Eve deliberately allowed her face to have a strict expression. She had sent Bennie over first both to check for safety, and to allow time to deal with Red. The conversation with the other dungeon core had been short and to the point. Red had quickly realized that Eve wasn’t another contender, and that pushing the boundaries of their agreement allowed the witch to push back, too. Bringing her thoughts back to the present she glanced at both of the children pulled up their information with minimal effort. The World Tree had mentioned that the System would be slightly altered outside the Prison Plane and what she saw verified that.
The boy’s Status was the first one she focused on parsing through the information in the blink of an eye.
Justin Mickleton
Age: 15
Level: 7
Race: Human
Class: Mage
Specialization: Warlock
Profession: Rune Breaker
Affinities (1): Blood
Stats: Str 11; Dex 10; Con 9; Int 14; Wis 13
Slots: None
Skills: Ciphering II, Lockpicking III, Jingu Tongue IV
Spells: Detect Rune I, Blood Bolt II
Items: Ring of Escape (Broken)
Zones: None
Trait: Minor Body of Blood II
Perks: None
Eve winced internally; it appeared the protections she had cast on Bennie to prevent information leaking out had broken the boy’s life saving item. While he was still considering his three wishes she quickly manipulated Witch’s Dust to unobtrusively repair it. A glance showed the new information for the ring, which had altered from (Broken).
Items: Ring of Escape V
Did not see that coming. Eve thought as she noticed the upgrade that resulted from her repairs. Likely due to my Affinity with Space, which probably improved it Meh, if someone makes a big deal of it, I’ll blame it on Demons. The best excuse right next to the dog ate my homework, after all.
Turning her attention to the girl without turning her head was child’s play since anything within Witch’s Dust was essentially visible to Eve.
Charlotte Abigail Munchester Zienfer
Age: 15
Level: 11
Race: Human
Class: Mage
Specialization: Warlock
Profession: Summoner
Affinities (1): Air
Stats: Str 9; Dex 12; Con 14; Int 17; Wis 19
Slots: None
Skills: Summoning I, Etiquette II, History IV, Intimidation IV, Royal Bloodline V, Jingu Tongue III
Spells: Air Manipulation I
Items: Ring of Water Breathing, Ring of Air I, Amulet of Recall IV, Earrings of Clarity IV
Zones: None
Trait: Minor Body of Air V
Perks: None
Someone spent a great deal of money on her. Eve thought slightly impressed. She’s a blue blood, that’s for sure though.
“Are you paying attention to me?” Justin said. It took a moment to run through Eternal Memory to check the previous words he’d spoken.
Eve focused completely back on the boy, Justin, and deliberately allowed a languid expression of arrogance to roll across her face. The child was a potential bundle of excitement, but she was no one’s personal servant.
“I am listening carefully,” she assured the boy, in an airy voice that would drive a saint to unbridled rage. This poor child was no match for her ability to play a silver-eyed airhead. “Pray continue. I am completely enraptured.”
Justin gave her a long look and then said, “I wish for wisdom.”
Eve gave a smile that didn’t reach her eyes as she rose from her feet and said, “You need to be specific. Lack of specifics can be fatal. Try again, unless you truly desire that to be your wish.” That was the last warning she would be providing. If the boy couldn’t learn from that, then there was no point in continuing. It would mean a loss of a potentially excellent piece of entertainment, but sometimes sacrifices had to be made.
Turning to the noble ranked girl Eve pasted a gentle smile on her face and allowed the abusive screeching to wash over her like ocean tides. There was only one reason she had accepted the Summoning. Whatever their qualities, these children had managed to pull her through the Primordial Dust. It was more than likely due in large part to the ritual they had enacted.
As a specialist in Ritual, it being the main focus of her branch of Silver Witchcraft, she studied the sigils upon the room’s floor. The damage itself was nothing to her, a flick of her will and the entire ensemble was visible in pristine condition once more. These children certainly didn’t know much about the history of magic, or how it had flourished and fallen. The entire Ritual of Summoning though told Eve a great deal about the magical prowess of earlier generations. A glance at the noble girl made Eve ponder if she should provide slight aid to her. Women, as a general rule in many cultures, were not expected to study magic let alone apply it. As a daughter of nobility, this girl Charlotte would have had a course charted for her life by her male relatives to be sure.
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This place is a teaching institution. Eve thought as her Witch’s Dust stretched out into the place like an invisible guest taking a speedy stroll. The College of Warlocks? What a pretentious name. They should repair the signboard at the very least.
Nota flickered into of existence the moment the library was discovered. It was the work of a few moments to decipher the crude security measures in place. Runic Cryptography V, Ritual Rune Ciphering V, and Skeleton Key V outmatched this world’s security by several magnitudes. As soon as her familiar entered the library, the theft of information began. Eve wasn’t polite in the least devouring the entire body of information like a gluttonous creature at a festival feast.
Kingdoms? Oh? Late feudal era that is slowly giving way to a minor Industrial Revolution. Rune bound steam power trains? Cute. Eve thought as she looked over the gathered information. Othuven kingdom, on the continent Aiqen. The girl is a Duke’s daughter according to the little details. How odd that she has less potential than the boy. The soul mana difference is obvious at a glance.
Eve ran a hand through her long silver hair as she turned to look directly at the girl, her lips thinning into a frown. She didn’t have any direct interest in this tiny kingdom, but she did want to enjoy her stay. Eve didn’t think that the young girl had potential but she could be wrong. It wasn’t like she had much to go on except the brightness of their soul mana which indicated magical potential in her opinion. The boy was a sun, the girl was a spark.
Every spark could be a firestorm though, given proper care.
Eve hadn’t expected anything better from life before she was transported, but the System and by extension magic had changed everything. It could do the same for the duke’s daughter. She was clearly a highly intelligent young woman as evidenced by the thoughts flowing through her mind. It was quite impressive how she could appear a haughty noble outwardly, while coldly calculating her path to continued survival inwardly. Eve caught the flashes of micro-expression that Charlotte likely didn’t even know existed which allowed her to read the younger woman like an open book.
Justin finally cleared his throat. “Please pay attention to me, Lady Eve. I would like to place my first specific wish.”
“I am paying attention to you.” Eve said without turning her eyes from Charlotte’s visage. She gave a smile at the younger woman that chilled the girl’s blood. “You’re very interesting to watch.”
“I just said you had ten arms,” Justin said, with a note of irritation.
“I thought you were being metaphorical, young man.” Eve said. Her smile widened as she turned to Justin, to the point where he looked away, unable to meet her terrible silver gaze. There was a reason Eve didn’t bother playing a kind old grandmother, or an innocent child. Her perusal of the library had enlightened her greatly,
I doubt they understand how close to death this Ritual placed them. Eve thought as the boy struggled under her eyes. A single sigil out of place and they open the door to disaster. I don’t think I can let this List of Evil remain in circulation.
It would after all be hard for her to be entertained if the entire world was drowned in screeching monstrosities like those coming through the Daedric Doorway in the Prison Plane after all. Best to take the offending book out of circulation and replace it with something else. Eve’s eyes flashed as a moment of brilliance struck her. Why not replace the List of Evil with a book summoning her own people? She could even have it update like a phone app with the most recent additions to her roster!
“I was not.” Justin said finally. He was rather impressive for recovering so fast. It was a shame he hadn’t met anyone like Eve before. “You’re not paying attention to me at all are you?”
Eve sighed and drew on her powers. Her skin glowed with silver light, before a rippling aura of flames surrounded her, illuminating her entire body. Justin gaped in shock. To someone familiar with what must be this world’s level of magic it would look as if Eve had spontaneously burst into flames. Her magic provided heat drawing upon the ambient mana in the air. While the silver fire wouldn’t harm her, it was impressive enough for several reasons.
Silent casting, no gestures, and completely powered through will alone.
These were the three marks of an Archmagus, clearly allowing Eve to demonstrate to the children that they hadn’t summoned anything even close to their league in power. The response to her flames was immediate and effective. The boy scrambled down to kneel on the stone floor, while the girl dropped to her knees in the same position in almost automatic reflex.
Eve watched them before slowly letting the silver flames die.
“Make no mistake, this you are both breathing because you have the vast potential to provide entertainment. But I am not some imp you summon at your leisure to provide entertainment and service. I am not here to entertain you. You are here to entertain me.” Eve said. The air grew thick with mana as Witch’s Dust increased the local mana field value. “I am a creature steeped in more power than your entire College faculty has at the peak of their strength. Show proper respect, or I will find a peasant child on the streets with better potential.” Left inherent in her words was a heavy threat that if she did such a thing there was no need for them to exist.
“Y-Yes, Archmagi.” Justin managed to say. “M-May I s-still have my wishes?”
Eve snorted; the boy was bold if nothing else. “Of course. My word is more solid than steel. Come, make your first wish.”
“I wish for the same level of wisdom that you have to the extent that it would do no harm to me or anyone connected to me.” Justin said.
Oh? Eve thought pleasantly surprised. This is rather interesting.
“You don’t want strength? Immortality? World peace?” Eve asked curious.
“Strength is meaningless without ability to use it properly. Immortality is nothing but a curse according to the stories. World peace would be fantastic, but I suspect you would just kill everyone else in the world leaving me alive yet alone to fulfill such a request.” Justin said his head still bowed.
Eve smirked and said, “Now you are thinking outside the box. Good.” She flexed her will using Witch’s Dust to implant a tiny thread of connection to her. The thread would allow the child to draw upon Nota’s powers, as well as peruse the Eternal Memory section that dealt with information Eve had on this world.
Justin’s eyes shifted altering under the restructuring as his mind was inextricably linked to a greater entity. With incredible speed the color leached out of his eyes before filling once more in the ruby red of fresh blood. Charlotte had stopped speaking the moment Eve had revealed her silver fire, and glanced fearfully at the boy as he was altered.
Once the change was complete Eve turned the full force of her attention to the girl. She moved within inches of the younger woman looking down with an imperial gaze. “You are not the same, your potential is limited in many ways girl. However, I can see the chilling cold calculation possible in your depths. To survive, anything can be done, right?”
Charlotte’s bratty demeanor dropped like a discarded coat as her faced turned blank and expressionless. Within the depths of her eyes lurked a soul willing to do anything to exist. “What gave me away?” she asked.
Eve grinned as she beheld a truly magnificent, yet unpolished jewel. “Nothing direct, but a body, even one like yours, makes expressions on a miniscule scale that are almost undetectable to normal humans.”
“Yet you can see them?” Charlotte said. Her voice was leached of all expression giving the strange sensation that Eve was talking to a living doll.
“Yes, I doubt most others could though. Perhaps some beasts with sharp senses, but these Professors? Never.” Eve replied. “I can smell the scent of desperation on you. Desires unfulfilled, a life lived only in service to the machinations of others. That could change though, if you wanted it to.” A pair of scrolls appeared in Eve’s hands, she floated one casually into Justin’s hands but the other she held at eye level to Charlotte.
The younger girl’s eyes looked at the scroll with laser focus before she said, “A contract? What is the point of replacing one master for another?”
“Read and see for yourself.” Eve said letting the scroll drop form her hand. It fell only for a fraction of a second before Charlotte snatched it. A frown marred the younger girl’s face as she realized her action had revealed the true desperation of her plight. Smoothing her features back, the younger girl opened the scroll.
Eve suppressed the feeling of delight when both children realized the language written on the scrolls was something they could read. Neither of them was unaware of the implications. Justin finished first signing the bottom of the scroll with bloody thumbprint. The boy glanced at Charlotte but she was still reading her own scroll. He opened his mouth to speak, but Eve froze him with a glance.
“Our contracts are different.” Charlotte said as she reached the end of her scroll.
“That is correct. If I was to demonstrate it this is your potential,” Eve said lighting a tiny marble sized orb above her right index finger. “And this is his.” A massive basketball sized light appeared over her left index finger.
“Any spark can create a conflagration though, huh?” Charlotte said looking directly into Eve’s eyes.
“Correct.” Eve said.
There was a silent moment before Charlotte finally signed at the bottom of her own scroll. As the two scrolls disintegrated into sparkling light Eve grinned.
Now is the perfect opportunity to display my true value. Eve thought as the door to the room smashed open revealing an array of heavily armored men behind which several older men with expensive robes stood.
“In the name of the College, you are all under arrest!” a voice thundered into the room.
