17.6

Eve's first rule for dealing with magical science was to throw out most of the other rules she’d learned. Mana-based science had weird interactions directly based on the Laws. The fundamental rules of her new reality were written in the Laws that underlay everything. This meant the possibilities of error were directly proportional to how complex the experiment was. Explosions were the best result of a mistake. Worse ones could range from life-devouring plague locusts to grey goo that directly consumed the world. She knew this from the information acquired from Jeffery T. Wellington’s books, among other sources.

The Adventurer’s Guild had been most helpful in finding the current laws for experimenting. It turned out that most anything was acceptable. The caveat was proving that a person had taken all the reasonable steps possible for safety. Eve wasn’t shy about tapping a message talisman to city lord Ohm. She had gotten authorization by blatantly dropping hints Wilson ordered this. It was amazing what knowing a reality-spanning construct could do for cutting red tape.

Building a laboratory was handled by Felix. It was no more complicated than cutting and pasting from Eternal Memory. The devices inside the lab were a strange mix of science and magical technology. Runic circles surrounded standard equipment like dwarven bunsen burners. Eve was impressed at the amount of technology absorbed over the years from reincarnated individuals.

While most stories she had read back on Earth had the protagonists unwilling to reveal technology, that was a complete bunk. Unless some incredible cheat skill was applied, pulling out the information through magic, mental, or monetary methods was too easy. Protagonists in stories who were unwilling to share the secrets of advanced technology had too many ways to be remedied.

Seeing people refuse to introduce something like air conditioning to a desert world has always been amusing. Eve thought as she walked around her laboratory, looking at the various equipment. Guns, however, are the end-all-be-all if I remember. The perfect equalizer to magic, the counterplay to archmages. Because, for some reason, the magic users do not realize it is essentially the same as a high-speed rock being thrown. A kinetic dampening shield, or one that reflects along the exact vector it is struck, and poof, no more gunman.

It often bugged Eve to no end when she read such things. Strangely the magic users never came up with such ideas. Or there was a mysterious limitation in the world that prevented such things. The mages in such stories could do complex portals with esoteric math but couldn’t create gun-proof shields. It was mindboggling to a grave degree, in Eve’s opinion.

Eve dismissed the vagaries of whimsical stories from back home and moved over to the first lab table. The entire place was constructed systematically, allowing experiments to move from one table to another seamlessly. It was an excellent application of the assembly line concept to a magical lab.

“So, first, I need to improve my brain. If I replace it with something else, there appear to be three viable options.” Eve said, speaking into the open air.

“Runic Construct. Crystal Core. Living Spellwork.” Kudzu said from one of the vines strung throughout the lab. Considering he was handling the alchemic side of things, Eve wasn’t worried about his presence. The air was cleaner than the cleanest room on Earth as both Witch’s Dust, and Spores removed everything else while keeping positive air pressure.

“Why don’t we combine them all into one?” Nota asked from her position of lying open on the first lab table.

“It would be possible, in theory, to combine them all,” Felix said from his position floating nearby.

Eve looked pensive before she said, “In theory, it might work. But we would need test subjects to iron out any issues.” It wasn’t that she was against human experimentation. She was just against human experimentation on herself. If anyone were to test an experiment involving the brain first, it wouldn’t be Eve.

Sure, in theory, I’m completely safe. Eve thought, thinking of the Talisman of Dust. Knowing I’m safe and taking a gut-clenching leap of faith are two different things, though.

“Minimal risk for maximum results. That will require slaves.” Nota said.

Eve sighed before placing the order to Jeffery T. Wellington. Just like before, she added a caveat that only those convicted of heinous crimes were to be sent to her. She didn’t want the blood of some idiot late paying their rent on her hands. Felons only were the balm that kept her conscience clear.

After an hour of brainstorming, the teleport circle that Kudzu had set up flashed with light. Twenty subjects of varying ages, complete with slave collars, appeared. Eve looked at the individuals noting an annoying fact. She realized with a burst of irritation that the number of female offenders was minimal. Either that or Jeffery had bought the cheapest batch possible. Both options probably resulted in the substandard number of female test subjects.

“Whatever. We need to make sure it works. After that, testing on Summoned clones will let us loophole out the process.” Eve muttered. She hadn’t spoken very loudly, but one of the test subjects had keen hearing abilities.

“It’s a mad scientist. She’s going to kill us all for crazy experimental drugs!” one of the slaves shouted.

There was an attempt to scatter in multiple directions, but Eve shut that down with a finger snap. The slaves were instantly boxed into a space container. Rather than take the chance of them injuring each other, Eve kept them separated in mini-cubes. She filled the cubes with a new invention of liquid space that effectively removed their ability to move further than breathing. In her opinion, it was a form of non-violent restraint that worked superior.

What are they going to do? Gain space resistance skills? Eve thought with a sinister chuckle. Even if they did, I would study the mana pattern of their Resistance Skill, making it worthless with minimal effort.

Any resistance to counter space would have to be built with a mana pattern. Any mana pattern would be visible and thus able to be varied, making the point moot. Granted, she’d never seen Resistance Skill up close, but they likely existed. They might even have been a priority if she didn’t have Witch’s Dust.

Eve shrugged as she pulled a young man over to the adamantine operating slab. It was built to withstand the weight these slaves wouldn’t ever reach. Strapping the young man down was the work of minimal mental effort with Telekinesis. Unlike in Charlotte’s world, she didn’t require any enchanted item to use it here in the Prison Plane. Slaves were ideal because once you became a slave, the innate restriction that Wilson provided lower-level Tiers was removed. There was no chance of someone being accidentally enslaved as the System double-checked the entire process. Slapping a slave collar on a person didn't automatically enslave them with the Class. No, it required proof of contractual, ethical, and moral evidence to enslave someone. Most beaurocracy in the Prison Plane had a dedicated section to handle the issue since those with the [Slave] Class were worth a fortune to the right buyer, like her.

A silence spell removed the annoying screams, pleading, and whimpering from the test subjects. Crystal Core was the easiest to test. Eve didn’t plan on re-inventing the wheel, and the System had already done the legwork. Dungeon Cores were, in her opinion, the perfect concept of a Crystal Core taken to the extreme. As a bonus, they would also allow synchronization with Living Spellwork and Runic Constructs.

Eve was almost suspicious of how effectively they would all combine. On the other hand, it wasn’t like a System would be built with weak components after all. The Crystal Cores being used were repurposed Shards from Felix. They looked like baseball-sized marbles of clear glass. The lack of blue indicated that all of Felix’s influence had been purged. Witch’s Dust had purified the Shards ensuring there was no lingering foreign power.

I might trust my allies, but that doesn’t mean I’m putting something in my head while they can still influence it. Eve thought with an internal grin. Trust isn’t stupidity, as some people seem confused.

The operation to place the Crystal Core into the test subject went smoothly. Magical surgery was much easier than the mundane counterpart with Telekinesis in play. Transfer of the mind of the test subjects was without difficulty, but they died almost instantly. Eve narrowed her eyes as she realized the Soul Mana in the testees had clashed with the Crystal Core. It was a rejection of the most basic level of existence.

“So, unless the Soul Mana accepts, rejection is automatic death, huh?” Eve said pensively. It was a roadblock that needed to be cleared before further progress could be made.

Hours passed as Eve came up with one theory after another before using the test subjects to verify them. It looked more and more like using Living Spellwork, and Runic Construct was less an option and more a necessity.

Living Spellwork allowed the Crystal Core to interface with the Soul Mana, directly reducing rejection rates by almost seventy percent. Runic Construct pushed the rate even higher to an almost ninety-five success story. Only five percent of the time would the subject die instantly now.

Five percent is too high. Eve thought as she placed a larger order with Jeffery T. Wellington. I need it at one hundred percent, or the risk isn’t worth it.

An entire week passed with nothing but experiments. After emptying almost, the whole prison population that Jeffery T. Wellington had access to, the first success occurred. Eve was ecstatic at the end, finally in sight. While her appearance was impeccable due to Witch’s Dust, the mental exhaustion was stacking up.

A second and a third success passed with flying colors leaving Eve breathless. She’d had to fall back on a wild idea that panned out. Taking the concept of Talisman of Dust, she’d created a control node in mimicry of her own. With proper adjustment, it could interface with Living Spellwork and Runic Construct, developing a method of synchronization with the Soul Mana portion of an individual. The mechanics were understood by her allies, who had spent several hours detailing it to her. The concept saved in Eternal Memory could be improved endlessly in the future.

Looking at the slab that so many test subjects had passed on, Eve took a deep breath. The testing process had finished, and there was a reliable path forward with minimal risk. She didn’t have any more time to waste. It was time to pass the last piece of her human body to history’s clutches and move forward again. The relentless wheel of self-improving survival didn’t halt because she got the jitters.

I’ll still be me. Eve thought as she let her clothing collapse into Witch’s Dust. I’ll be an improved version of my current form.

She passed instructions to her Witch’s Dust. The operation couldn’t be handled by anyone else. Eve might have worked significantly to lower her paranoia, but she wasn’t a trusting fool. Witch’s Dust was a tool entirely under her control. There had never been any question it would do the surgery on her. As much as she trusted her allies, there was no reason to let temptation exist.

The actual process of switching her grey matter for a Crystal Core wasn’t complicated. Between one moment and the next, Eve was rendered unconscious for the operation to proceed. The entire endeavor felt like a burst of static. Suddenly, her vision turned perfect. Her thoughts flowed quicksilver fast along the crystalline matrix that now existed in her torso.

Severing her head would do no more now than provide her a solid metal bowling ball to throw with Telekinesis. It certainly wouldn’t hinder her in a fight. The previous thought streams that had been given up returned with a vengeance allowing a dedicated set of channels once more.

Savage Survival Mind moved from the back-brain cave into its mental version of a full-suite apartment. Mental Communication gained its channel and chat logs for messaging amongst her allies. It was an excellent addition, much like the game chat she’d used in those old MMORPGs. Combat Bot was the channel formed from a thought stream that interfaced with Savage Survival Mind. It provided an interface overlay in her vision that looked eerily similar to the farming bots of a game.

She could now set combat routines that would be automatic, self-learning, and interfaced with Witch’s Dust. It was an eye-popping boost in combat that didn’t go amiss. The last channel was a bit of a misnomer known as a Search Engine. It would pull up relevant information from Eternal Memory, allowing her to have the most up-to-date information while conversing. It allowed her to instantly put names to faces while sieving through the incredible data given by her ability to read mana.

“First things first, though. Got to work out the bugs.” Eve said, rising from the operating slab.

It was time to visit her fire trap at the Daedric Doorway and collect her pound of flesh and accumulated experience!