“I’ll handle them all leaving the corpses for you to eat,” Eve said, her expression in a withered evil old witch’s manic smile of glee. “In exchange, provide a floor for me to use.”

“How?” the floating red crystal asked.

“Recently, I experienced the thrill of a group designed specifically to hunt my Race.” Eve said with a flicker of annoyance, “Their tactic, while basic, crude, and lacking artistry, would have been effective if the power difference wasn’t so massive between us.”

“Mana Cost?” the floating red crystal asked, moving to look at the Daedric Doorway.

“Minimal. You need to remove the ambient mana within a room.” Eve said. The concept was complex for humans, but it was easier than watching grass grow for a Dungeon Core.

In an instant, the ambient mana within the room holding the Daedric Doorway became sealed into the walls.

“Perfect,” Eve said, even as her Shroud of Fire continued to work without pause. She could feel the confusion of her floating crystal partner as he stared at the flames melting new arrivals from the Door.

“Mana…Font?” the ruby asked, seeming to attempt to place the existence of her somewhere into its understanding.

“Close enough, I guess.” Eve said with a shrug, “Leave the mana in the room until the enemy arrives. Then pull it out, and seal the room, exactly like a boss fight. I’ll handle everything after that happens.”

“Agreed.” the ruby said before falling to the floor as the Dungeon Core’s presence left. Moments later, the ruby melted into the stone, like unfrozen ice cream with nothing remaining.

Eve turned her attention to the sheet of ‘space’ glass she had placed before the Daedric Doorway to prevent escape. With a small effort of will, runes flickered across the surface, turning the portal into a one-way death trap. First, the tiny runes carved by Witch’s Dust turned the surface into a flat plane of heat that would incinerate anything crossing the threshold. Then, to prevent the room's temperature from becoming unhealthy, the same runes fed all heat around them into the enchantment. After watching the entire structure work for a few minutes, Eve was satisfied. She still gained experience making the ‘trap’ although it would only work up to the lower part of Tier Six.

Eve estimated that anything with its Shroud, defensive shield, armor, or Domain would effortlessly be able to live through the fire trap. However, if something like that came through, she was okay with teleporting right out of this place. Spatial Step might significantly damage her without ambient mana to work with, but Eve could heal. Even if she died, it would only mean a brief moment for the Talisman to recycle her back into existence.

Holding the line for a potential payday was far different from being a hero. Eve ascribed thoroughly to the concept that someone would hold it up if the sky fell. Even further, if she were the one holding up the sky, Eve would damn well charge for it! In her opinion, working for free was the domain of the guilty and the insane.

With nothing better to do until the Cardinal’s people arrived, Eve moved into the Hut. Striding through her home, she arrived at the room that Nota was training Mark in with a short burst of speed. Entering, she saw that her familiar was teaching the young boy an essential series of runes from Eternal Memory.

Eve’s abilities with runes resulted from directly interfacing with her Eternal Memory. Nota updated and maintained the library of runes, quickly pulling from every source of knowledge, stolen or bought, seen or sensed. Nota had put forth the theory that the mana of souls was like a complex machine. The runic language was the software running on the device, creating incredible effects. Talents, Skills, Spells, Perks, Items, and so on were equivalent to the hardware. Combined, they made up the Class that a person gained. Rising in Tiers was the same as upgrading to a new machine.

As for the System, Nota page-waived that one.

Who knows what reality manipulating aliens spawned in their mad experiments in my beloved familiar's words? Eve thought with a smirk. She’s just sad she can’t explain Wilson as quickly!

Shifting her clothing to be more scholarly, Eve allowed the door to close soundlessly behind her as she approached the lesson table. Almost all her allies could create physical forms they found appealing now. Nota’s favorite appeared to be one of a librarian. While the features shifted depending on the day, the classic glasses, scholarly robes, and strict hairstyles did not.

“How is the education going?” Eve said, causing Mark to startle in surprise.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

“He’s getting a good grasp of the basic elements. I expect that within a year, manipulation of most of them won’t be a problem.” Nota said, adjusting her glasses to look up from the book she taught Mark.

“Are there any Elements he favors?” Eve said, glancing at the young boy.

“Indeed, there is one that dovetails nicely with his affinity,” Nota said with a sly smile at her young student.

“Oh?” Eve said, turning to look at Mark’s uneasy expression.

“Blood,” Mark said with a grimace.

“Blood, eh?” Eve said. “Remind me of vampires, wasn’t that Race the blood manipulation specialists of most fantasy lore?”

“Indeed. I’m sure if we encounter any, Kudzu would be able to extract the secret of their eternal lifespan out. Assuming the legends from Earth are truthful, that is.” Nota said with a bright smile.

Eve nodded, deciding to look into the subject later. Vampires could be a solution to the problem of those around her not being immortal. It would also be a good cover for her lifespan in the future if she had to stay in one place for a long time in the same form. While her pointed ears hinted at Elven genes, the addition of fangs could easily add another layer of security.

Vampire elf. Eve thought sardonically. Just as likely to be burned at stake for that as being a witch, right?

“I’ll leave you to it then,” Eve said, waving at Nota, who waved back lazily as the lesson resumed.

Exiting the room, Eve used Spatial Step to race through the Hut. With a battle about to occur shortly, she needed a dose of cute and fluffy to fortify herself. Entering the lab, she found Lily hard at work healing the enslaved people. Each enslaved woman had sparkling eyes as they looked at the little healer.

“It’s a little quiet in here,” Eve said as she walked up to watch Lily work.

“I had to restrict speech to provide Lily the ability to concentrate. All these women were in a hurry to swear eternal loyalty and service to my student.” Kudzu said from a nearby hanging vine.

Eve blinked and said, “Really?”

“Really. Serving a healer is a massive boost in status according to the cultural norms of their tribe.” Kudzu said with a shrug.

Eve glanced at the vine and sent a short mental message. Do you think they are worth keeping?

Every excellent healer is built on a graveyard of pain. Kudzu replied.

Eve rolled her eyes. Are you an Alchemist or a Philosopher?

I can be both. Some of us are not limited in our mental capacity. Kudzu shot back.

Eve picked up Lily from behind and glared at the vine briefly before hugging her cute disciple to regenerate from the mental blow. Lily had learned that struggle was hopeless and merely continued healing the enslaved women. Once all the enslaved women were finished being treated, Eve ignored the jealousy in their eyes. With a minor application of TK, she floated while hugging Lily horizontal to the floor as she pondered what to do with newly healed women. Floating sideways wasn’t just for her satisfaction; healing had taken a great deal of effort for the young girl causing her exhaustion. Falling asleep in Eve’s arms was easy since the young girl had been quick to bond due to her empathic abilities. Eve served as both pillow and security blanket in one.

“If you want to stay here, you will need to earn your keep,” Eve said, eyeing the enslaved people.

One of the braver ones asked, “What do we need to do to stay?”

Eve raised an eyebrow and said, “Help my student train, of course.” She pointed at Lily before continuing, “She needs live subjects. You will be her test dummies for everything from poisoning to curses. Blood, broken bones and organ failure are simple things, but I won’t let her be limited to those alone.”

There was a quick exchange of glances among the women before the brave one spoke again, “We would be honored, great elder!”

Eve floated Lily into a small bed of woven vines that Kudzu created before landing. “Serve well, and you will be allowed to serve as her sword and shield.”

“Thank you!” the speaker for the enslaved people replied with a heart-fisted salute.

Eve waved her hand lazily before using Spatial Step to exit the Hut. Appearing in the Dungeon room, Eve examined the Daedric Doorway, checking to see any issues with her current solutions.

After a thorough check, Eve decided to switch rooms to exterminate the Cardinal’s raid team. There was no reason to fight in the same room as the Daedric Doorway. If one of the raid teams managed to break her solutions by some miracle, the room would quickly flood with enemies.

Better to fight a few rooms away, just in case. Eve thought. Who knows what tricks people on the edge of death will attempt?

“Do you want to watch?” Eve said, speaking to the Dungeon as she moved swiftly towards her battlefield of choice.

“Yes.” the dungeon said, forming a ruby square cubed-eye cluster to watch.

Using her Witch’s Dust, Eve watched the raid team descend. While the Dungeon offered a challenge for small groups like Rex’s team, a raid group of twenty effortlessly obliterated their way down. Eve kept an eye on the enemies as she slowly staged the room in her favor with the Dungeon Core’s assistance.

Even though removing access to ambient mana would be a sinister strike, Eve saw no reason to leave it at that. She had rocky pillars scattered around the room breaking up sight. Moss was grown on all surfaces possible to deaden sound, and the Core extinguished all light sources.

Magical gear is easily visible to me. Eve thought as she fixed various rune-triggered Curses on the floor, walls, ceiling, and pillars. I’ll take out those I can see first and then pick off the rest.

When someone can see their actions and movement reflect it. Eve would take advantage of the ingrained habits of those with sight and remove them accordingly. She intended to make her alpha strike a devastating blow to gain a more significant benefit. Once the shock and awe effect was gone, she needed to keep the raid group off-balance as much as possible.

Eve was well aware this was the most prominent fight she had participated in, and the more combatants, the more chances of a lucky blow occurring. She had an overwhelming confidence in winning, though, since this type of work was something she had trained for back on Earth.

After attaching spore pods from Kudzu in several locations, Eve took her place above the entrance point, sticking effortlessly to the ceiling.

Grinning in the dark, Eve whispered jokingly, “Showtime.”