8.6

Eve Smith woke slowly from hibernation. A continuous burning pain along her nerves kept her from being able to fall back into slumber. With a grunt, she managed to slam the release inside the plant pod before it sank her back into dreamless nightmares.

Being ejected would have been much better if she had two arms and legs. Unfortunately, lacking those, Eve slammed her forehead into the rough tile of the single-room Hut. Groaning she managed to shift her body until she could view the floating blue sapphire crystal in the center of the room.

“Did it work?” Eve choked out, praying Felix was still alive. The cracks visible on his form were terrifying indications he might not have survived. Moments after she asked, a feeling of relief flooded her veins as the Dungeon replied.

“Depending on your definition of working, yes,” Felix said through vibrating the air. “In order to keep everyone alive, Kudzu had to Deep Six everyone except you. I have taken extreme damage attempting to keep the strange silver dust out, and the Hut has fared no better.”

Shit, that means I can’t wake anyone until Tier Six. Eve thought furious at her chain of screw-ups. Waking anyone before reaching that level of power when they are in Deep Six is a death sentence.

“Status.” Eve spat, and a wave of emotion caused her to giggle maniacally as the System message appeared.

Level: 500

Race: Dust Witch

Class: Witch of the Dust Library

Profession: Dust-Talisman Librarian

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

Health: 27,000/27,000 (2,700 HPs regen)

Mana: 27,000/27,000 (27,000 MPs regen)

Stats: (+)

Free Stats: 101,800

S/S Slots: 0

Skills: (+)

Spells: (+)

Mental Traits: (+)

Physical Traits: (+)

Eve’s eyes narrowed as she noticed the prevailing theme. Glancing at her missing arm and leg the connection wasn’t hard to figure out. It appeared that when you begged eldritch monstrosities for assistance, they couldn’t resist taking a bite, or two.

Eve scrolled through her System messages log trying to figure out what went wrong. 

The Primordial Dust has altered you!

You have lost an arm to Dust.

You have lost a leg to Dust.

Gained Dust Affinity!

Race altered to Dust Witch!

Class Title altered to Witch of the Dust Library!

Profession altered to Dust-Talisman Librarian!

“Well, shit,” Eve said with a tired sigh. Apparently, she had been altered by something known as the Primordial Dust. There didn’t appear to be an explanation, and the change had created strange additional words in her Race, Class Title, and Profession. She decided not to look at the rest of her Status holding out hope the changes were limited merely to the current things she saw.

Vain hope, but still hope.

The fact that she was clad in nothing but her birthday suit did not make Eve think things were off to a good start. Glancing around Eve asked, “Where is Kudzu?”

“Kudzu is currently keeping the predators of the swamp at bay, one dead bird, salted fish, and enticed lizard or frog humanoid at a time,” Felix said, his voice holding the hints of an approving tone.

Pulling a Soul Sheet out of her inventory sent a spike of agony into Eve. Stifling the gasp, she wove Blood into a red one-piece jumpsuit. It took only a few moments to slip into her clothing and become mobile. Thankfully Aura and Domain were still functional. The thought of pulling anything else out of her Inventory right now sent a phantom spike of pain to her mind. Eve gritted her teeth and pulled everything out at once, rather than risk her Inventory collapsing.

Eve had a moment to see Nota and the Phylactery float nearby before pain overwhelmed her mind and she collapsed on the floor. When she awoke later, the shadows cast by the light indicated several hours had passed. Attempting to access the Inventory proved her insanity was correct, it no longer existed. Grumbling at how Savage Survival Mind wasn’t dull the pain, she levitated herself to an upright position before floating to the door. Putting an eye on the peephole, she took a good look outside.

It was a massacre.

Titanic vines were flowering, fighting, and feeding. Corpses were strewn about, and pollen spores were thick in the air. Several of the larger corpses showed indications of being drained of blood, bones, or flesh in varying degrees. Eve saw lizardmen, frogmen, giant fish, three separate species of birds, and a parasitic moss all fighting Kudzu at once. The current situation was not conducive to opening the door, so in the interests of health and sanity, she didn’t.

Eve floated back to the room using her Soul Sheets to shift aside enough packages that she could place a small table and a chair. Joining the battle outside was a risk she couldn’t take at the moment, so now was the time for science.

The major reason I had to flee was power. Eve thought. I have approached things incorrectly.

Her brother’s advice was correct. Power first, sightseeing second. Would the Arena have made a move if she was Tier Seven? No, they would have been begging to host her. It all came back to power, exactly like her brother told her all those years ago. She had ignored his advice and paid the price. Those she cared for were scattered, and those with her were the sleeping dead. Eve closed her eyes and took a deep breath before she went to that deep dark place in her past. It was the part of her that could do terrible things for her country and still sleep at night.

The part of her soul that she kept locked in a tiny sealed safe box.

Eve looked at the box for a timeless moment. It was the effort of multiple therapists, and hundreds of meditative man-hours. A monument to the power of will over madness, and reason over insanity. Opening it would mean going back to a state of mind that made Savage Survival Mind look like a toddler learning to walk. It would rewind all the careful therapeutic effort she had made to stay back from the edge.

Eve’s eyes remained closed the moment she smashed the mind-box to pieces. Her body shuddered as she gripped the paper chair while her teeth chattered. The physiological effects were nothing compared to the mental hurricane as her thoughts reordered themselves. Priorities shifted, aligned, and balanced until the kind generous woman that could save a street urchin was replaced completely. Cold analytical silver eyes opened to the world once more. Eyes containing nothing but calculation devoid of caring.

The eyes of a grey specter of death, once more among the living.

A thought stream ran a simple calculation before Eve’s eyes narrowed.

Five-point four Stats per each category are possible until Tier Four. Anything more is a waste. Waste should be traded for power. Eve thought. What do I need now? Great power.

“System, is it possible to trade excess Class bonus Stats for something else?” Eve asked the air.

Yes.

Status. Eve thought pulling up the full display of her current form.

Level: 500

Race: Dust Witch

Class: Witch of the Dust Library

Profession: Dust-Talisman Librarian

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

Health: 27,000/27,000 (2,700 HPs regen)

Mana: 27,000/27,000 (27,000 MPs regen)

Stats: Str 2,700; Dex; 2,700; Con 2,700; Wis 2,700; Int 2,700; Charm 2,700

Free Stats: 101,800

S/S Slots: 0

Skills:

Bond Dust-Familiar V*

Phylactery of Dust V (Familiar)*

Aura of the Dust Library V*

Spells:

Transcendent Transfusion of Dust V*

Dust-Paper Plating V*

Domain of the Dust Library V*

Mental Traits:

Shield of the Dust Library V*

Traveler’s Immortal Dust-Core V*

Acuity of Dust V*

Savage Survival Mind of Dust V*

Bibliotheca Mind V*

Physical Traits:

Sword of the Dust Library V*

Traveler’s Immortal Dust-Core V*

Grace of Dust V*

Resist All Basic Elements V*

Bibliotheca Body V*

Unsurprising that Resist All Basic Elements, and both Bibliotheca Traits managed to avoid contamination. They are too weak though. I need more, I need to step beyond the limits of Tier. Eve thought as her various thought streams calculated ceaselessly. However, this is an opportunity.

“System, I would like to sell my excess Stats each Level, to buy two things,” Eve said as her silver eyes narrowed in thought.

Explain.

Eve spent over an hour explaining what she wanted, detailing it down to the tiniest possibilities. While several of the things she desired were denied, the basic framework of her idea passed into reality. The only reason it was possible was the contamination of the Primordial Dust into her Skills, Spells, and Traits. Due to this, the System considered them to be interchangeable components of a single framework. Eve took ruthless advantage of this to enact a diabolical power grab. Once everything was complete she looked at her Status once more with a maniacal grin of glee.

Level: 500

Race: Dust Witch

Class: Witch of the Dust Library

Profession: Dust-Talisman Librarian

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

Health: 27,000/27,000 (2,700 HPs regen)

Mana: 27,000/27,000 (27,000 MPs regen)

Stats: Str 2,700; Dex; 2,700; Con 2,700; Wis 2,700; Int 2,700; Charm 2,700

Free Stats: 101,800

Item:

Talisman of Dust

Zone:

Library of Dust

Eve would never admit it but awakening missing a leg and arm had scarred her. Thus the Talisman of Dust was born out of her fears.

Talisman of Dust (Unique)

Soulbound Item.

A mystical Talisman created by a combination of Skills, Spells, and Traits that were exposed to the Primordial Dust. Mystical runes scroll across the surface, their power beyond mortal minds.

The Item is unaffected by anything lower than a Primordial.

Grants Immunity to Mind, Body, or Soul alteration.

Grants Damage Reduction.

Grants Balance of Power.

Grants Immortality.

Grants Devour.

I am forever, I eat eternity.

It was rather vague, but Eve knew that only meant the power was off the charts. She had learned that when something was vague in the System, it was exponentially stronger than anything specific. Talisman of Dust was Eve’s answer to being eaten. For the payment of all her current Skills, Spells, and Traits the System granted the power of survival. Even missing an arm and a leg, I can survive. Eve thought. I just need to turn myself into a walking war crime.

Library of Dust (Unique)

Soulbound Zone.

A mystical Zone created by a Librarian exposed to the Primordial Dust. Library, Factory, Sanctuary, and Sword is the Zone.

The Zone is unaffected by anything lower than a Primordial.

Grants Multiply.

Grants Manipulate.

Grants Consume.

Grants Craft.

Grants Sight.

Here be a monster, mortals.

Eve had tried playing nice, but it didn’t work. Thus the Library of Dust was born out of her rage. The idea had percolated in her mind the moment she saw what the Primordial Dust had done. Combining it with the Library was a bit of mad genius, and she based it on technology that had never been realized on Earth. Nanotech. The use of machines smaller than the eye could see to manipulate at the molecular level. Mana took it a step further as the Primordial Dust operated at a scale smaller than mana motes. The Zone would have been impossible without the Dust Affinity.

Eve rose from her chair as an arm of paper, ink, dust, and runes attached to her left side. Moments later a leg prosthetic appeared to support her. Eve glanced at everything lying around and a cloud of silver dust consumed everything in the room except Felix, Nota, and the plant hibernation chambers. Library of Dust was utterly broken.

Eve pulled the dust coating her current clothing as Blood shifted into a comfortable hooded combat robe.

Talisman of Dust was equally insane, but it meant she couldn’t gain Levels the old-fashioned way. Mass murder wouldn’t allow Eve to rise to Tier Four. The System no longer did the heavy lifting of providing experience from the mana structures and mana of the slain.

Easy times were over.

Instead, Eve would need to kill with Library of Dust to gain mana structures and mana. The mana structures, and mana, of those killed, would be used as paper and ink for the Talisman of Dust. Improving the talisman would allow Eve’s own Level to rise. Breaching the Tiers would require improving on the Talisman and the Zone. It was a daunting task, but glancing at the hibernation chambers Eve knew she would do it.

At any price.

Nota floated over to Eve, and she opened the book to a section written in her notebook long ago. She scratched out the old entry with her will and wrote a new one inked in blood drawn from her finger.

Do not enter civilization, until it can be eaten whole.

“Time to grind,” Eve said, moving to the door before opening it and closing her eyes against the bright light.

The enemies fighting Kudzu’s vines all paused as she exited the Hut before launching themselves at what they assumed was the weaker target.

Eve’s eyes snapped open and the world turned silver.