19.1

ACT 963161069-26889.20.(M1.D24-M10.D31)-Eve-Smith-Silver Prime

Eve was sitting in a chair crafted of living shadow with a frown on her face. The Dungeon wasn’t stupid. When she had reached the fifth floor the Floor Boss had been waiting in ambush with its minions. Shadow Warriors had been striking in absolute darkness from every conceivable angle. Even with Savage Survival Mind and Combat Bot, it was only the field of Witch’s Dust boosting her senses that allowed victory. She had been forced to boost a light sphere spark into incandescent fury to locate the Living War Shadow and kill it before she was overwhelmed. Darkened Bosses are no joke.

Her plan to fight her way through thirty floors, defeating each floor boss with her sword skills and quick reflexes had just taken a sharp dive. With each boss defeated, a surge of energy and power after performing a Blood Ritual to restore her Tiers occurred. The problem was she couldn’t just blaze forward with mindless melee. It was a balancing act to acquire enough power, but still, optimally kill the bosses with minimal resources. Starting from the tenth level, she would need to fight the Floor Boss twice. The Fibonacci sequence is nice in nature. Not so much when I need it to regain what was sealed.

She rose from her corpse chair and spent several hours crafting the living shadow remains into a wetwork suit. Eve knew what would be waiting on the tenth floor and felt it was better to have a suit for assassination ready. As she exited the fifth floor, Eve felt a strange energy coursing through her body. Tier Three must be close.

The sensation of almost-Tier felt like a door half-opened before her senses. Much like she could feel her strength increasing as her Basic Ability numbers grew, as she approached the new Tier her senses sharpened, and her mind became more focused. Crystal Core was less of a burden than before making fights smoother. Donning the recently crafted wetsuit, she entered the transport. Piloting the speeder craft in the shape of a reverse teardrop that she had built through the Dungeon felt much easier now.

Driving swiftly through the floors from the fifth to the tenth took a mere two hours. Eve was practically on autopilot reflexively dodging traps, earthen spikes, and other Adventurers. In her opinion personal transportation craft far outstripped walking or running even if the runner was at a higher Level. Even with superhuman stamina, most people are still just stronger, tougher, and more robust versions of themselves. A properly designed machine can outpace them easily.

Eve exited the craft upon reaching the tenth floor and keyed the protective theft-proof runestone. The vague white mist that denoted reaching the lowest point of the Upper Levels was flowing smoothly about. Normally monsters would ambush from within the mist as it cut visibility to minimal levels. I can see how it would be dangerous for newbies and weaklings. No wonder the danger rating in this section requires a team to be accompanied by stronger individuals. It would also be the perfect place for an ambush from shady Adventurers, the body cams wouldn’t work so well here.

Calling her Jian to hand Eve strode forward with the personal transportation craft following like a lost puppy soundlessly. The mist floors as they were known had large-category monsters such as Orcs and Infant Dragons. Neither type proved many challenges to Eve as she used Witch’s Dust to thicken the mist around her form. Killing from inside the mist was hardly a challenge although she did note the larger humanoids using crude weapons. Large uprooted trees were found among the Orcs she slayed. Replace the clubs with stone and it mimics what the Dark Troll Floor Boss used, interesting.

Combat Bot automated the assassination of targets with routine expediency. She would detect one of the monsters in the mist, sneak close, and decapitate them. Blood Refining allowed the monsters to be drained and feed her Curses. It was clear as a bright morning day to Eve that her needs influenced what her Status gained. I can choose what to pull out of the Library but not what the world provides at a Level. System Core-based worlds appear much neater in that respect.

Reaching the inner central portion of the tenth floor, Eve released a sliver of her power once more. A monster wove into existence in response to the scent while the now classic Dungeon screams echoed about. Eve glanced over the Dark Infant Dragon noting the normal weaknesses of the lesser species still appeared. From what she could see so far, Dark versions were buffed, stronger, faster versions of the floor’s normal species. It is like the template is taken, woven, strengthened, and then released.

Savage Survival Mind and Combat Bot had gained a plethora of experience fighting the normal versions. While the horde that accompanied a Dark version was strong, that was in comparison to normal Adventurer teams. Eve approached the horde methodically now that she knew the Dungeon didn’t have an endless mana supply. Or perhaps it does, but only so much can flow through the pipe up to the upper levels?

Whichever it was, the fact remained that killing was a mechanical function of the form. Eve’s body was no longer a mere Level One, and there was no need to attempt to trigger her failsafe. Instead, any observer would see a strange sight this time around. Monsters would be chopped off a limb, or straight decapitated in a gruesome fashion. However, after they started collapsing to the floor tendrils of blood would siphon from the corpse to Eve. Behind her back, like a backpack of horror, Blood Magic I and Blood Manipulation I created a macabre sight. A lump of compressed blood is constantly subjected to Blood Refining. Ripples moved across the liquid red surface denoting the power contained within. The entire setup gave Eve an endless supply of stamina as she siphoned the constant flow of liquid and kept her body in top form. She was slower than her failsafe, but this method had no requirements other than resources. Fortunately, the Dungeon doesn’t have a strategy other than throwing bodies. It is sentient perhaps, but not truly sapient.

After carving her way through a literal football stadium’s worth of flesh, the Dark Infant Dragon finally died to her Jian’s blade. Unlike the fifth floor, there was no need to use mana extensively. Eve extracted the dead monster’s crystal and compared it to the one dropped by the Dark Troll. There was a clear increase in size. Where the troll had been the size of a softball, this one was the size of a basketball. There has to be some use for this besides turning it into the guild for cash.

Eve shortened her Jian into a tool more suited for jewel crafting than murderous combat. With a spare gem from the Dark Infant Dragon, there was no problem crafting the one from the Dark Troll. Magic crystal shards tinkled to the floor below as she carved the gem into a twenty-sided faceted jewel. It might be just superstition, but there is no reason not to have twenty sides. It will concentrate the power nicely to the center.

With the first step of crafting, Eve shifted her tool into a precision instrument creating a semi-full glove. The index finger was sharpened to an abyssal edge the better to cut runes. With incredible speed, all twenty facets were engraved with the singular rune for Air. Now that the tool is made, let us pour power into it.

The False Falna tattoo on Eve’s back sparkled into illusionary brilliance. She pulled deeply on the Dungeon’s mana flow siphoning it directly into her crafted magic item. It was far easier to gain mana from defeated floor bosses for her personal power. However, creating a magic item would exhaust her unless she pulled the power from ambient mana. Fortunately, the Dungeon was nothing like Felix, otherwise, the Aura it controlled would have prevented this very trick. The many-sided spinning jewel rose up from Eve’s hand and began to orbit her head drawing an imaginary halo into sparkling existence. Air has always been one of the most fluid ways to spread Dust.

Now that she had an aid, the tenth floor turned from a battleground into a hunting ground. In preparation for moving deeper to the fifteenth floor, Eve started hunting between the ninth and fourteenth floors. She would rotate her hunting ground dumping the farmed crystals onto a Loki Familia team. Finn wasn’t wasteful enough to ignore free money and had stationed deep delve teams on each floor. I’m probably bringing in enough to run the cafeteria at least each sleep cycle.

Finally, the spawn timer for the tenth boss reset and Eve was able to summon another Dark Infant Dragon. The resulting fight was brutal, for the draconic creature. Eve created bullets made from Witch’s Dust and used the Air Gem to throw them at insane speeds. The Dark Infant Dragon lost both wings, then front claws, and then hindlegs. When it was nothing more than a mewling mess on the ground Eve continued harvesting the horde that spawned. It was bloody cruelty, but then the Dungeon monsters only had instincts to kill from what she had observed so far.

Magic crystals were magic crystals, so Eve ran a donation drive.

Oh? It caught on a bit faster this time. Eve thought watching the monster horde spawn peter out after two days. She scrunched her face in annoyance. If the Dungeon was sentient enough to stop attacking before it ran out of mana flow that wasn’t a good sign. I hope it doesn’t do something like get used to my tactics and refuse to create a Dark Floor Boss.

Cleaning up was a rather mundane trick now. Eve would dice the monsters into edible parts, then siphon the blood. Finally, she would package the meat in bundles using the skin. The entire process wouldn’t have looked out of place at a meat packing plant, minus the heavy machinery, and the fact that it was being done by a single woman with magic. If it wasn’t that Mama asked for some resupply, I wouldn’t have bothered. It doesn’t do to antagonize a fellow chef though, especially when she figured out how to help me feed before I reached my current state.

Repaying good deeds was just basic common sense in Eve’s mind. Once the entire cavern had been packaged, she used a communication crystal one of the crystal teams had given to call in Loki's forces. It was amusing watching a number of Supporters use the now common spatial backpacks. While she had focused more on machines, Eve had released a few sets of runes. There were plenty of crafters willing to risk explosive experiments for profit. The results were self-evident successes like the comm crystals and the spatial bags. I can’t be everywhere doing everything after all. If the Divines didn’t want me to do it, they would have sent a messenger.

For the next five floors, Eve continues her journey through the dungeon in a slow drive-by, now with the added boost of her new magical item. She faced each creature experimenting with the Air Gem, using her newfound strength and abilities to her advantage. It wasn’t fighting so much anymore, as pure slaughter. By the time she reaches the fifteenth floor, she had graduated from throwing fast rocks to throwing much faster rocks. The rocks being actual Witch’s Dust compressed bullets. There isn’t a great many solutions to defeat someone who throws hardened sabot shells through a vacuum tunnel on targets that can’t move fast enough to dodge them.

On the fifteenth floor, Eve knows that the battles ahead will be even faster and require less effort than before. The floor bosses are getting stronger, and she can feel the weight of their presence even before she enters their chambers. But she was undaunted and determined to win with minimal effort. Regaining the lost Tiers of power would both ensure her safety, and make solidifying gains easier. Eve planned to loot this world for everything that wasn’t nailed down. As long as it doesn’t do long-term harm or environmental harm, resources are coming with me. I’ll consider it an evening of the debt that idiot Summoner owes from the grave.

After a short battle with the fifteenth-floor boss, Eve emerged victorious. Basic Ability scores don’t mean much against fifty-caliber bullets thrown with compressed air in vacuum tunnels. She performed the Blood Ritual and could feel her power growing even stronger than before. Her power-up is now even more potent, and she can feel the door to Tier Three would open shortly. The delay waiting for two more Dark Floor Bosses was longer this time clocking in at two solid months. Due to the boredom of waiting, Eve had cleaned the cave system multiple times making it safe for Loki Familia teams to level without fear. Quite a few people gained levels with a higher concentration of mana. Magic crystals were shipped out, and the meat was packaged. After a solid month of waiting for the last Dark Floor Boss Eve finally cracked open Tier Three upon its death. Siphoning the mana from the dead being, she quickly cracked open her Library.

Runic Cryptography V

You can decipher any Rune Language.

There is no lock without a key.

Ritual Rune Ciphering V

You can write in any Rune Language. Skeleton's keys are not supreme.

Runic Skeleton Key V

You can break any Rune Lock with time.

Unlock the potential of eternity.

With cold-eye purpose, she pulled another chunk of her power out into the world. There was a keening noise, as the Dungeon around her flinched. The earthen bedrock floors and tunnels shook with fear that stopped only when she closed the Library. It appears the Dungeon can feel basic feelings, but that won’t stop me!

She had taken Soul Cooking, Rune of Shroud, and Traveling Dust Witch's Core of Space-Papered Ink- Dust (Blood) in preparation for these last two components.

Soul Cooking provided the Runes. Ritual Rune Ciphering provided the foundation. Runic Cryptography and Runic Skeleton Key expanded the foundation into a working frame of reference. Rune of Shroud provided a power supply, and the Traveling Dust Witch's Core of Space-Papered Ink-Dust (Blood) anchored the entire construct without burning her to cinders. With delicate precision possible only with Crystal Core, Eve slotted the entire mana structure into precise alignment inside the Air Gem. A click as if a key had been slotted into a lock sounded.

Eve smiled as the hefty magic crystals of the Dark Infant Dragon and Dark Goliath were pulled to the Air Gem. With a crunching shatter, all the magic crystals turned into dust that begin to swirl around the Air Gem. Eve watched the miniature galaxy form before it began to pulse with runic harmonics. Tier Three granted much higher Magic in the Basic Abilities. As a result, the flow of mana around her was strengthened to dazzling amounts.

Calling forth her Status she gave a critical eye to the entire description.

Name: Eve Smith (Hidden)

Race: Witch

Alias: Eve of Loki Familia

Level III (Tier Three)

Basic Abilities:

Strength (SSS-1501) (4503)

Endurance: (SSS-1501) (4503)

Dexterity: (SSS-1501) (4503)

Agility: (SSS-1501) (4503)

Magic: (SSS-1501) (4503)

Developmental Abilities:

Witch’s Dust

Witch’s Body

Crystal Core

Refining Blood

Skill:

Dust Manipulation I

Blood Manipulation I

Sword I

Blood Enchantments:

Soul Cooking

Runes, Flesh, Soul, Food.

Art from the ancient Dremora. Let the Hunger be assuaged!

Rune of Shroud

Burn existence to fuel existence.

Traveling Dust Witch's Core of Space-Papered Ink- Dust (Blood)

You extract food to regenerate the appropriate Resource from anything with Blood.

Immune to Mana Burn.

Immune to World Energy Overload.

Immune to Chaos Contamination.

Everything is food for a Traveling Dust Witch (Blood).

Magic:

Runic Cryptography V

You can decipher any Rune Language.

There is no lock without a key.

Ritual Rune Ciphering V

You can write in any Rune Language. Skeleton's keys are not supreme.

Runic Skeleton Key V

You can break any Rune Lock with time.

Unlock the potential of eternity

Dust Magic I

Blood Magic I

Spatial Steps I

Curses:

Immortality (???)

Hunger V (Blood)

Thirst V (Blood)

Item:

Core World Construct

Potential to decipher and absorb made manifest.

Eve gripped her Jian tightly as she descended deeper into the dungeon. She didn’t sit inside the speeder, as it wouldn’t allow her enough reaction time now. Instead, she sat at the front of the craft, steering it with her mind as she raced down. Above her head the Core World Constructhovered like an expectant ally. The air was thick with the stench of decay and the sounds of creatures lurking in the shadows. The bedrock stone caves had given way to what appeared to be living wood tunnels now. She knew that the dangers would only increase the deeper she went, but there was no gain without risk. No plan survives contact with the enemy. As the Dungeon adapts, so do I.

As she reached the twentieth floor, Eve heard the sound of shuffling footsteps coming from up ahead. She tightened her grip on her sword and slowly made her way toward the source of the noise. As she turned a corner, Eve came face-to-face with a group of mantises. Without hesitation, she charged toward them, her sword glinting in the dim light of the dungeon. There is no reason to show my hand more than I’ve already done.

The mantises lunged at Eve from all directions, but she was too quick for them. With precise movements, she parried their attacks and delivered swift strikes with her sword. Within moments, the insectoid creatures lay defeated at her feet. Eve let out an annoyed sigh before continuing on her journey. Bugs mean queens. Colonies. Numbers. This shouldn’t be a problem, as long as they have blood, of a sort.

Circling through the twentieth floor revealed it was a massive maze of epic proportions. Eve wasn’t worried since Crystal Core could easily map something like this. Her dismissive nature lasted right up until she saw a wall grow into place. Wonderful, we’ve gone from the try to kill my stage to the try to bore me to death and exhaust my food supply stage. Thrilling.

The Dungeon may have decided to play the waiting game, but Eve had no such intentions. A sliver of her true power’s scent leaked out once more forcing a Dark Spider Queen to be woven into existence. As the massive creature charged her, Eve stood doing nothing. When the creature waved one massive spiked leg to skewer her the Core World Construct seemed to flicker. The bigger they are, the better target they make.

Eve watched the giant arthropod collapse. Reaching the corpse she pulled on the Air ripping the massive magic crystal free. Core World Construct leaped from above her head turning into a liquified form with multiple tendrils. It took mere minutes for the massive magic crystal to be processed. Mana flowed along the link with her Item starting the process of gaining Tier Four. One down, four more to go.

As Eve climbed further into the dungeon, she encountered creatures that were stronger and more vicious than any she had faced before. She knew that her sword alone would not be enough to defeat them. Not without excessive effort. Some enemies started sporting thin mana shields, and others were massive titans of scale and chitin protected by natural armor.

So, as a witch, Eve turned to her magic.

Eve had been practicing her spells relentlessly within the Crystal Core training theatre, and now it was time to put them to the test. As she moved between the eighteenth and the twenty-fourth floor she faced off against many threats. Everything turned into food for her Item or herself. While only the Dark Floor Bosses contained the mana amounts needed to open new Tiers, the fodder still was filling. Plasma Shot was a spell that handled most creatures easily. The days of harvesting by the blade are over for now it appears.

When the next Dark Spider Queen formed it wasn’t even a challenge. With a flick of her wrist, Eve summoned a scintillating orb of plasma that arced through the enormous spider with ease. The creature roared in pain as the fourth state of matter surged through its body before dying once more. Harvesting was automatic now, and efficient beyond belief.

Even after the second Dark Spider Queen was dead, the minions kept spawning. Eve noted how the Dungeon had started adding minor mana shields to the creatures. It was clearly copying the more advanced mana shield that surrounded her skin tightly. I didn’t want to teach it anything, but this is getting ridiculous!

She continued to weave spells, alternating between Plasma Shot and Sun Coin. The spell for Sun Coin created a small Earth-sized American quarter the surface was heated to temperatures that mimicked the actual sun. A minor mana shell isolated the coin until it contacted physical matter. The results were predictable and proactive. Even large monstrosities staggered under the onslaught, but they refused to go down without a fight. That was when Eve would use a second one of either type. Efficient, effective, and easy. Triple E rating!

Three more Dark Spider Queens fell to overpowered magic before Eve was finally able to head deeper. She took a short route down to twenty-five basically diving down another shaft like the one from the surface to the first floor. The entrance of the twenty-fifth floor was known to veterans of the Dungeon as the Second Line. It was the start of the two-floor nightmare known as Water City. Eve’s previous rescue of Loki Familia members had given her the basic layout. She wasn’t in a tank this time though, so her hovercraft speeder negated the most disadvantageous terrain to date with casual aplomb. Oh? A hydra? It only has two heads though, how odd!

Sure enough, the floor boss was an amphibian. Eve watched the creature roar at her while the monstrous piranha circled the depths. Her eyes turned into crescents as she smiled at the future meal plan. Core World Costruct flickered in place twice above her head moving faster than unenhanced senses could track. In an instant two severed and cauterized stumps appeared on the hydra’s torso. The detached head and neck fell into the water with a massive splash. Eve watched the vicious fish start a battle royale that she rudely interrupted by pumping a ton of lighting into the lake. Meat-Packaging Eve the Auto-bot, I can already see the merchandising. Unfortunately, I still need to summon a Dark version, now.

Unlike the upper floors, there was no one to do the dirty work now. Eve didn’t worry though, as creating Spatial Bags was the work of minutes for her. She promptly spent the before the Dark Hydra, and between the seven respawns after its death creating a pure water filtration loop with runes. The next time someone came this deep they would have fresh water without worry. The least I could do for teaching the Dungeon how to create water shields.

Traveling to the twenty-eighth floor gave Eve her first experience of a safe point in the Dungeon. It consisted of a blank floor with a river cutting through. There was a massive shantytown crafted of exotic wood at the center and ever cheaper shacks. It seemed from the buildings that those of importance were closer to the water. Meh, no reason to stick around here, places to be, realities to break.

The first actual challenge appeared as she reached the thirtieth floor. Pack hunters called the Bloodsaur made this floor their hunting ground. Being that they were practically invincible to Level Two, it would be impossible for most guilds to survive this floor. At least until they enter it with a heavy armory.

The Bloodsaur that lurked here were rumored to be lethal pack hunters, and many adventurers had lost their lives trying to defeat them. But she didn’t feel threatened at all. Having air superiority, she knew that was enough to emerge victorious. As she made her way through the winding passages of the dungeon, Eve encountered Bloodsaur at every turn and twist. This is better than shooting fish in a barrel.

The thirtieth floor of the dungeon was unlike anything she had ever seen. The walls were lined with strange runes and symbols, and the air was thick with a strange, otherworldly energy. Eve knew that she had to be careful. She had heard stories of adventurers who had been driven mad by the strange magic of the dungeon, and she did not want to fall victim to its influence. Even if I’m almost one hundred percent certain to be immune.

The thirtieth floor was home to the Juggernaut floor boss. The creature was famous for murdering entire teams due to the fact that it was a predator with Camouflage. It resembled nothing so much as a lizard hound to Eve’s eyes. While the creature’s skill was fascinating, it didn’t work against her. That made it little more than target practice. Speed and rapid movement mean nothing if you cannot counter Flight.

When the floor boss died to a plethora of chained Sun Coins and Plasma Shots she was amused.

Next stop, thirteen Dark versions of this monster.Eve thought with a grimace.