As night slowly crept up on the world, Eve’s rocking chair finally stilled. Shadow leaped down from her lap and scampered into the shop. Getting up from her comfortable chair, Eve floated after him. In the back, with a large secondary wall of Kudzu’s vines, the house was attached to the shop, keeping it hidden from view. The few attempts to get past the living wall of vines were unsuccessful in the extreme.

Eve watched the front gate close itself as vines twisted it shut before she entered the shop, closing the door and setting the window sign behind the small glass to show they were done for the night. A look around made her smile as she saw the gleaming rows of potion vials. Different quality was packaged in wood, glass, crystal, and gem to show value. Sara’s Serum had a brand of an open scroll with a feather pen per Eve’s request. Once Kudzu had shut the door for the night, no one was to enter. The only exceptions were emergencies, and the village headman knew how to get Sara if they occurred.

Floating forward into her house, Eve gave a heartwarming smile as she watches the two young girls fixing dinner. Rin and Ren had both taken the Profession of Cooking to reduce the burden on Eve. It was a thoughtful gesture that wasn’t lost on the older woman, and she spent many hours passing the recipes of Earth on to the two young chefs. Between grinding levels with Felix, grinding her Professions with gold, and teaching cooking, Eve was a beat these days. It was one of the reasons she spent so much time relaxing or sleeping in her rocking chair. Currently, the girls were making spicy chicken curry and allocating portions to everyone.

Eve took her portion and sat down at the head of the table. Her normal kitchen table had gone through several design phases turning into the artistic version that is now maintained. Adjustments in the kitchen table allowed seating everyone and had a separate section for new people that might arrive. Laying her plate down, Eve gave God a short prayer from her childhood before tucking into the meal. Bear meat, spices, and rice combined into a flavorful explosion on her tongue.

Eve was thrilled with the success of girls cooking and sighed at the years yet to pass. The weight of future millennia weighed heavily on Eve’s mind as she gained greater power. She hoped that she would never be so divorced from reality due to the loss that the people around her meant nothing anymore. To stave such a situation off, Eve had hoped to figure a way to keep those close to her alive for longer.

I cannot take my brother’s advice and divorce myself from anyone and everything. That’s not who I am. Eve thought. Should I only make friends, allies, and servants of those who can withstand time’s touch?

Eve sighed as she finished her scrumptious meal. Such deep thoughts had depressed her in the recent days. Now that she had made partial peace with the criminal element, there was nothing to do except grinding further on the path of power. Before that, however, spending time with her two adorable little munchkins was in order. If they were going to be gone in a few short centuries, then spoiling them a little now should be acceptable.

“Sara will be handling a minor issue in the next few weeks. Is there anything my two favorite munchkins would like to do while she’s gone?” Eve asked.

“Dungeon!”

“Dungeon!”

Unanimous shouts of glee from both of the young serpent children were filled with excitement.

“You want to see Uncle Felix’s latest work?” Eve asked, letting her tone build suspense.

Both girls nodded from their side of the table, and Eve said, “Ok, we will visit a few floors in the Dungeon.”

Taking hold of her paper staff, Eve floated slightly above ground while she helped with the dishes by cleaning them in her inventory. When the dishes were complete, Eve asked, “Can you show me how you plan to fight tomorrow?”

Eve moved silently after the two girls as they bounced with children's excess energy to the room assigned to them. Upon entering, Eve witnessed how the room had been split into two parts by each girl. Colorful drapes from plant fiber surrounded the bed in the center. She realized the drapes acted to protect the bed from Rin’s side of the room that looked like an alchemist’s wet dream. Glassware of all shapes and sizes, two massive herb cabinets, and the basic tools of mortal alchemy littered a u-shaped table on one side. Eve was impressed with how organized everything was.

Ren’s side of the room was equally clear, as shown by the austere nature. A single training puppet cleverly enchanted to assist in creating a working combat foundation stood in the middle. Around it was various items that wouldn’t look out of place in a martial art gym. A set of laminated armor that bore all the Kudzu hallmarks took a silent, watchful stand in the corner. Eve knew that both girls were walking separate paths, with the plan being to cover each other's weaknesses.

Both girls gave a short demonstration to Eve on their training from Kudzu. Rin focused on fire, wind, and poison to engage opponents at range while controlling the battlefield. On the other hand, Ren focused on dealing with damage both elemental and physical through her armor.

From what Eve had witnessed, the two girls had distinct flavors.

Rin was a choking bloody death as the last fraction of life fled.

Ren was a bone-shattering iron fist within a silk plant fiber glove.

“Excellent!” Eve said.

Departing from the room, Eve spent the night making the rounds in the forest around the village. The lack of strong fighters in Glenwood meant she culled the surrounding Monster Nests regularly. Goblins, non-Pack wolves, rats, bees, and more were a constant source of annoyance. Paper Runic Dice moved in a whirling orbit around Eve as she cursed, pulped, and mulched various monster strongholds.

If allowed to grow unchecked, a monster wave could result, or even worse, interruption of the supplies to Sara’s Serums. If the shop’s gatherers' survival rate went down, the price of supplies would go up. Eve definitely did not want another discussion with Sara on the laws of supply and demand. The last one had been a big enough headache, even with medicine from Kudzu.

Got to keep the spice flowing. Eve thought. Otherwise, where am I going to get the money to buy random interesting things from?

Eve had leveled her own two Professions, Scribe and Enchanter, with an eye for combining them. The combination of both would result in either Charms or Talismans, either of which was extremely useful. To say nothing of how she would then have a free Profession slot available.

Operating almost automatically, Eve finished her rounds in the forest as sunlight slowly crested from the morning mists. Going without sleep was easy as long as she didn’t do it for weeks at a time. The last time Eve had attempted to push her sleeping limits to the maximum. A mysterious poster-creating villain struck Glenwood. To this day, when Sara asked, Eve denied all knowledge of the incident, expertly shifting the blame to Pan, leader of the mice, master of Wind, and poster creating fiend.

Pan, of course, was more than willing to take the blame in exchange for a steady supply of delicious snacks.

Flying back to her house in the diamond shield-form was the work of a minute. Eve took care to check through her paper spy eyes littered around like security cameras to make sure non-villagers didn’t spot her. It wouldn’t do for a traveling merchant, bard, or other entity to carry tales of Eve to some random powerhouse’s ear.

The criminal element had learned of Eve's existence only to keep the riff-raff from bothering her family. It was a calculated risk and one that would pay further dividends. The unspoken rules about rats in the underworld would prevent the spread of her existence quite effectively. However, a random bard seeing a flying murder granny would likely end up as a drunken song.

Eve landed back at her house, shuddering at the idea of a drunken song that hosted her in it. Some things could be worse than death. Shadow met her arrival inside the vine wall encircling Sara’s Serum. Floating him up from the small paper harness around him allowed Eve to carry the slightly fluffier puppy with ease. It was fun walking around town with him, although the local cat population was terrified beyond measure. In the few instances, Eve had seen both Shadow and Pan unite in an unholy alliance, and she had shaken her head.

A slew of terrifying felines had occurred when the duo was marking Sara’s Serums as their personal territory.

From what Eve heard while shopping around town, some cats never really recovered. She said a small prayer for the felines that were scarred for life. Light in her infinite wisdom hadn’t bothered to intervene because she was glued to Sara’s side. With the way things were shaping up, it was only a short time before Rin and Ren got their own puppy comrades. There was likely fighting already underway to claim the girl’s laps as territory.

Eve shrugged and took a shower while breakfast was being cooked. A short meal later, and they were all off to the Dungeon. Entering from the roof, Eve watched as the space around them shifted into a cave tunnel entrance from the trapdoor above them. Fighting inside the dungeon constantly had allowed Felix to Level faster than simple passive absorption of the surrounding mana.

The way it had been explained to her by Felix, the stronger a person was in the Dungeon, the more mana they refined. When a monster got killed, the mana that was cycled into them as Experience did more than increasing a person’s level. Eve learned it also allowed the person’s body to refine surrounding ambient mana.

I wonder who first realized that mana regeneration is essentially the body cycling ambient mana. I would place money; it was a particularly devious Dungeon Core. Eve thought. From there, the idea of keeping the prey alive as long as possible to eat the refined mana evolved into Dungeons.

Of course, there was no way to know for sure. Felix couldn’t confirm anything, and Eve wasn’t really interested at the moment. The fact of the matter was, stronger people fighting inside created a stronger Core. As a result, the spatial manipulation that they were famous for became stronger too. The small one-room dungeon that Eve had evolved into a multi-floor affair complete with floor bosses, traps, and strange runic puzzles. While the contract kept Felix from directly harming her, it didn’t keep her completely safe. Eve always kept in mind that the contract between them was more of a guideline that operated on intent. Traps had no intent, neither did monsters. They existed as part of the Dungeon. While he couldn’t take direct control of a floor boss to try and kill Eve, Felix wouldn’t be at fault if her own stupidity when fighting one killed her.

It is a fine line to walk, and Felix does it exceptionally well. Eve thought as she watched the girls fight a patrolling goblin pack. I shudder to think what he would do to an actual invader. He might have only been a B-ranked Core before, but I doubt that would be his threat rating now.

Eve took a glance at her Status while the girls finished the goblins off without difficulty.

Race: Human

Class: Celestial Scholar

Level: 301

Health: 8,080/8,080 (80.8 HPs regen)

Mana: 16,440/16,440 (16,440 MPs regen)

Stats: Str 808; Dex; 808; Con 808; Wis 1,644; Int 1,644

Free Stats: 2

S/S Slots: 200

Skills:

Paperweight III (51%)

Origami Ascension III (51%)

Celestial’s Five Senses (77%)

Spells:

Witch’s Rune Curses I (27%)

Domain of Celestial Paper I (98%)

Mental Traits:

Celestial Mind (100%)(*)

Physical Traits:

Ascendant’s Physique (73%)

Celestial Body (100%)(*)

The last two hundred levels of pure killing in the Dungeon had driven quite a few improvements. While both her Celestial Mind and Body were ready to Rank-Up, Eve had kept them waiting for Domain of Celestial Paper and Ascendant’s Physique. She didn’t have a logical reason. It was just a hunch from the part of her mind that handled female intuition. That part had quietly screamed not to rank up until all four Domain of Paper, Ascendant's Physique, Celestial Body, and Celestial Mind were ready.

On the other hand, constant daily combat, as well as monster patrols, had caused both Paperweight and Origami Ascension to hit the third rank. When a Runic Paper Die weighing three-fourths of a ton hit most things, it caused the blood mist effect. Only when the enemies were non-corporal such as spirits, ghosts, or phantoms, did the Curses on each dice take center stage.

Witch’s Rune Curses I was a strange Spell that appeared among her Class List after taking Scribe and Enchanter. Glancing at the Spell demonstrated clearly why she had taken it.

Witch’s Rune Curses I

Celestial Class Limited Spell.

Must have Scribe.

Must have Enchanter.

Only available if mana regeneration is higher than 10,000.

Sacrifice 10% of your mana regeneration.

Your mana regeneration can never exceed your total mana.

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

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

Current Total Runes Available: 3

The three runes Eve used were picked after extensive discussion with Sara. A twenty-sided die allowed for five Runes of Intent from Origami Ascension while giving the rest to Witch’s Rune Curses.

Currently, the two Runes of Intent on her Runic Paper Die were Inguz and Laguz. Eve chose each Rune after careful consideration, and she was quite satisfied with the results so far. Inguz represented a Seed. It symbolized Goals, Growth, Change, Common Sense, and Home. The power of the Rune of Inguz reinforced Clarity given from Isa, reinforcing Celestial Mind immensely.

The third rune, Laguz represented Water. It symbolized Intuition, Emotions, Flow, Renewal, Dreams, Hopes, and Fears. Choosing it had been in no small part to help her mind deal with the stress of constant combat. At the same time, her intuition had skyrocketed, giving her the warning not to Rank-Up the Traits. A nice side effect of Laguz was the damage multiplier that occurred in combination with Isa.

The three Curses she had chosen to place on her Runic Paper Die weapons were Curse of Weakness, Curse of Slow, and Curse of Soul Burning. The first two were the most basic Curses used to help a caster fight melee opponents. The third, and last one, was to reduce the number of times one of the Six had to clean up after Eve. One of the main forms of getting information from the dead was nothing but ashes with the soul-burning curse.

All in all, a chunk of power. Eve thought. I still need to make choices for using the Slots, but I’m holding out till all four Rank-Ups are ready.

Nodding to herself, Eve floated forward following her two munchkins. The family that slays together stays together, in her opinion!