9.1

Eve glanced languidly at the well-to-do merchant elf out of the corner of her half-closed eyes. His skin was darker than ebony, although the white hair, sparkling teeth, and excellent taste in clothing were marred slightly by a duster straight out of the Old West on Earth.

Merchant Drow Elf, well, that breaks the murder stereotype Matt always used to rant about pretty badly. Eve thought with amusement. Very high charm, not quite at my level but close. Probably several Skills working in tandem because I have the strangest urge to shop at the closest mall.

“Would you happen to have a sample of drugs available? My name is Jeffery T. Wellington, but I am known more widely as the Dark Prince of the Merchant Royalty faction. The dark elf merchant continued, “I will need a small sample to know the level of quality I’m looking at before I can accurately price them.”

Eve shrugged, and a small orb of silver flew to a tiny opening that appeared on the front of the vehicle. At a nod from the seated man, she allowed a small amount of Blue Heaven version two, or BH2, to drop into the open slot. As soon as the slot closed, her silverspore was absorbed back into her clothing. The spell that was maintaining the equivalent of a life-sized monitor screen was impressive, to say the least.

Like looking into a slice of glass, except I’m pretty sure there are several meters of enchanted metal between us. Eve thought as the drow looked off-screen at a readout of some sort. I wonder how much it would cost to purchase a few books this far out?

As she caught the soft gulp of amazement, Eve’s mind snapped back to the matter at hand. Kudzu’s drugs were a point of pride for her, even though she didn’t actually make any part of them. The fact that her murder plant ally managed to chemically duplicate her addictive Curse within a few days was normal. The fact that he couldn’t figure out a better version made her even happier!

“Is there anything, in particular, you might be looking for?” Jeffery asked in a far more respectful tone than previous. His earlier words had more of a used car salesman feel, but now he spoke like a waiter at a high-end restaurant. The super polite type of waiter, because they really wanted that titanic tip, they knew whales could spend without blinking.

Eve straightened up from her chair, channeling her mother at a charity ball, and said, “Books. Lots of books.” She ignored the drow merchant as the sensation of space manipulation occurred within her Zone. Eve’s attention was drawn down to the bare earth below. Chest after chest started to appear in the space between the front of the train and her chair. They were solid wooden chests with metallic banding embossed with various subjects on the front by the lock plate.

Each chest was a spatial container, her own senses confirmed. The interior was about the size of a public library on Earth. Tiny talismans flickered into existence, one per chest, with the rune for Sight, painted upon them. A gesture allowed her to send all the tiny talismans into the surrounding chests. The three spare thought streams cataloged everything creating a large annotated list.

“I hope these humble offerings can provide a minor satisfaction for you?” Jeffery asked politely.

Eve made a grasping motion pulling Nota into her hand from the Hut.

The drow merchant eyed the book warily before he said, “Is there anything that has caught your eye, madam?”

“I want it all. How much do you need to cover everything?” Eve said as her mind roved over the delicious treasure of knowledge. She had deliberately turned off Damage Reduction in order to test her Talisman of Dust earlier. The results were rather enlightening. Even though her body was destroyed, the talisman was completely unharmed by the scrolls that killed her.

In essence, my body’s death is like a reset switch. I die and then hover around for a bit before cycling fully back into existence. The neatest part is the talisman’s semi-invincibility. Eve thought, remembering the sensation of her consciousness, or perhaps it was her soul, hovering behind the Talisman of Dust. Watching the talisman spin her back into existence while taking literally no damage was utterly amazing. Of course, learning that my death makes attackers turn into eldritch abominations upon exposure to the runes? Yeah, that is a bit cool, I’ll admit. Granted, the wording specifically stated it could be affected by another entity like Dust. Eve was pretty certain things of that level were few and far between the cosmos, though.

“A ton?” Jeffery finally offered.

Eve blinked and said, “Sure. Where do you want it?”

The same slot as before opened before a small bag was extended. Eve wrapped the bag in paper and floated it back to the swamp behind her. Kudzu wouldn’t have any problem filling it. Several minutes later, the bag was thrown back into her Zone, filled to the brim with BH2. Eve used the paper wrapped around it to toss it into the slot.

The drow merchant looked at the readout on the side off-screen again and nodded, “Excellent. The books are yours. I’ll need the containers back again unless you would like to purchase those as well?”

“No need,” Eve said, opening Nota at the halfway mark. Silverspore moved from her body, opening all of the chests at once. A snap of power connected Eve to every book within the chests, and a twist of will pulled them all into Nota’s fathomless depths. Once all the books were eaten by her soon-to-be familiar again, she sent Nota back to the safety of the Hut.

Eve noticed the chests were still around and, looking up, managed to catch the mildly shocked expression of her trading partner. He quickly smoothed his expression out before recalling the chests into his hover train.

“Might there be anything else you are looking for, milady?” Jeffery asked, his tone subservient.

“Not unless you happen to have a large number of Tier Fours on hand that I can murder without repercussions,” Eve said, arching one eyebrow.

The drow merchant was slow to reply before he said, “What are your thoughts on slavery?”

Eve’s eyes narrowed as she replied, “It’s a horrible practice commonly abused by low-level civilizations that don’t understand how to get the most out of their basic tier citizens.”

Jeffery’s expression reminded her of a gaping fish before he recovered and said, “Do you have a problem killing them if the slaves are rapists, mind breakers, or child molesters?”

“Not a bit.” Eve said, completely reversing her attitude before continuing, “Slavery is too much of a kindness for those types.”

“I happen to have connections to organizations that are always looking for a way to offload such offensive cargo….” Jeffery said, his voice trailing off.

“I need a large quantity to push to Tier Five. Five hundred, maybe six hundred.” Eve said, her eyes narrowing before she continued, “Make it twelve hundred; my partner needs food too. Actually, two thousand five hundred, I’ll have to feed the sleeping ones.”

“Do you have anything besides drugs to trade?” Jeffery asked, hopeful.

Eve thought for a moment, trying to remember something cheap, efficient, and easy to make. Suddenly a memory from Glenwood rose to the fore. She smiled. If she was going to copy simple strategies, then introducing that would be a breeze.

Even better, I can conceal the runes by using micro-rune concealing patterns created by silverspore. Eve thought, quickly forming a paper item. Alright, remember those late-night infomercials! It’s time to sell the old as new!

“So, let me introduce you to the space box….” Eve said, starting her spiel.

Negotiations went rather well after that. Finally, after denying a dinner invite a few hours later that made the drow merchant visibly sad, the hover train departed. Eve was interested in the cuisine of her new land, but there was no way she was getting into a heavily enchanted moving fortress with a dark elf that dealt in slaves.

That’s just asking for something stupid to go down. Eve thought before teleporting to the swamp’s edge.

“Can you believe it? The level of technology here is incredible!” Eve gushed at Kudzu as she started taking a stroll. She had just finished cutting a deal to move drugs with the trader. Granted, they weren’t her drugs, but Kudzu didn’t want to be bothered by experiments. Thus, negotiations fell to her, and she was thrilled to see a flying train. Her new trading partner called it a hover-wagon, but Eve knew a flying train when she saw one.

Eve had a Hut, but the grass was always greener, right?

That’s it. We are totally figuring out how to get a flying hover-Hut in the works. Eve thought, her eyes narrowing. No money-grubbing merchant is going to out awesome my magic house.

Future concerns were for the future, though. For now, Eve had compromised on her morals to get gain more power. She did not practice slavery. She didn’t condone the owning of people. So, the fact that the merchant was going to bring batches of slaves Tier Four or higher for her to murder was a stretch. She could rationalize the stretch, though. Outright owning people only to murder them for Talisman of Dust runes was a step too far.

They weren’t Eve’s slaves, though. She was killing intruders.

Intruders were just people being ordered by a very rich merchant to go into a dangerous swamp because he was a slaving bastard, but still, intruders! Eve even posted a sign in the Common language instead of the Ancient Tongue she had accidentally been using. A sign clearly stated that entering was trespassing and punishable by death.

If a merchant happened to order his purchased slaves into a said swamp and ignore the sign? Well, duh. All those slaves were going to die. They would provide wonderful power-leveling for her Talisman of Dust. She would not spend nights awake agonizing over them either, nope. At least her control of the Bogscale was uncontested. According to Jeffery, a Tier Six Matriarch Flood Dragon was at the bottom of the swamp. That was why no one except for the three tribes managed to settle here. They offered sacrifices to the Matriarch every few decades. In return, she didn’t eat them all, and other forces kept them out of the area.

Eve had wrangled a solid Contract from the merchant that satisfied both sides. The horses had clearly belonged to guards, but Jeffery assured her they were packed away, unable to hear negotiations. She offered to clean them up more permanently, but the fact that he would have to pay death benefits halted the profiteer from agreeing.

“How are we for propagation?” Eve asked the vine trailing beside her.

She gave a fist pump at the image of a solid fifty-four percent. Eve didn’t plan on hunting the Matriarch beneath the swamp until she was able to push everyone to Tier Five. Even then, her plan revolved around using a series of immense sacrificial ritual circles to cripple the Matriarch before the fight. With her silverspore, and Kudzu’s chemistry, killing the Tier Six while it was asleep was viable.

Eventually.

For now, though, Eve took a look at her Status.

Level: 2,500

Race: Dust Witch

Class: Witch of the Dust Library

Profession: Dust-Talisman Librarian

Title: Dragonslayer I

Affinities (4): Paper, Ink, Space, Dust

Health: 127,000/127,000 (12,700 HPs regen)

Mana: 127,000/127,000 (127,000 MPs regen)

Stats: Str 12,700; Dex; 12,700; Con 12,700; Wis 12,700; Int 12,700; Charm 12,700

Free Stats: 41,800

Item:

Talisman of Dust

Zone:

Library of Dust

The reduction in Free Stats was immense, although the flashing System message underneath her Status made her smile. The new title, though, was the real winner. When she had first arrived all those years ago, it was something she had noticed before quickly being disillusioned at the chance to obtain it. However, weak as it was, the Tier Five that she and Kudzu managed to eliminate after using every trick was a legitimate pure Dragon Bloodline. The increased experience gained from the First Contact bonuses and Dragonslayer I was just enough to nudge her over the next Class Threshold.

Congratulations on reaching the threshold of the Fourth Class Evolution!

Would you like to proceed with choosing your Class now? Y/N

Eve stared at the flashing Y/N, selecting Y for YES!

Alright, let’s see what awesome things are available this time. Eve thought.