping.

Magic world. Magic lake monsters, probably. No, certainly. Eve thought as she sipped from her spiced teacup. Spices from Kudzu, teacup from her, relaxing view with no tentacle monsters in sight, check. A solid, deep-throated bark from down below made her smile. Album was the white nanny wolf, a name that clearly showed Rothschild knew Latin, was an effective puppy herder. Latin was apparently a language that transcended dimensions.

Shadow and Light, the black and white wolf pups, were clearly the next leaders of the Pack barring a massive upset. They had declared her house de facto Den turf, and the challenges to their rule were numerous after Eve had shown everyone the basics of using their Elements.

On the one hand, explaining the Elemental Paths made her look great to her mini-Pack. On the other hand, she felt a bit of a cheat since she was copying from the Emperor’s scrolls of techniques. Shrugging, Eve took another sip as she let the issue drop.

Celestial Mind had revealed that her brother’s notes were gradually decreasing in power. The cost of giving advice took a toll of power from the remaining notes available. This meant that she would get three lines at a certain point in time, then two, then one, then none. They would gradually fade from her mind because even her perfect memory couldn’t contain the information within them for some reason. She had the strong feeling that her brother’s cliff notes were being phased out in exchange for her rapid gains in power. It was a trade-off that had occurred, Eve strongly suspected, due to the System.

When I no longer have Matt to lean on for perfect advice, will I be able to survive in this world? Eve thought as she stared at the placid calm waters. Yes. I need to create my own Code based on what I have learned so far.

“The first Rule of Eve is, no one learns about Eve.” Eve said, smirking as she took another sip of her tea. Pulling out a sheet of paper from her inventory, Eve started to write a few basic rules down. This matter was serious enough to dedicate an entire inventory slot to containing her Code. She knew, over time, it would grow, gaining a life of its own.

The first rule was to stay hidden until at least Level 2,500. At that point, she would have accumulated enough power and be versatile enough that even against a Dragon, Eve felt escape possible. The second was to train harder. Recently, Eve had coasted through her brother’s notes and a blatant side of favoritism from the System. While the System would likely still help her with the First Protocol Contact, Eve had the sneaking suspicion it would start charging higher rates. Skill and Spell Slots of the future Eve could well become bargaining chips to further her growth. The third rule dealt with her extended family, such as Kudzu, the mice, the sparrow, the wolves, and of course, her Six Souls. Her family came first, and threats to it would need to be removed.

The person she assumed was a noble would likely have some method for his family to know his death. It was apparently a prevalent practice, as even the Deep Forest Wolves had it. Finding his killer would be the first thing they tried, without a doubt. When that failed due to the massive ambient mana in the forest, it was possible an investigation would be sent.

“The powerhouses of the Aitmurn family will not be able to hunt me.” Eve said, looking up at her Six Soul Eaters before she said, “They are tied down keeping ahold of the territory they control. If they send anyone, it would be a stronger version of Devon. I need to do some brutal training to raise my level and combat sense.”

Her beloved Six Soul Eaters hummed in agreement with her idea.

Eve put her Code away before pulling out another sheet of paper. Words started to form on the sheet as she slowly detailed a training regimen. Basic physical fitness was already taken care of by Celestial Body, so she wouldn’t be doing hundreds of push-ups or runs around the lake.

No, Eve needed to follow the advice she had received from someone so powerful the System feared them.

I need to exercise the magic muscles. Eve thought. I need to take my ability to use the Domain from simple to reflex. I have a perfect memory, which means I can create ever-evolving complex combat responses. I can turn myself into something more than human, faster than human, someone who responds at an instinctual level.

“After all,” Eve said, voicing her thoughts, “If violence can’t solve something in my favor, I must just not be using enough of it!” She giggled at the old Earth axiom.

Eve looked at the four most recent additions to her Domain.

Stationary Shielding

The Domain of Paper can now strengthen the paper.

Your paper now works off your Wisdom and Intelligence Stat scores divided by two to provide armor.

One Size Fits All

The Domain of Paper can now adjust sheet sizes while being more flexible.

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 a one-quarter ton.

As the mana regeneration lost rises, so too does the weight capping at one and a 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

My paper will become the weapon of my will, the exertion of my mana upon reality. Eve thought, watching the sheet she was writing notes on that floated in front of her. My sword. My shield. My cooking tools. My clothing. My paper will be the bedrock of my reality in this shitty magical world of doom.

Combat with magic is different than simply throwing around Spells or using skills. It would be best if you had a basic toolkit with your magic to do the following things.

Detection, Concealment, Shielding, Attacking, Control, Movement, and Utility.

Eve copied a little of what she remembered from her brother’s note onto the sheet. She couldn’t remember the rest like it had been erased. It was disturbing how reality itself seemed to reject her brother, and on another level, it was a bit terrifying.

Eve sipped her tea, staring at the lake. The utility was being trained naturally as she cooked meals. Every meal was a little faster, every cooking tool a little more efficient. That was well in hand, and no reason to change what worked. Detection was covered by her paper spy net, although it could be improved. Concealment was handled by her ability to blend into the surroundings, so that was good too. The movement could show massive gains if she learned how to master flight more than just lifting a few feet here and there. Control, Eve wasn’t sure how to make that work. Perhaps something like paper mache would be possible. Attacking needed severe improvement. The Giant Stone Bear and Devon’s mana shield showed her limits at the moment. Shielding, or armor, was probably the highest priority.

Shielding, Attacking, Movement, Control, Detection, Concealment, and Utility in that order. Eve thought before writing the note for it.

With that in mind, Eve thought deeply about shield formation. Modern principles are applied even in a magical world. While a great deal of fiction spoke of bubble shields, or egg shields like Devon had used, those were, for the most part, complete garbage.

A shield should never absorb a blow; instead, it should always redirect an attacker's force. The image of a multi-sided diamond flashed in Eve’s mind as she considered the problem.

Forming her glass paper around her in the same many-sided diamond she envisioned, Eve made it large enough that she was able to hover inside. Practicing slowly allowed her to synch the diamond-like apparatus of the shield-form to her own movement. Once her movement and the diamond shield-form were synchronized, she grinned. The next step was the reason she had gone with the form in the first place.

Spin my pretty spindle of death! Spin! Eve thought with glee.

Slowly and then, with greater speed as if learning her desires, the diamond shield-form started to spin with a whisper of friction against the air. It was attack and defense all in one, a true work of her own brilliant mind!

Testing the drilling aspect by using several trees revealed giant holes bored through them with minimal effort. Eve started throwing her own paper at the shield from random angles as she increased the weight. Even the quarter-ton paper was deflected, although it did leave a dent.

“Armor, I can’t seem to do; I can’t imagine it right. This, however, checks all my magic ninja sorceress power boxes. It makes sense, is easy to imagine, and best of all, easy to maintain.” Eve muttered to herself. A quick check of her Status confirmed she was on the border of gaining enough to hit one hundred armor or slightly higher.

Race: Human

Class: Celestial Scholar

Level: 21

Health: 700/700 (7 HPs regen)

Mana: 1,990/1,990 (1,990 MPs regen)

Stats: Str 70, Dex 70, Con 70, Wis 199, Int 199

Free Stats: 8

Skills:

Paperweight I

Origami Ascension I

Celestial’s Five Senses

Spells:

Domain of Celestial Paper I

Mental Traits:

Celestial Mind

Physical Traits:

Celestial Body

One hundred was a number that held little meaning at the moment, true. However, once she started to test it exhaustively, Eve would create a basic idea of how much damage she could resist.

For too long, she had been playing fast and loose in a magical world. It was time to bring her expensive education to bear. A Celestial Scholar shouldn’t bash her way through a problem. She should out-think it with the scientific method until victory was just a matter of doing the math!

Raising both her fists in a solid cheer, Eve dispelled her shield-form and levitated slowly back to the top of her house. From there, she checked the solar panels. Lately, they had been glowing with a strange light to her sight. Looking them over, Eve thought for a moment, and she saw the panels sucking a mote of mana into their form.

Moving from solar to ambient mana? Eve thought. Is even my house growing? Perhaps my dream of chicken legs to carry me around instead of Kudzu’s vines isn’t unrealistic!

Listening to her small charges' sudden barking, Eve was about to go down below when a sudden movement by the tree line drew her attention.

Moving out of the shadows of the forest was a titanic bear easily larger than the previous Giant Stone Bear she had killed.

Eve grimaced. Apparently, she hadn’t been good enough at removing traces.

“Came to find your mate’s killer, I see.” Eve said, her eyes lighting up with a cold silver flare. “I might have feared your species once, but now, you are merely a bag of experience. One that I cannot let escape to harm anyone I might care about later.”

Eve’s diamond shield-form formed around her as it began to spin with blurring speed before she moved straight at the bear like a bullet in flight.