8.9

Runes wove onto Felix with consummate care as the silverspore gently etched Repair, Recovery, and Crystalline.Eve’s lack of sweat was on full display as she stared unceasingly at the crystal while feeding copious amounts of mana into the Dungeon Core. When the last erg of power left her Library, Eve gently disengaged. A flex of power from Felix removed the etched runes leaving unbroken crystal edges once more.

“Thank you.” Felix said, his tone relieved, “Should I place the Dungeon now, or wait?”

“Let’s wait until we have the center, and whatever might be below the swamp cleared out. For now, just tweak the space around the Hut so mana flows more smoothly to everyone.” Eve requested politely. While he was only Tier Three, there was little doubt that Felix would breakthrough at this location. Tier Four was a given based on the amount of mana the swamp area could provide, and Tier Five was highly likely given some time at the swamp’s center. The spatial manipulation skills of a Dungeon Core were far superior to Eve.

Dust could aid, but it didn’t replace inhumane talent that easily.

Eve took a deep breath as the world shifted, and the mana became thicker in the Hut. Blood folded itself into a bracelet as she left the hibernation chamber for her own room. A quick shower, and another reminder to find a replacement for soap, along with a rapid flurry of toweling down, and the witch was once again ready for action. Blood flowed seamlessly into battle-robe form as Eve exited the Hut.

A vine outside was waiting with updates from Kudzu. Eve read how the Snake tribe had become alarmed when their raid upon the now defunct lizard tribe revealed another mysterious disappearance. Currently the entire Snake Tribe was buckling down, preparing to depart the swamp entirely. Apparently from the chatter Kudzu was able to overhear, they planned to meet a merchant that should be arriving shortly.

Eve was unsurprised that the Snake tribe had merchant contacts, after all, even Kudzu wanted to study their Poison Element. They were likely a very good source of rare poisons, or perhaps they dealt in medicines instead. It didn’t really matter to Eve, all she cared about was how her nifty walking bags of future rune inscribed Levels were attempting to escape.

“Do we have their planned escape route?” Eve asked the vine.

The symbol for west flashed above the vine. Eve pondered for a moment and asked, “Do we have extensive enough coverage to place pollen traps, or underwater snares in the area?”

A negative shake of the vine indicated the lack of feasibility.

“Guerilla warfare into being Bait then, huh?” Eve said, with a sigh. She hated when the enemy was smart enough to cut losses and run. It would be up to her to cut down enough of the fleeing tribe to enrage them. It was a distasteful measure, but Tier Four was clearly the starting point for this place.

Even though the Tier Fours were tribal leaders, Eve based her theory on bigger population numbers. Certainly, a few Tier Four leaders was a great deal when placed up against the hundreds of Tier Three members of the tribe. But the disparity became quickly apparent when you considered the numbers as percentages. Roughly two hundred and fifty tribe members per Tier Four.

Expand it to the population of a small city like Sunspire where there were barely any Tier Four in the population. Eve thought. Or go bigger and just base it on a big easy number like a million.

A population of a million was looking at four thousand Tier Fours, and that was just based on the tribes she had seen. Nobility would without a doubt have advantages that increased that number. It meant that the power levels of those who lived in the Prison Plane was on average twice as high as Tal Mor. Of course, perhaps in the ten thousand years between being banished here and when Eve arrived the population declined.

Yeah, and her brother was arriving to whisk her away next Tuesday.

Eve shook her head at the whimsical notion, and looked at the image Kudzu’s vine projected. The tribe of Snake people were moving in a line five wide and a hundred or so long. Children and elderly were placed to the center with two healthy members of the tribe on each side. Progress was slow, because the swamp didn’t aid in the rapid movement of large groups. Given the speed observed it would take them a few hours to escape.

Plenty of time. Eve thought with a cold expression. I’ll start with the children first. Better they aren’t alive to witness what I’ll need to do to the rest.

Eve spat to the side before hardening her heart. This world wasn’t a place filled with light and kindness. Fortunately, neither was she. Eve teleported a few times reaching the westernmost thicket of vines. Enhancing her vision, she saw the long column of snake tribespeople moving through the swamp in the distance.

Eve concentrated, and her physical form shifted as she melted into the mud. Moving through the mud was akin to moving through thick soupy water. Her speed wasn’t fast, but detecting her would take someone with Earth abilities. From the last two tribes, the prevalence of Water Element demonstrated the likelihood of Earth users was minimal. Creeping up on the snake tribe, Eve shifted her form once more creating hundreds of silver strings. She ran a string underneath every child in the middle column with ruthless efficiency.

Once everything was in place, Eve struck without mercy. The thin threads of silverspore struck up through the feet of her prey, piercing their non-existent defenses. The snake tribe adults realized something was wrong immediately, but it was too late. Flowing faster than quicksilver, the silverspore threads ate their way into the heart and brain within moments. Death came seconds after the first bite, a small mercy, but the only one Eve could spare time for.

Before the last child dropped, a roar of echoing rage ripped through the swamp. Eve ignored the enraged Tier Four, pulling all her silverspore back before moving through the mud once more. She rose at a distance from the snake tribespeople. Her garments shifted into a silver set of robes topped by a pointy hat. Eve was imitating an old witch costume from Halloween back on Earth. Her robes had more pockets and pouches than those on back home, but it was a minor difference. The most important part was the sparkling shiny figure she cut in the middle of the drab swamp colors.

Like a beacon in the dark, every single member of the snake tribe oriented on her without fail. There was a small moment as each side looked at the other, before a red glow enveloped all the members of the snake tribe. Eve took that opportunity to teleport a short distance away. Within moments a cat and mouse game was on, as she led the tribe deeper into the territory Kudzu had trapped earlier.

Rage gives power, but takes focus. Eve thought as she continued to bait the tribe deeper into the swamp. They ignore the stragglers that are picked off by Kudzu’s vines. Such a narrow view is unacceptable in battle.

Eve held her side of the arrangement leading the snake tribe by the nose until roughly fifty percent of the tribe had been sniped. At the same time the enrage effect wore off, the two Tier Four leaders realized they had been baited. Eve watched as the Tier Three fighters formed a circular defensive group, with the casters and crafters in the center. It might have given them a chance, if they weren’t standing in the middle of one of Kudzu’s satellite thickets.

Vines burst from the ground as pollen clouds were launched from suddenly blooming flowers. Eve witnessed a third of the remaining casters fall to the pollen, while a solid half of the fighters were pulled screaming away from the group. The remaining snake tribespeople immediately shifted their formation placing the shaman at the center, and raising a watery orb-shield. Similar shields were placed on the fighters, as a purple ichor tinted weapons and claws.

Eve sighed as several Tier Three fighters charged her. Their charge was cut short as tendrils of silverspore speared through the fighters, hanging them up like macabre meat puppets. When the spear-tendrils withdrew, the fighters collapsed into the mud their bodies already turning into energy for the Library. Eve watched despair form on the faces of some of the remaining snake tribe. Their bodies trembling in fear as a shifting cloud of silverspore wrapped about her body.

A shout from the Tier Four melee fighter brought life back to the eyes of the dead. Eve read grim determination in their faces, a willingness to sacrifice lives in order to deal a fatal blow. It was a wonderful expression, even though the chances of actual success were slim. A soft golden glow covered the Tier Four fighter as a web of light from multiple remaining fighters converged on him. Eve didn’t mind trading blows, because she was aiming to test Balance of Power.

Full stat use. Eve thought. So very vague, I have several theories, but no data.

The tribal Tier Four leader charged at her with zero finesse. Eve met the creature in melee combat, her body coated in silverspore. Punches, kicks, and elbows were exchanged at lighting speed. Eve flew backwards from the collision, her body dented in multiple locations. As she watched, the few pieces of silverspore on the Tier Four failed to gain purchase. The golden glow granted a form of healing that also destroyed the silverspore at the same time. Cracking her neck, Eve shrugged.

The mere fact that she wasn’t instantly killed was enough for her. Physical combat wasn’t her forte to begin with, so Eve moved to a more unfair approach. When the Tier Four attempted to close with her again, she simply teleported next to one of the snake tribe fighter supplying a link to the golden aura. A moment later nothing was left of the Tier Three except a rapidly disintegrating corpse.

Silverspore might not be effective on the golden aura’s focus target, but it was quite effective on those supplying the aura. Eve wasted no time moving amount the shielded fighters, her silver death cutting through the Water Element shields with ease. The secret to piercing elemental shielding was the monomolecular spikes employed by her silverspore. By focusing all the force on a tiny portion of the shield, it was possible to gain entry. Once the silverspore was inside a shield, the fight was over in moments.

Eve rated the tactic as barely passible, watching the spikes take down fighters she could already think of several counters. Granted, she wasn’t fighting elite archmages, so the success of the tactic used was partially due to the enemy’s own failure. As the last supplier of golden aura fell, the Tier Four fighter was cloaked only in his own Poison Element aura.

Vines piled onto the shield protecting the casters separating them from view, and taking them out of the fight temporarily. Eve eyed the Poison Element aura warily and decided to begin testing from range. Copying the same trick that killed the lizard shaman, multiple coin sized orbs of plasma were launched at the Tier Four.

With a speed that fully demonstrated the difference between melee fighters and casters, the snake leader dodged every plasma bolt. Eve raised an eyebrow as the Tier Four snake leader seemed impressed with his own prowess.

“Dodging thirty is impressive.” Eve said, clapping sarcastically, “Now try three-thousand.” A torrent of plasma bolts flowed from the silverspore, like tracer bullets from anti-aircraft guns. Every orb was the size of a half-dollar, and moved with aimbot-level accuracy. The previous two fights against Tier Fours had reinforced Eve’s belief in the supremacy of ranged combat.

In melee, a Tier Four fighter’s total Stat weight was a crushing bludgeon of unparalleled might. There was simply no way for Eve to resist, as evidenced by the damage taken even when coated in silverspore. However, take away that advantage of melee might, and a Tier Four was simply a stronger, faster, more durable version of the previous tier. The partial elementization granted to a Tier Four was not enough to ignore a Tier Three specialized in magic.

Magical damage had a much lower threshold to cross Tiers.

Which in turn meant with enough magical attacks, the difference in Tiers became a matter of ammunition against durability. Eve had enough experience under her belt to understand this truth, and apply it with vicious abandon. If thirty plasma bolts didn’t work, fire three thousand. If three thousand failed, add a zero and repeat. With the quantities of water around, transmuting ammunition was effortless. Her opponent would die before the swamp even took a dent in the amount of water available.

Eve made sure to keep the plasma bolts flowing until the snake leader’s regeneration finally halted. Silverspore rose from underneath the waters to engulf the corpse, just in case. Eve’s precautions showed value as the dead snake leader made one final strike before being engulfed completely. Moments later the heady rush of energy flowed into the Library. Turning her attention to Kudzu, the end of the battle was clearly in sight. Kudzu’s vines created unrelenting pressure on the casters. Choking clouds of pollen surrounded the water shield as several multi-ton vines struck a systematic pattern of blows. Before she could even contribute, the shield finally failed. Vines struck like unhinged viper jaws, incapacitating some, and murdering others. The final Tier Four, the snake shaman, was cut off from their people and herded away.

Eve shrugged and began processing the dead with Devour and Craft. She left those still alive but unconscious alone, as they were reserved for Kudzu’s laboratory. Poison Element would give a valuable path to improvement for her plant ally. Far be it from her to interfere in how he acquired it. When she finished collecting the seeds of energy from the field of massacre, Eve followed a vine to where the shaman’s corpse was located. Processing the second Tier Four provided another massive gain, and filled the Library storage to the seams.

Eve wasted no time teleporting back to the Hut, and taking a seat before filling the Talisman of Dust with more runes. The instant rush of Levels and Stats translated into pure addictive pleasure. Eve’s eyes rolled back in her head as her body went slack. A tiny trickle of drool leaked from one side of her mouth, while ecstatic spasms trailed across her body.

When the process was finished, Eve wiped her mouth and grinned seeing her new Status.

Level: 1250

Race: Dust Witch

Class: Witch of the Dust Library

Profession: Dust-Talisman Librarian

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

Health: 64,500/64,500 (6,450 HPs regen)

Mana: 64,500/64,500 (64,500 MPs regen)

Stats: Str 6,450; Dex; 6,450; Con 6,450; Wis 6,450; Int 6,450; Charm 6,450

Free Stats: 79,300

Half-way to Tier Four, more than double my previous Stats.Eve thought. No wonder that melee fighter from the Snake tribe could do so much damage to silverspore armor!

Eve made a fist and rose from her chair. New strength normally meant a round of training to get used to utilizing her body. However, with silverspore that requirement was easily bypassed. The silver machine spores coated her body effortlessly fine-tuning her mind and body into a seamless coherent unit.

“As they say, any sufficiently advanced technology…” Eve murmured in wonder as Blood wove itself into a bracelet, while Truth became sunglasses. Silverspore moved over her body turning into a stunning outfit the envy of any young witch alive.