Elise hid in a tree and waited for the cows to approach. After about a minute, the first one appeared. It was one of the ordinary variety, neither Lesser or Greater. Another five ordinary ones followed, then three Lessers, and a Greater. There was a short break, then the next wave arrived. By the time the entire herd had arrived, there were 42 cows in total, with 5 Greaters, 8 Lessers, and the rest ordinary.

That’s bigger than it was before, she thought.

The last time she had gone hunting, the biggest herd only had 4 Greaters, and this particular herd only had 2. She was also pretty sure she had killed all but one of the Lessers no more than a week ago. Did they merge with another herd? Or did the new ones just spawn in recently?

System, when do monsters spawn?

“Monsters spawn at intervals and levels dependent on the type of spawn zone they are in.”

Spawn zones?

“Spawn zones are areas designated by the System as places where monsters can spawn. They have different levels and types, and those levels and types determine what kind of monsters spawn, and how strong they are.”

Did this place’s spawn zone level change recently?

“I’m sorry. You do not have access to that information.”

Dangit.

It was an interesting mystery, but it would have to remain just that. The drow didn’t keep many written records, and the dwarves' resources had about as much information on the System as she did. If her System assistant couldn’t answer, that meant she wouldn’t be able to find the answer any time soon, which meant there was no point in worrying about it. She would tell the drow, of course, since if the spawn zone was changing, that would be a big deal, but for now, she just needed to hunt so she could reach her evolution threshold.

She was a little impatient, so rather than trying to use {Suggest} to make them fight, which she still couldn’t do consistently, or luring just one away like she usually did, she decided to go for 3 at once. It took a bit of hectic mental effort to make sure all 3 stayed together and kept moving where she wanted to, but it didn’t take long before she got them out of earshot of the rest, at which point she made her move.

She cast {Magic Missile} and split the projectiles up evenly between all 3 cows. She had only ever done two targets at once before, but her Mana Control had improved drastically after leveling up from Emilia’s death, so she found it to be no trouble at all. It helped that the cows were mostly stationary while they grazed on the grass that she had convinced them was much tastier than the grass by the creek.

None of them died from her first attack, but all three were blinded, and started flailing about wildly. Two more casts of {Magic Missile} was enough to finish all three off

[ You have defeated Omnivorous Cyclops Cow, lvl 4 ]

[ You have defeated Omnivorous Cyclops Cow, lvl 6 ]

[ You have defeated Omnivorous Cyclops Cow, lvl 3 ]

[ { Magic Missile } lvl 34 -> 35 ]

No levels? She thought.

She knew it would get difficult to level up as she got stronger, but were 3 Omnivorous Cyclops Cows really not enough for a single level anymore? She was pretty sure that they were an evolution tier ahead of her.

System, how are levels calculated again?

“At $%^&, we use a patented, AI-powered algorithm to calculate-”

Yes, yes, I know. Just give me the practical explanation.

There are two ways for a user to earn experience points. The first and simplest is by fighting and killing other creatures. Experience points are determined by the relative levels and stats. If you fight something weaker than yourself, your experience points will be penalized, and if you fight something stronger than yourself, you will earn bonus experience. We also take into account skill matchups, terrain, nearby creatures, and numerous other trade secret factors to make adjustments to the final total.

“The second way to earn experience is to do things that align with your class. For example-”

That’s enough.

Were her combined stats now beyond what the cows’ were? Was that what was going on? That would certainly be part of it. She had an Epic species, and though she didn’t know the exact math, if it only had a common or uncommon species, even if it was an evolution ahead of her, their overall stat total would be lower. On top of that, she had gotten so accustomed to hunting them that they no longer provided any challenge at all. Ambushing monsters with such obvious and easy to hit weaknesses really wasn’t fair.

That could only mean one thing: it was time to move on to bigger things. It was time to hunt one of the Greaters.

She flew back to the drow to inform them of her kills, then returned to the herd to plan her next hunt. She would have been lying if she said she wasn’t nervous. While her hunting of the Lessers and normals had gotten very efficient, she still wasn’t confident she could take even a Lesser in a straight fight. Her {Magic Missile} had gotten strong, yes, but its eye laser was still faster, and her Fortitude was still pitiful. If she even got grazed, it might be over for her.

For the Greaters, it was even more of a danger, since they were faster, and more durable. If their evolutions were anything like hers, she wouldn’t be surprised if it was twice as strong as its weaker brethren. One cast of {Magic Missile} might not even be enough to blind them. She needed to play things very carefully. Guerilla tactics were her friend. If it ever saw her for more than a split second, she was doomed. Its biggest weakness in this respect was that its single eye had a very limited field of view. She didn’t have to take much of an angle to be invisible to it.

She snuck into her usual spot in the branches near where the herd was grazing and got to work. The nearest of the Greaters, and thankfully also the smallest, was chowing on a big tuft of blue grass growing near the creek.

There’s some more good stuff over there, she sent with {Suggest}.

It looked up at where she indicated, then back down at its current food, then back up before trudging over to the new grass. She repeated this twice, both times successfully, bringing it to the edge of the clearing. However, at that point, she realized she had made a mistake. The Greaters weren’t just bigger, stronger versions of the normal cows. They were also the leaders. Where they went, others followed. It could never stray from the group because the group was always with it.

Of course, it wasn’t the entire group. Only a half dozen were following this one. The rest were sticking near the other four. She was disappointed at the turn of events, but 6 other cows was better than 40, so she continued leading the Greater away until the whole mini-group was too far from the others to be heard.

None of the cows had noticed anything, and were happily munching on the grass Elise had led them to, which gave her time to think about her next move. She had successfully gotten one of the Greaters away from the herd, but it would be impossible to get it away from the six that followed it. The only way she could get it alone would be to lure the others away from it, but there were problems with that plan too.

For one, it would take too long. Every second she was away from the Greater and not reinforcing its mind with {Suggest} was a second that it might decide to turn around and rejoin its herd. She could lure the smaller ones away, kill them, and come back to find that the Greater was already gone.

Secondly, with such a small group, it was much more likely that her efforts would be noticed. When there were 40 cows in a clearing, a couple wandering off was nothing for the others to worry about. When there were only 7, if even one went missing, it would put the others on edge.

Thirdly, she had already lured these cows quite far away. If she took them any further, she would end up encroaching on either another herd’s territory, or drow territory, neither of which would be good. Any further toward the center and she would be getting way too close to the drow school for comfort.

That left her with only one option, which was to kill them where they stood, and she only knew one way to do that. She could almost hear Emilia’s voice in her head egging her on.

“You could kill them all, if you wanted to.”

She shook her head and tried to clear her mind. Emilia had done enough damage while alive. It wasn’t good to let her continue worming her way into minds while dead. She needed to be able to make practical decisions without her judgment getting clouded.

If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

The most practical decision would be to use {Suggest} to make them all kill each other, she thought. So that’s what I’ll do.

She looked down at her soon-to-be victims and prepared to use {Suggest}. A few minutes later, she was still staring at them, and nothing had happened.

I just need to wait for the right moment, she told herself.

Timing was important, after all. She couldn’t just create animosity out of nothing. She needed to wait until she saw an opening. Just a sliver of dissatisfaction was all she needed.

One of the cows accidentally poked another’s side with its horn as it turned.

Now! She thought.

The cow that had been poked grunted at the other, then went back to eating its grass. The one that had done the poking finished its turn and walked over to another patch of grass.

Elise waited a few more minutes, watching opportunities pass by before sighing to herself.

I can’t do it.

Every time she was about to get started, the faces from her nightmare flashed in her mind. She saw Naomi’s mangled corpse, and Greta’s cold, dead eyes, and Carol’s frail little body, covered in blood. She knew nothing like that would happen just because she used the skill Emilia taught her, but something about knowing how close those things had been to happening, all because of that very same skill made her nauseous.

She watched a few minutes longer, then turned to head back to the Mother Tree.

While she was hunting, the antidote had been applied to the tree, but the effects thus far had been minimal. Elise stopped by the center to see that the mana was a little less stagnant than before, but it was nowhere near where it had been when healthy, and Salome was still unconscious.

The next morning, it was much better. It wasn’t fully revived, but Salome was able to wake up for a few hours. The drow held another feast to celebrate, using the cows Elise had hunted the previous day as the main course. Elise spent a few hours with the drow, then went back out to continue her hunting. She lured a Greater away with its small group of followers once again, and once again found herself hiding in a tree, unable to make a move.

Just do it already! She told herself. They’re just animals!

If I do, I’ll be doing exactly what Emilia wanted me to do, she countered.

So? If she told you to drink water to survive, would you die of thirst?

That’s different!

How? This is your life now. If you want to grow, you need to kill, and if you want to kill, you need to use the tools you have available. Stop wasting time worrying about a dead psychopath and just do it already!

“Fine!” she said out loud.

The cows turned toward her at the sound of her voice, but she backed up and crouched down in the branches so they couldn’t see her. A few seconds later, they went back to grazing, probably assuming Elise was some kind of strange bird. Elise peeked back over the branches and targeted the cow second furthest from the Greater and had it go toward the one that was the furthest. Thirty seconds later, they were growling and butting heads.

Elise felt queasy, but she forced herself to continue. She continued using {Suggest} to escalate the dispute, while occasionally switching over to the Greater to keep it distracted. It didn’t take long before the fight turned serious, and the Greater started taking notice, regardless of her suggestions. That meant it was time to move onto the next stage

Just like Emilia had, Elise started using the Greater more actively, using it to break up the fight. However, she made a mistake. She let the Greater get involved too early. Or maybe she didn’t get the other cows fighting hard enough first. Either way, when the Greater arrived, things calmed down, and no matter how much she tried to {Suggest} they continue the fight, they weren’t quite riled up enough to be willing to go against the Greater.

A minute later, everything was calm again. She could tell that the two fighters were still unhappy with each other, but the Greater was very deliberately standing in between them, so there would be no more fighting between them. She looked for an opportunity to try to get one to fight with a different cow, but the others were avoiding them too, leaving her with nothing to work with.

Doubt started creeping back into her mind, and she was getting ready to give up for the day, when she noticed something about the way they were standing, and an idea formed. At that moment, there was only one cow facing her direction, and it was one of the two she made fight earlier. It was acting calm, but she could still hear that its heart was beating faster than the others.

Since it was the only one facing her, if she emerged from her hiding spot in the branches, it would be the only one able to see her. It would attack on sight, like the cows always did, but if she used just a little bit of {Suggest}, she could make it think even less before firing its laser.

There was no time to waste, since there was no telling when a chance like this would present itself again, so she immediately slipped down from the branches into its line of sight. It saw her, and for a split second, was frozen in surprise.

I should shoot it, she sent with {Suggest}.

Without hesitation, it started charging up its eye laser. The other cows took notice, but they all looked at the attacking cow, rather than Elise, so none of them saw her dip down toward the ground, putting another cow between herself and the attacker.

The unfortunate meat shield screamed in pain, and Elise used {Dart} to get back to the other side of the tree and out of their sight before it could hit the ground and reveal her. She didn’t know whether she managed to make it out without being seen, but regardless, she could hear that the other part of her plan was working.

The Greater bellowed, and stomped over to the one that had shot its laser. Elise didn’t even need to use {Suggest} to make the attacker act defiantly, at which point, she was able to nudge the Greater just a little bit, and it shot its own laser, killing the other cow instantly.

[ You have participated in the killing of an Omnivorous Cyclops Cow, lvl 7 ]

A moment later, the Greater walked over to the injured one and with a single stomp, put it out of its misery as well.

[ You have participated in the killing of an Omnivorous Cyclops Cow, lvl 6 ]

[ Suggest lvl 43 -> 44 ]

[ You have leveled up! 18 -> 19 ]

[ Agility +5, Dexterity +5, Charisma +20, Intelligence +15, Willpower +5, Mana +10, Mana Control +10 ]

Between the warm sensation of her stats going up, and the fact that she had managed to half-accomplish her goal using her own methods, Elise’s mood was much improved. She had used a bit of Emilia’s method, but the bulk of it had been her own tactics, and ones she had used even before meeting the older fey.

She returned to her hiding spot, and watched the aftermath. The cows were clearly unsettled by the deaths of their comrades, but evidently, none had seen her, since they didn’t seem too intent on leaving just yet like they would have if they thought there was an outside threat. The Greater looked at the other smaller ones as if daring them to make another move, then turned back to the dead one it was standing over and took a massive bite.

Elise was disturbed by how easily it turned to cannibalism, but she had no time to worry about that. This turn of events actually worked out in her favor, since while the Greater was eating one corpse, the other 4 started walking over toward the other corpse. She wasn’t sure if she would ever get it more alone than that. She could try killing off the others first, but if that was even possible after the Greater’s warning, it would take too long. They would eat their fill, then return to their home before she could finish, regardless of her manipulation.

It was better to make an attempt on the Greater’s life right then while it was distracted and its companions were looking the other way. She waited a minute or so to make sure the others were thoroughly distracted, then made her move.

She cast {Magic Missile}, all 8 projectiles targeted at the Greater’s eye. The first hit its mark dead on. But the second was blocked by an eyelid, and the rest were all slightly off-target, as the great beast flinched back and started shaking its head to try to avoid the attack. When it was over, its face was a bloody mess, but still mostly intact. It opened its eyelid to reveal a highly damaged, but somehow still functional eye that was starting to glow red.

Elise was already preparing another {Magic Missile} volley that she shot at its head, again, but her aim was off, since she had to use {Dart} to get out of her tree a moment before it got incinerated. The missiles all hit the cow, but only one got close to its eye this time. The cow bellowed in pain and started charging up its eye attack again, but this time, Elise was more prepared for it.

She already had another {Magic Missile} volley heading toward it, and with its mouth open to bellow, she was even able to get two of them into its mouth to damage its throat while simultaneously dodging the next laser. It was a dangerous game she was playing, since the Greater’s laser was wide enough to cover her entire body, and came out much faster than the others, but it had been at least partially blinded by her attack, so its reactions were slow and its aim was off.

Elise stuck around just long enough to verify her last attack connected, and after that, it was time to leave. The other cows had taken notice of her, and she didn’t want to test her luck dodging all of them. She knew the Greater could split its beam, and though she didn’t know the full extent of that, she didn’t want to find out the hard way. Besides, she had already done enough. Its Fortitude was too high for her to be able to damage its outer body, but its throat was not so. She could hear it choking on blood behind her as she flew away.

The cows weren’t exactly slow, but even before Elise leveled up from killing Emilia, her speed had already surpassed theirs. They tried to pursue, but it didn’t even take a minute for Elise to completely lose them.

Elise rested for a few minutes, half-meditating to recover her mana while keeping her ears open, then turned around to head back. She found the Greater almost exactly where she left it, standing still, bleeding from its eye and mouth, and breathing deep, gurgling breaths. It would probably die on its own, but on the off-chance it had some kind of recovery or survival skill, she wanted to finish it off.

The other cows were standing around it, looking uncertain about what to do. They didn’t notice her until she was already right above them, casting one final {Magic Missile}. With a stationary target now, each missile struck home landing right in its eye socket. When the seventh connected, it finally collapsed to the ground, dead.

The others tried to shoot their beams at her, but she was already flying away, and a couple {Dart}s later, she was too far away from them to hit.

[ You have defeated a Greater Omnivorous Cyclops Cow, lvl 3 ]

[ Magic Missile, lvl 35 -> 37 ]

[ You have leveled up! 19 -> 20 ]

[ Agility +5, Dexterity +5, Charisma +20, Intelligence +15, Willpower +5, Mana +10, Mana Control +10 ]

[ You have reached an evolution threshold. Excess exp will be disregarded. ]

[ You are eligible for evolution! You have {6} options! You have 168 hours to select an option and begin your evolution before an option will be randomly selected for you and your evolution will start automatically. ]