Eve stared at the map that had been placed in front of her view. She was hovering cross-legged at the circular table inside a room of her expanded house that was set aside for discussion with the Pack’s leadership. The forest she knew was apparently called the Endless Forest, a sub-dimensional plane constantly growing out from the enormous world.

Entering the Endless Forest took a great deal of effort, as the Forest Titans, what looked like mere trees to her, tended to resist invaders lethally. The entire Plane would mobilize to fight invaders that attempted entrance through portals, teleportation, or other such Skills and Spells. Only entering through the entrance and traversing the forest was safe for invaders. As the Pack were Deep Forest Wolves, they were welcomed like prodigal sons and daughters upon returning.

Eve hadn’t been a focus of the Forest Titans for several reasons. Not least, they had never seen a house from Earth before. The debate that apparently had raged among the trees was settled when Kudzu grew large enough to keep them wary. Since she had never attempted to harm the forest directly, she merely cleared away deadwood. Along with felling a few trees on the way to the lake, yet not harming the roots, the Titans had chosen to treat her like just another passing season.

Looking up from the map laid out on the intricately detailed scroll, Eve asked, “Can we go somewhere that I can gain further power?”

Since the council she spoke to consisted of Fang, Album, Mudslide, All-Right, Umbra, and Aqua, she felt quite comfortable. Aqua had been introduced when she first showed the wolves her master plan for Operation Winter-Kill earlier in the winter months. It was advice from the specialist in Elemental Water that had made the plan so incredibly successful, garnering Eve a massive boost in Levels.

“Are you certain?” Mudslide said, his eyes deep as he continued, “Most such locations are held by those who farm them. We would be required to push them out and secure the area for ourselves.”

“I can do it.” Eve said, her voice calm, “Asymmetric Warfare is a specialty of my previous skill set. With the proper application of my abilities, I should have no trouble.” She wouldn’t be happy doing it. However, she rationalized her action as costing fewer lives in the end. A secure location to farm XP and convert it into more power would improve all parties' situation. The wolves would have a place to farm, she would have a place to farm, and the fluffy army of doom would have a place to farm. That it would require the murder of a small group that already controlled such location was an acceptable loss in her mind now.

All-Right and Mudslide exchanged a long look, the flickers of mana telling of a quiet exchange of information between the two. Eve waited patiently, confident she could point out all possible upsides to the endeavor. At this point, reaching a Royal Ancestor, or the equivalent in power, was simply a fact of life. The five noble houses that had split after murdering Emperor Rothschild were on the way. It was only a matter of time until they arrived.

Eve wanted to ensure that even if the Houses' most powerful members arrived, they would be nothing except fertilizer for Kudzu. To that end, a location that could allow her to grind was required. Many options were available in the forest, but outside of a Dungeon or a Deep entrance, most options were non-renewable resources.

Dungeons and Deep entrances, though, were a vital source of renewable targets. Dungeons were Eve’s choice; while the Deeps interested her, she wisely considered them a much higher source of danger. When she rejoined civilization at some point, it was her goal to enter the Delver’s Guild. She didn’t have any proof, but Eve felt the Deeps would be crucial in rising high enough in levels to make it to a Prime World.

“Can you explain your reasoning?” All-Right asked after a short period of time.

“Right now, we all agree the Noble I killed will have someone sent to check up. It might be a single enemy or many. It doesn’t matter. What matters is the power to resist them no, not just resist, obliterate them. We need a rapid method of gaining power, and a Dungeon will provide that. Cores are easy to feed and easy to gain XP from, creating a virtuous cycle. If I can reach a Dungeon Core and communicate with them, it might even be possible to integrate it into my house.” Eve said, her voice rising with passion as she continued, “Think of it! Rooms dedicated to pure Elements! The ability to farm enemies both for training and for XP on tap! All that would be required is to feed the Core with our mana. In exchange, the Core would gain protection from predators that hunt it. As part of my house, it would be free to grow without worrying about mana emanations or outside threats! It would be the almost perfect symbiosis for us all!” Eve’s speech ended with her standing up, floating high with one fist raised in triumph. Coughing lightly, she floated back down to sit cross-legged once more.

“It is an awe-inspiring picture, but how will we communicate with the Core?” Album asked, flicking one ear questioningly.

“Polyglot.” Eve said, smirking.

“Ah, yes. How could we forget the ability that let you learn our language? It worked so quickly that even the best among us were impressed.” Fang said, gloating while smirking at his life partner, Album. A quick battle of tails ensued between the two before Fang gracefully lost. For an old wolf that seemed always to be one tottering step from the grave, Eve had slowly realized his appearance was just for show. The concept that the grandfatherly figure was actually on par with muscle-brain Mudslide had been a shock to learn. It was clear once Eve saw the interaction between Fang and Album how All-Right had made her choice of a mate. The female Alpha had gone for what appeared to be the complete opposite of her father, but what Eve privately thought was her father with better muscles.

All girls marry their father, or something like that is what mom always said. Eve thought, silently grinning. It helps that Mudslide treats her like solid platinum and always listens to her input.

Glancing at her Status made Eve sigh in annoyance.

Race: Human

Class: Celestial Scholar

Level: 75

Health: 1,210/1,210 (12.1 HPs regen)

Mana: 3,630/3,630 (3,630 MPs regen)

Stats: Str 121, Dex 121, Con 121, Wis 363, Int 363

Free Stats: 255

S/S Slots: 22

Skills:

Paperweight I (1%)

Origami Ascension I (1%)

Celestial’s Five Senses (52%)

Spells:

Domain of Celestial Paper I (73%)

Mental Traits:

Celestial Mind (94%)

Physical Traits:

Ascendant’s Physique (5%)

Celestial Body (94%)

Gone were the easy days of simply repeating the same spell to level it up with ease. Going further in progression for a Skill or Spell became exponentially more difficult was well known to the Pack. The wolves had it easy, revealing that the deeper they went into the Endless Forest, the easier raising the Pack’s own power would become.

The Skill and Spell Slot tracker's addition was a personal favorite allowing Eve to salivate at all the incredible additions the System could grant. Unfortunately, like most window shopping, it tended to make her deeply sad at how poor she currently was. She currently had the ability to Loot, see True Death, and Ascendant’s Physique.

While her brother had made suggestions in the past, one of the options had captured her attention when she saw it.

Traveler’s Immortal Physique

Requires: Celestial Body, Celestial Mind, Celestial’s Five Senses, Ascendant’s Physique

This primordial Physique teaches one how to generate power even where a Primal Energy Source does not exist.

All benefits of the previous requirements remain in effect.

True Travelers depend on none except themselves in the Deeps!

Physique Penalties: Reduce a known Domain to 90% of the current distance, permanent if the User cannot figure out how to expand it ever again. If no Domain is known, reduce all Stats by 50%, permanent unless the User learns how to train stats up to previous levels again.

The incredible thirst she had gained to acquire the Traveler’s Immortal Physique was enormous. Learning that it wasn’t even possible until her third Class Evolution at one hundred and that it cost a whopping thirty Slots to purchase had nearly left her in tears.

The tactical flexibility it will grant is more than made up for by the loss in Domain distance. Eve thought, staring at the option again. KP Diamonds are lethal even with the reduction in distance. The most important part is it shows that stats can be gained.

The idea that stats could be trained was a massive game-changer. Eve had a body that didn’t age, so whether it took a day, a year, or a decade to gain a single stat point wouldn’t matter in the long run. When she had connected the dots with the previous information that Album gave her on stats, she had felt beyond stupid.

Stats are physical representations of the body adjusting to the mana inside it. The System makes the process instant, painless, and simple. Eve thought. That doesn’t make it the only way to gain stats. My previous attempts had nothing to do with mana, so of course, they showed zero results.

Eve was pulled back from the tangent she had gone down by Umbra asking, “Are you certain you can do this without aid? I will vote if you assure me it is so.”

Eve faced the dark-furred wolf and said without preamble, “I assure you. I was a professional hunter of my kind in my past. The same skills I used to hunt then will be applied in this situation as well.”

Umbra gave a long look before saying, “Eve has made good points. I agree with her.” Raising a paw, he placed it down solidly in her favor shortly after five more paws joined him.

“It is agreed, we will target the closest Dungeon.” Mudslide said, his voice deep with the authority of a leader.

Eve saluted from her floating position with a closed fist over her heart. It was a habit from Earth that she had never lost, even when transported here.

“On to more serious matters then.” Album said as everyone grinned when she continued to say, “Let’s talk food supplies and birthing dates.”

Eve’s eyes lit up at the idea of more new furry bundles of cuteness joining the Pack. The current Puppy Pack had turned into terrifying monsters of absolute fluffy doom. Using their well-trained elemental abilities, the local small wildlife had learned the terror of small canines. Eve had eventually been forced to learn how to properly operate a small duplicate paper army to tire out her fiercely cute minions. While she could definitely put on a one-person paper puppet show now, her army of doom fluff had gotten very effective at crushing her paper minions.

The discussion devolved into favorite recipes deciphered by Eve lately, along with the agreement to modify a room for birthing. Kudzu would handle placing soft moss and other options to ensure a peaceful environment for deliveries. A small pond of water would be available for cleaning the newborns. All in all, the planning was well-received by all parties.

After leaving the meeting, Eve headed to the private room built in the newly expanded house created solely for her combat training. It was a combination of shooting range and dojo. While she couldn’t see much use for martial arts with the ability to make KP Diamond rounds, Eve didn’t become lazy. Even though there didn’t appear to be a use for the physical combat methods she knew right now, it was still important to keep them in muscle memory.

Eve also had a half-formed idea to tweak the style she had been trained to fight into something involving close combat with paper. So far, though, her tactical doctrine that had developed focused exclusively on ranged combat. A punch didn’t really pack the same impact in her mind as a quarter-ton KP Diamond round striking a target.

While she practiced forming, aiming, and firing KP Diamond rounds, she let her mind wander to one of the things she recently learned.

The Song of the Hunt.

Each of the Pack had access to the Song of the Hunt, which appeared to Eve to be a sort of over-memory, essentially an Akashic Record of the Pack’s past. Like a database, any of the older wolves could consult comprised of vivid memories, thoughts, and information. Eve was thoroughly impressed with the ability to remember that the Song of the Hunt granted.

Finishing her training session after a few hours of firing rounds, Eve headed back to her new, larger room. The bed was now a paper copy that mimicked the old one with a much smoother and more expensive feel. The ability to shift color, texture, and shape for her paper made her extremely thrilled each time she found a way to replace part of her old world on Earth with it.

After taking a shower to clean the shredded bits of paper from combat practice off her, Eve spent a few moments looking at her face in the mirror. She had really gone all-in when given a chance to modify her appearance. From the girl next door, she was firmly in the model of the year territory now. At the time, it had seemed like a great idea to look hot. Now, however, she had Lars Murst’s life story to go off of. Being gorgeous wasn’t just dangerous. It was downright stupid.

Slowly she raised a hand, pulling a piece of paper out of inventory. With careful mental twists, she altered the paper into a basic face mask. Earlier she had been practicing to change her face with a paper mask. To disguise among a city, it would be a practical requirement to change her features.

While human cities were practically non-existent in the Endless Forest, there were plenty of para-human civilizations that had animal features to them. Such gatherings called themselves collectively the Beast Kin, being that most of them were descended from Mythic-Beasts. As generations passed, features would tend more towards humans with the occasional exotic scales, fur tufts, and of course, tails. The thinner the blood was, the closer to a human appearance a Beast Kin would have. There were a variety of theories from it, although no one really had anything certain. Like humans, some decried pure blood and those who didn’t give two copper coins.

The fact that physical skills favored those with thicker blood and magic favored those with thinner was a strange dichotomy. While she would be revered for having magic in many places, those descended from Mythical Beasts considered it a sign of thinned blood.

To blend into such a place, altering her features with her paper was a crucial requirement. While humans might not be banned, they were definitely discriminated against, if not outright enslaved. Eve wasn’t willing to take a chance on either happening, not when she could learn to disguise herself effectively.

“Time to put in the work again. Think of it like, making costly cosplay items, right?” Eve said as she moved more paper out, starting to form a wolf tail, along with ears to go atop her head.

The things I do to fit in. Eve thought, smirking as she remembered her high school years. At least here, I can consider myself the cool kid now. I mean, if magic power doesn’t grant you that, nothing would, right?