Eve watched the sandstorm raging outside the window of her room before giving a deep sigh. While the Hut was able to ignore the deadly swirling sand, she knew that attempting to move in such weather would unnecessarily strain its powers. Moreover, with the children in the dungeon being watched over by Sara, Brianna baking, and Kudzu doing experiments, she felt like the only person with nothing to do.

I should look into doing some experiments on the Primal Energy Source, Mana. Eve thought. Wilson gives an overlay with the Status we see, yet I have not honestly looked beneath what is shown.

Nodding, Eve teleported herself into a private lab the Hut had created for her when Kudzu’s laboratory was made. While she had rarely used the place, it was spotless except for a few elemental mice that could be seen cleaning with their abilities. While the wolves were what most people focused on when visiting, it was the elemental mice that the Hut had grown fond of. Kudzu had a core group of mice that took care of the Garden for ingredients. Though, any mice that were not part of Kudzu’s Gardeners had been swayed over time to the Hut. Passages, private residences for mice families, ample food supplies, and more were the bribes used. Eve even suspected some of the more well-trained elemental mice had gained a sort of symbiotic relationship with her house. If so, both the Hut and the mice might be learning how to use Mana effectively from each other!

Yet, here I am, five years after arrival, still allowing myself to be ignorant! Eve thought with a grin. Now that I’ve reached the third threshold of Class, I have a perfect alibi for my agelessness. I can afford to spend some time developing the tools I have. The first threshold is the Choice, the second the Path, the third the Dragon’s Gate, and the fourth the Dragon’s Path in popular literature of this world. For my Dragon’s Path to lead to greater heights, I should understand where it leads!

Eve nodded to herself as she lay down on a paper couch in the middle of the lab. Bibliotheca Mind allowed her to use Aura to investigate her body at a level no Earth scientist could imagine. Domain became a tool that allowed for precise manipulation of her body. Under the combination, Bibliotheca Body and the pattern of mana it was composed of came to light over several hours of study.

Like gradients in geology, mana patterns are the basis for Skills, Spells, and Traits! Eve was astounded. The Primal Energy Source known as Mana was not only fuel, it was a fabricator as well! Mana is both the bricklayer and the brick. An organic body serves as mortar allowing the structures of mana to form stable bonds! This gives rise to Skills, Spells, and Traits!

Eve rose from her meditative examination couch and started pacing. It was clear from this why a particular affinity to mana existed. If a person had a body, e.g., mortar, that filtered out everything except for darkness mana, you gained a dark elemental affinity. The same principle could be applied to light, fire, wind, or anything in theory. Moreover, her mana had changed over time, most likely to favor paper, implying that conceptual ideas could be filtered by a body too!

Classes could be one of several things, primarily a bonding of the System to an individual’s mana structures. In essence, taking a Class gives Wilson access to the ability to grow a person’s mana structures in a specific format. Thus, allowing the System to perform better the duty of guarding reality against things outside trying to enter! Eve thought as Bibliotheca Mind allowed connections to be made at lightning speed with the new knowledge gained. When she first upgraded Intelligence and Wisdom in the past Eve, she felt they had provided almost no noticeable mental boost. Now that she had approximately sixty percent of her total Stats into the mental categories, the change was readily apparent. The Trait of Bibliotheca Mind provided immunity to many mental conditions in conjunction with the Bibliotheca Body. From what she could see, both of these mana structures were massive fractal patterns with intricate strings of mana bonded into a single coherent whole crafted by the System.

Eve felt that the most substantial part of the mental Trait known as Bibliotheca Mind, like Celestial Mind before it, was that the trait effortlessly smoothed the perception of her boosted mentality. She was making connections, leaps of logic, and intuitively grasping the fundamentals of a Primal Energy Source showed crystal clear the difference in mental acuity from the past to the present day. Eve hadn’t been stupid on Earth. She was in the upper percentile of mental gymnastics according to several standardized military tests. However, the difference between back then and now was readily apparent to her critical eye. Spells and Skills came easier than when she had first arrived in the System’s world. Abstract concepts were more transparent, her memory was seamless, and her emotions were much more stable. Eve felt that the mana structure that allowed Stats to exist must inherently emphasize something in a person’s body as the energy settled—in essence, making characteristics that were already present greater than before by energizing them with the Primal Energy Source.

An intelligent person becomes smarter. A strong person becomes stronger. A wise and calm person becomes more of each. Eve thought. Basically, at the most fundamental level, when the mana’s framework forms into Stats, that which is already present becomes greater than the existent sum of its parts. Experience is, in essence, the allocation of mana to the structures created, using the System as both brick and brick wedge. Part, parcel, and pushcart all in one piece, an integrated symbol to achieve the ultimate effects! Eve’s pacing picked up speed as her thoughts flowed faster. Would it be possible to absorb ambient mana? No, mana also causes mutation, it must, or monsters wouldn’t exist in such numbers. The System stops the mutations for sentient and sapient individuals by forcing mana to be used in specific ways. In essence, experience or structured mana is pushed into Stats, Skills, Spells, or Traits. Four total allocations prevent a person from mutating uncontrollably. Suppose the System itself is only assisting in allocating. In that case, that must mean there is something inherent to a sapient or sentient mind that prevents mutation simply by being immersed in the Primal Energy Source.

Conversely, monsters mutate along the path their body interacts best with mana. Thus we get Stone Bears, Wind Mice, and so forth. The monster’s body, its mortar basically, and the mana combines to take the path of least resistance for greater power.

“A mana field, dear creator, we must generate a mana field. So weak as to be a mere wisp, but the inherent contradiction in energies prevents a person from being flooded by ambient mana!” Eve said, gasping as the inspiration struck. “No wonder ores and metals with extremely high mana exist. It makes perfect sense when you divide things between those who can think and those who cannot. Somehow the act of thought produces a wisp of an energy field, enough to shield the thinker’s body! Without a mana field, the immersion into the Primal Energy Source must be absolute, thus a normal metal, since there is no mana field to protect it gains ‘magical’ properties!”

Eve collapsed back on her thinking couch, exhausted from the burst of mental acuity. There would be a long process to verify her theories, but she was confident it would be fruitful. She was willing to bet that if Earth didn’t have a System, her brother must have a backup plan or a way to get a System to Earth. If not, it would be entirely up to science to save the day. However, that wasn’t anything Eve had time to worry about now. The arrival of several objects that appeared to be ships pushed by the storm pulled her thoughts from theory to the present. Shifting directly into the bathroom with teleportation, Eve moved out of her paper clothing as usual and took a shower. Nota floated to her bed to wait since she didn’t like water. The fact that the grimoire was waterproof made no difference, and Eve had long given up applying logic to her sapient book-hat.

The approaching travel vehicles were utterly dominated by the storm and wouldn’t arrive anytime soon with current weather conditions. Since there was no hurry after watching them limp through the sandstorm’s fury, Eve decided to melt her stress while organizing her thoughts. After almost half an hour of hot watery meditation, she exited the shower to dry with a fluffy paper towel of appropriate size. Cleaning her paper suit by flicking it through her inventory, Eve decided to head out to the approaching ships. Nota immediately took her place atop Eve’s head with a flutter of pages. Putting her standard paper shapeshifted suit on, Eve switched it into armor mode just in case. There was a flicker of teleportation via spatial manipulation, and Eve was outside in the raging sandstorm just inside the Hut’s shields.

There was a moment while Eve flexed her Aura and Domain before all sand in a seventy-five-meter radius of her body instantly was dumped into the inventory. The area around Eve became still and muffled as her two abilities effortlessly removed all intruding sand and muted high decibel sounds from the storm. The effect she was currently holding in place required a minimal amount of mana reserved to upkeep, so Eve was comfortable if things turned combative.

She was reasonably sure that the approaching ships were lost merchants from the Oasis blown off course by the storm by a simple process of elimination. Few, if any, groups would travel on the burning sands except those brave, foolhardy, or powerful enough to do so. Profit would be one of the only motivators Eve could think of that would get someone out and about with a storm on the horizon. She couldn’t be sure, though, because getting a clear read through all the ambient mana in the shower with Aura would cost a great deal of mana. Even with Nota’s help, it would be better to be standing on a ship if she wanted to examine it in the storm’s chaos. The ships themselves were large enough to detect, but individual people, items, cargo, and so forth were not.

Eve thought briefly of teleporting onto the lead ship, then took a long look at the ambient mana insanity around her. The chaotic ambient mana and the possibility that there might be wards to stop teleportation thieves squashed such thoughts. She didn’t have any desire to find out the hard way what happened when a teleport went wrong, and the remembered stories from Earth painted horrific pictures of what could happen. Much better to approach with visibility at zero so she could get a good look first. Information took priority in value in such a situation, and even in a magical world, Eve felt the OODA loop still applied with a vengeance.

If there were a whiff of anything dangerous, Eve would quickly retreat.

If she somehow were captured, it wouldn’t be for long, as Eve could see the Sparrow phasing effortlessly above her position within her empty sand cube area. Aid was a mere shift into the Astral away with the bird around. Sadly, if Kudzu were forced to help, he wouldn’t spare anyone stupid enough to take such an action, especially if it interrupted his experiments. But, on the other hand, she didn’t care much if enemies vanished into his laboratory for experimentation.

As the largest ship came into her anti-sand cube, Eve identified the majority species onboard as humans and shifted her disguise to match. Blonde hair, blue eyes, a decent figure in a complete witchy outfit, and of course, the mandatory pointy hat. A simple leap up from the sand allowed her to board the ship’s prow, which was in the process of passing through the ancient stone story steles. At a glance, she could see the deck was currently filled predominantly with men, although they were almost all turned facing the ship's rear. Only a single man was facing forward to see her arrive, and Eve marked him as either the Captain or Navigator. There didn’t seem to be a wheel, so the ship was probably controlled by magic means of some sort. A flow of mana from the man facing her into the vessel affirmed her idea.

A shout from the person Eve suspected was the Navigator, purely from the lack of a lovely hat that captain types wore, made all the sailors turn to face her, each holding a variety of melee weapons. Only a few of the men that turned to face her had a ranged crossbow weapon, and there was no sign of a single gun. Before the ship’s forces could take a step towards her, Eve stretched her senses to detect any wards on the vehicle. The only sensation of mana was from the decks below, most likely the cargo holds considering the ship’s dimensions. With that determined, a line of sight teleport which takes far less effort even with the ambient mana chaos from the storm, allowed Eve to appear just to the side of the navigator. Her appearance elicited the stench of fear from those around her.

Yeah, be scared. The woman in a pointy hat you were about to attack can move at will. So Eve thought, raising her right hand, which Nota settled into placidly, moving out from under her pointy hat. Now a simple check to make sure this isn’t a slave merchant or weapon running ship, and I’ll be set.

Eve sent a vast pulse of mana with Nota’s help from her position to ripple through the entirety of the ship, cutting through the storm’s interference, searching specifically for the flavor that slave brands, collars, or other methods carried. When the only thing that returned to her senses was a vast quantity of water in the now confirmed merchant’s cargo hold, Eve was glad. In a desert, there were usually only two things worth transporting in large quantities, labor and water, according to Sara. Since the ship carried water, and there was no taint of slavery, Eve decided to see if something could be worked out with the crew.

The ships behind this one appeared to have moved into a classic hunting pattern akin to pirates' use. Finally, Eve turned to face the sailor nearby fully and said, “I am Eve. Do you require assistance?”

The navigator’s expression shifted from fearful to hope in the blink of an eye before he said, “Yes! We have sand pirate pursuers. They’re all high bounty names, worth a fortune dead or alive at the Oasis! So this here Navigator would be right grateful if you assisted us, missy!”

Eve turned to look into the storm with her Aura while glancing sidelong at the sailor, “Who would I be helping, exactly?”

The sailor straightened up his body language seriously and said, “Navigator Ansom, of the Goldwater Company. I formally request assistance from you, Miss Eve, in dealing with these sandscum.”

Eve nodded and asked, “Where is the Captain? If he is injured, I might be able to treat him.”

“Captain Soros exhausted himself into mana sickness, keeping us ahead of the storm when we tried to outrun the pirates. He’s below getting treated at the moment by our ship’s doctor.” Navigator Ansom replied, his face showing a worried expression.

“Dead or alive, you say?” Eve asked Ansom to confirm his previous words.

“Yes, miss, if I might add, dead is much preferred. Our ship has quite a few storage cubes, which would allow the transport of bodies without letting the smell of decay out. Much safer too, as you never know what Skill or Spell a pirate could have.” Ansom replied with deference. Anyone able to travel in the storm was worth being polite too.

“I see. I guess I’ll intervene then. My Hut might want to study the pirate ships.” Eve said, musing aloud.

Before the Navigator could reply, she leaped over the stern, heading towards the pursuing pirate ships.