The male Giant Stone Bear lumbered with surprising speed directly at her. He was clearly unshakable in his belief in the strength of his stone fur armor. The hulking creature was a massive piece of work, from the thick armored fur to the brutal claws at each limb's end. Teeth the size of daggers snarled as he roared, speeding up into a charge.

Eve aimed calmly, her diamond shield-form dipping around the front to sever the bear’s left back leg. Moving away, she watched as confusion set in, robbing the creature of its rage. Blood pooled on the ground like a garden hose left unattended, the scent thickening copper muted in her shield-form. She stared at a creature that had once caused her terror, a creature whose counterpart had wounded her, proving she wasn’t invincible. Now, an even stronger version of what she had barely managed to kill before would serve as the stepping stone to crystallize the seed of her new combat method.

Range. Eve thought. In the modern world of Earth, the power of Range rules overall. With enough distance and time, even the strongest can be struck down!

Eve reached out with her Domain of Paper I pulling ten sheets out to hover at a maximum height above the bear. The creature’s regeneration had managed to close the wound, but it wouldn’t be moving anywhere fast while crippled. She activated Paperweight I adjusting the paper to the heaviest setting she had available. Once they were ready, Eve relaxed her control over the sheets. Ten sheets of quarter-ton paper shot down from a height of just over a football field.

The result was the gruesome dismemberment of her opponent.

Eve hovered over the corpse her eyes, cataloging the damage with clinical detachment. The spine is broken, front paws severed, decapitated head, and so forth were clear indications of where the paper had hit. Pulling on her Domain, she put the paper back into inventory, where it was cleaned. Floating forward to claim the corpse, she accelerated straight up as her Celestial's Five Senses screamed of incoming danger to her.

A long sticky tongue had shot out from the lake’s water, wrapping around the pieces of the Giant Stone Bear. In a flash, the only thing remaining were bloodstains denoting combat had occurred. Grumbling, Eve moved back to her house. The loss of one corpse in exchange for knowing for certain there were monsters in the water was worth it, in her opinion.

It looked like a giant frog. Eve thought, entering the vines that Kudzu was even now weaving into a defense around the house. A giant frog that eats giant bears? Sure, add mana and stir for a few years!

“Kudzu, did you get a clear look at the thing?” Eve asked as soon as she was above her roof. Removing her paper’s diamond shield-form was hard, as she kept imagining a tongue shooting out of the lake to pull her into it. Just because she had gained a level killing the bear didn’t mean a frog couldn’t crunch her like a rice cracker snack. Eve muttered to herself before adjusting her free points into both Wisdom and Intelligence. Keeping one eye on the water, she checked her Status, leery of the slightest ripple in the water.

Race: Human

Class: Celestial Scholar

Level: 22

Health: 700/700 (7 HPs regen)

Mana: 2,060/2,060 (1,970 MPs regen)

Stats: Str 70, Dex 70, Con 70, Wis 206, Int 206

Free Stats: 0

Skills:

Paperweight I

Origami Ascension I

Celestial’s Five Senses

Spells:

Domain of Celestial Paper I

Mental Traits:

Celestial Mind

Physical Traits:

Celestial Body

Eve looked at her Stats that had reached over two hundred. She had ignored the message about reaching another milestone in Intelligence and Wisdom because her mana regeneration was capped due to both Origami Ascension I and Paperweight I as part of their requirements.

“Frog. Looked tasty! When are you going to let me go fishing in the lake? You said it reminded you of those Matching Lakes from home. I’m sure there are many delicious species of food inside it!” Kudzu said as vines poked her like an annoying teenage brother. Eve was about to comment back to him when she noticed forty-six soulful eyes staring at her as she floated down from the roof’s trapdoor.

Eve immediately crumbled under the puppy eye attack and said, “Ok! Ok! I give in. I’ll make lunch!”

“Good work, younglings, that’s how you make a female two-legs fall to the charm of our divine eyes!” Album said, her voice imparting the wisdom that ages of other nursery nanny wolves knew.

“Oh! How tragic, I guess we don’t have enough food for adult wolves since I have all these cute little ones to cook for.” Eve said as she made her way to the stove.

“I remember that I have something I need to take care of back at the Den. I’m sure you will be fine alone here.” Album said, her voice neutral.

“Wait! I remember, there are some extra meat and spice rations in another inventory slot!” Eve recovered from the counterattack with aplomb.

“Good, one should always know how much food supply they have on hand. That is a basic of basics, younglings.” Album said, speaking to the puppies as they trailed behind Eve.

Eve chose to ignore the older female’s clearly bad advice to her fluff bundles. Cooking dinner went even faster as she was slowly developing her use of the Domain to aid her in cooking multiple meals at once. Once the food was served in the strict hierarchy, the young puppies seemed to follow Eve sat down to eat as well. Like all the times before, she had created a seat for Album just as she did for Mudslide, Fang, or All-Right.

Album wasn’t any stranger to the delicious meals either. The nursery nanny wolf used every trick in the book to extort additional meals. Eve had a sneaking suspicion the female wolf had managed to have triple any of the others.

“Album, does the Pack know about this lake?” Eve asked. Celestial Mind had quickly quieted the combat shakes, and her body felt filled with energy as always, a result of her over-the-top physical stats.

“Yes, we know of the two-leg fat three eyes in this lake. As long as no one breaks a big opening in the ice to let them out, it is easy to hunt here in the winter for food.” Album said, licking her chops before eating a small steak.

The image of ice fishing struck Eve as she hatched a simple plan to boost her Levels by a massive amount. “Is there any drawback to raising a person’s level fast? Does it harm the body?” Eve asked when the wolf paused in her eating.

“The System can allow you the ability to space out your leveling for a price. It is a mandatory ability if you are power leveling or gaining a great many levels all at once in a short amount of time. At the lower levels, effects are minimal if one gains power fast. At the higher levels, it can kill if a person doesn’t have that upgrade. The body will burn itself out as it rises in power from the mana flooding into it. The sight is not pretty to watch at all.” Album said, her voice soft.

“Oh.” Eve replied, her eyes wide.

“Three more questions can you ask before I will consider anything else a sad attempt to disturb my meal. Go ahead, ask.” Album said, pausing in her meal.

“What do Stats actually do? Is there a relation between them? Does raising one stat exclusively harm a person?” Eve asked three questions that had been burning at her for quite some time.

“They are representations of how synchronized your body is with the mana around it. All stats follow the Law of Two. For example, wolves have a base Stat of five in everything. At ten, twenty, forty, our power rises along with the Stats. If you could crush stone at ten, you can pierce copper at twenty, iron at forty, steel at eighty. The scale resets every two thousand levels in this world. If your teeth could bite through Rank One iron at below Level two thousand, then at four thousand, you can puncture Rank Two iron, at six thousand Rank Three, at eight thousand Rank Four, and at ten thousand Rank Five. The higher your stats, the greater the strength of your bite, the more times you can bite, and so forth.” Album said, taking a drink from the bowel before continuing, “There is, however, a solid relation between Stats. Following the Law of Two, only two Stats may overtake the others, and they must follow a ratio to do so. The difference between races determines the ratio that is best for them. Raising one Stat exclusively will cripple someone’s power. For example, Intelligence without Wisdom is idiocy. Strength without Dexterity is a fumbling moron. There are always Two that synchronize depending on the Class. I can see the fourth question in your eyes so that I will answer it. Yes, some Classes raise Constitution along with another Stat. Vampires, Werewolves, and certain others follow that Path.” After finishing her speech, Album went back to wolfing down food.

“Thank you.” Eve said, bowing her head. “My ignorance scares me at times.”

“As it should. You cannot stop learning until you die!” Album said, chuckling.

A riot of color danced nearby, and Eve noticed that her Six Souls had morphed into distinct colors. Dancing opposite them on a vine were Six Mice of varying colors too. White, Black, Yellow, Green, Blue, and Red were the represented Elements. Apparently, her Soul Weapons had chosen affinities, and Kudzu, not to be outdone, had done the same for his servants. The dancing mice and fluttering celestial iron sheets gave a festive atmosphere to the meal. When the puppies of different Elements started joining in chasing this or that mouse or Soul Weapon, it got even more hectic.

Looking out over the fun, Eve was content. This was a scary magic world sometimes, but at least it wasn’t a nightmare hell world.