10.5

Eve had never really understood the thrill of gambling. Yet, as she was opening each new loot box, the appeal of such a destructive tendency made even less sense. The first box she opened was a lemon which made her eyes roll. A shimmering silver space ring engraved with runes and topped with a shimmering rectangular emerald laying on a velvet pillow cushion of rich green silk met her eyes. It was the vaunted space ring of myths, legends, and luxury!

Useless. Eve thought with derision. Ritual of Storage is superior and doesn’t paint a massive target on my body to boot!

Tossing the gaudy target painting piece of jewelry into Storage she moved to the next box. Since the cube made by all the spatial boxes was 6 wide by 6 tall by 6 long there were a little over two hundred boxes to make her way through. She proceeded to grab another box from the pile marked Mystery. The first box had been a letdown, true, yet Eve still had two hundred and fifteen more hopeful surprises!

The next box was more useful, in theory. Eve mentally toggled Looting on so that everything went directly to Storage. Nota compiled a helpful page with illustrations using Eternal Memory allowing her to see the complete package at a glance. The box had a very tasteful set of ten rings, a necklace, a plate, a goblet, a knife, and a two-tined fork. Reading the enchantments placed upon them with Detection was merely an exercise in amusement.

The first five copper rings dealt with mundane matters being a Ring of Minor Illusion, Poison Detection, Soap Generation, Scent Concealment, and Fire Starting. The second set of five copper rings dealt with more combat-oriented issues being a Ring of Minor Shield, Water Breath, Healing, Alarm, and Trap Detection. The necklace was a copper Necklace of Minor Light and created a small tennis-sized orb that had a minimal mana upkeep cost. The plate was silver enchanted with Food Warming to keep a meal hot. Meanwhile, the fork and knife, both steel, had Grip and Sharp Cut respectively. Lastly, the bronze goblet had Endless Water. Together it was clearly a set of equipment for the adventuring lifestyle. They would make great props in the future if Eve ever needed to don the disguise of a perennially out of work wandering sell-sword. Witch’s Dust consumed all the items allowing Nota to copy them into Eternal Memory pages. Eve flexed creating a Ring of Minor Illusion (Ritual) noting the effects were exactly the same as the original that was eaten. It costed a few Slots, but she had plenty from her goblin escapades from the last few days.

Simple things are easy. Book, Candle, and Knife are literally a part of me so they were not good metrics for difficulty. Eve thought turning the ring back to dust. There’s no telling how far I can take this trick without the intimate familiarity with more complex objects. I can only test slowly to find the limits.

Eve looked at the two empty boxes, and then at the remaining two hundred and fourteen. Rather than keep accumulating empty boxes she used Witch’s Dust to slightly alter the empty containers. Placing the first empty one into the second, Eve gave an evil grin. Matryoshka Dolls were something she enjoyed greatly, so creating a variation on them was fun. In order to open each box, a small puzzle needed to be solved now. With the issue of empty boxes satisfied and soon to be Jeffery’s problem, she continued opening more.

When she had first examined the boxes after Jeffery gifted them to her, Eve had only paid superficial attention to them. As a result, Nota didn’t have a dedicated database of what was inside each one. They had been lumped in piles and labeled simply with marks. A golden question mark for Mystery boxes, a silver piece of iron ore for Ores, the infamous green leaf for herbs, and a pile of gems with coins for Treasure. Eve felt that her additional marks added to the already luxurious carvings, inscriptions, and general aesthetics of the boxes.

Deciding to pick up the pace, Eve primed Looting and Storage.

Mystery Box 3: Female leather armor with Self-Cleaning enchant.

Mystery Box 4-10: Female undergarments with Self-Cleaning enchant.

Mystery Box 11-13: Assorted hats with Shadowed Face enchanted.

Mystery Box 14-29: Multiple dresses with Graceful Movement, Enhanced Beauty, and Pleasant Voice enchantments.

Mystery Box 29-39: Bags. Lots of bags. Bigger on the inside.

Eve took a long look at the dresses, some of them matched the bags. They had clearly been chosen by someone who knew fashion well in this place. She could discern a pattern every two or three dresses that matched each other and a bag. Witch’s Dust ate everything directly from Storage allowing Nota to turn them into Eternal Memory pages. Eve suspected that the wildly different types of fashion meant they were aligned with certain nationalities. There were a few dresses she wouldn’t be caught dead wearing unless it was for bedroom exercises. On the whole, though, most of them were flattering examples of how the System could elevate a simple craft into an entire Art.

With the mystery boxes done, Eve moved to the section of boxes marked with the Ore symbol. The first box she opened had a set of five different metals that seemed to emit the colors of white, green, blue, purple, and gold in the mana spectrum. There was a small note in the box that she read with a raised eyebrow.

From Tier Three and higher, metals are no longer split by mere Tier.

Instead, the amount of mana inside them determines true value.

White=Common

Green=Uncommon

Blue=Rare

Purple=Epic

Gold=Legendary

Appropriate examples in this box from left to right are:

Tier Four Common Iron

Tier Four Uncommon Iron

Tier Four Rare Iron

Tier Four Epic Iron

Tier Four Legendary Iron

The higher mana content of the material allows crafters greater flexibility in creation. For instance, Tier Four Uncommon Iron could be alloyed with Tier Five Common Iron creating something stronger than both alone would.

-Excerpt from A Blacksmith’s Guide to World Domination

Eve grinned as Looting pulled the Iron Ores into Storage thinking of a possibility. Testing the idea that had just popped into her mind she found that after devouring the Tier Four Common Iron Ore it was impossible to create a Ritual copy.

Makes sense. The System wouldn’t allow such an obvious form of the infamous duping to occur. Eve thought in agreement. There are rules at work in the background, it seems.

Rubbing her hands and licking her lips in excitement at new experimental materials Eve primed Looting and Storage.

Ore Box 41-46: Copper. A large amount of Common, then steadily decreasing amounts up to Legend being only a finger-sized sliver.

Ore Box 47-52: Silver. A large amount of Common, then steadily decreasing amounts up to Legend being only a finger-sized sliver.

Ore Box 53-58: Gold. A large amount of Common, then steadily decreasing amounts up to Legend being only a finger-sized sliver.

Ore Box 59-64: Mithril. A large amount of Common, then steadily decreasing amounts up to Legend being only thumbnail-sized sliver.

Ore Box 64-69: Orichalcum, Large amount of Common, then steadily decreasing amounts up to Legend being only a thumbnail-sized sliver.

Ore Box 70-75: Adamantium, Large amount of Common, then steadily decreasing amounts up to legend being only a thumbnail-sized sliver.

Ore Box 76-81: Steel, Large amount of Common, then steadily decreasing amounts up to legend being only a thumbnail-sized sliver.

Ore Box 82-87: Iron, Large amount of Common, then steadily decreasing amounts up to legend being only a thumbnail-sized sliver.

Ore Box 87-133: Alloys that mixed the precious metals in various amounts.

After looking through the array of sparkling shinnies Eve felt a faint impulse from Witch’s Dust to consume the alloy mixed metals. Acting on impulse she consumed all the mixtures gaining a System message.

Witch’s Dust has evolved through consuming various metals.

Oh? Eve thought. If metal is this useful to me, then it stands to reason it can be useful to other classes too. Perhaps the myths of dragons hoarding precious metals are based on something along these lines?

Regardless, she left the unalloyed metals alone to experiment with later. Eve turned her attention to the Herb Boxes and primed Looting to connect with Storage. Opening the first box, a set of five different herbs that seemed to emit the colors of white, green, blue, purple, and gold in the mana spectrum was shown. There was a small note in the box that she read at a glance.

From Tier Three and higher, herbs are no longer split by mere Tier.

Instead, the amount of mana inside them determines true value.

White=Common

Green=Uncommon

Blue=Rare

Purple=Epic

Gold=Legendary

Appropriate examples in this box from left to right are:

Tier Four Common Thistle Herb

Tier Four Uncommon Thistle Herb

Tier Four Rare Thistle Herb

Tier Four Epic Thistle Herb

Tier Four Legendary Thistle Herb

The higher mana content of the material allows crafters greater flexibility in creation. For instance, Tier Four Uncommon Thistle Herbs could be ground and mixed with Tier Five Common Thistle versions thus creating something stronger than both alone would.

-Excerpt from An Alchemist’s Guide to World Domination

Eve rolled her eyes but before she could open any of the other Herb a vine from Kudzu entered the room. Eve watched as her alchemic ally calmly robbed the remaining herb boxes without a word leaving only the Treasure boxes to be opened.

“Chocolate better be available for the victory party,” Eve muttered in a threatening tone loud enough for the last escaping vine to twitch in understanding. With only twenty boxes remaining, the finale had arrived. Treasures was a catch-all term for things. It covered everything from ancient enchanted relics, glowing ores, and strange living herbs.

Treasure Box 195-197: A glowing spoon, fork, and knife. According to the small slip of paper, these utensils could be commanded with a thought. The activation requirements were merely binding them with blood.

Treasure Box 198-201: Three plates. Literally three plates with nothing else. Sent into Storage.

Treasure Box 201-205: Assorted magical books. Eaten.

Treasure Box 206-210: Rope. Possibly sentient. Attempted to strangle Eve with no success. Sent into Storage.

Treasure Box 211: Softball-sized orb of absolute darkness. Witch’s Dust indicated interest, eaten.

Treasure Box 212-214: Three hand-sized pyramids that shifted in strange configurations according to the runes. Glowy. Sent to Storage.

Opening the final box, Eve stared. The last Treasure box was completely empty with the exception of a small note.

Robbery was successful.

-The Intrepid Legendary Thief of Stuff

What the hell? Eve thought. What kind of evil, twisted, diabolical, whack job signs their robberies with a card?

Ritual of Detection indicated that the card’s signer was somewhere in the same direction Jeffery arrived from. She guessed the box had been robbed in transit, because what thief could resist stealing from a secure flying vault?

Shrugging her shoulders Eve finished crafting the last box before placing it into the complete set of two hundred and fifteen Matryoshka boxes she had made from the empties. Quick teleportation dropped the combined boxes in front of the drow lazily tanning himself on his floating trade ship.

With the boxes out of the way Eve sighed. Moving out of her room, and exiting the Hut, she headed to the holding pens Kudzu crafted.

Time to Tier up. Eve thought with glee. Approximately seventy-five prisoners for me, the rest to Felix.

Eve had discussed with Susan about getting more Perks before moving to Tier Five. The demoness had nixed the idea by pointing out that she could only have seven Perks per Enhancement Tier. Susan’s exact words had been, “Do you think I wouldn’t have already got you more if it was possible? Greedy witch!”

Eve teleported to the holding pens looking at the slaves stacked side by side, three stories tall. Her eyes showed no mercy as if she wasn’t looking at people, merely resources to be used and distributed.

Resources to return my family to me. Eve thought as a cold silver gaze stared at the closest prisoners.