System Change

After settling the mount issue for Silvi, the group made their way to Wilmette. For Derek, traveling with such a large party was odd. At least with Jacks and Stella, they had a couple more capable fighters if needed. He wasn’t sure how much good Rudy would be in a fight, as the only thing he had to go off of was how easily the man had been knocked out.

Of course, he also didn’t know how long the man had pretended to be unconscious. For all Derek knew, Rudy could be much stronger than he seemed. Out of the rest, Derek would have to say that Thomas would be the most help.

With all the training the boy had done, even without levels to help, he had made great progress. He suspected the boy could give Rayna a run for her money, even though she was over 15 levels higher than him. He was more suited for his weapon and fighting style than Rayna was hers, but Rayna didn’t have many choices in the matter, and by now, it would be stupid to replace her sword with another weapon.

Malorie and Brandi were different stories entirely. While Malorie was efficient in her blade staff, she was still at a lower level without any real training. Derek had also seen that, while Malorie would fight and doing anything she could to protect Brandi, she didn’t enjoy it like she did other things.

Maybe when she no longer has to worry about protecting Brandi, she could look into changing her class at level 50 into a cooking class or some other life skill class. Derek thought as he glanced at the woman struggling to keep pace with everyone else other than Brandi. Derek slowed his pace ever so gradually to help her.

Then, he glanced at Brandi, who was in a similar state as her mother, just more exaggerated. He slowed even more. Brandi would be, for a lack of a better word, completely useless in combat. She wasn’t able to distribute her stats herself, which meant that she couldn’t min/max for combat. Then again, with her class and abilities, she could end up more useful than anyone else in the group, and that was what Derek was banking on when they got to Savannah.

First, however, they had to get through Wilmette and anything Gerald had done to prevent them from leaving the area.

The group eventually saw Wilmette in the distance.

“Finally.” Malorie panted. “I don’t know how much longer we would have lasted.” She held Brandi’s hand.

Derek looked over at Stella, who, surprisingly, no longer minded the bunny resting on her shoulder. In fact, she seemed to have taken to Silvi. “Stella.” He got her attention. “Will we be able to teleport today, or is there a set period when we can use them?”

“There are six cities with a teleport circle throughout the kingdom, not including the Capital. Ten minutes out of each hour, the teleport circle can be activated for each city. For example, Wilmette’s teleportation circle can be activated from six in the evening to six o’ nine. That way, if anyone arrives at another city or the Capital in that timeframe, they know that the person came from Wilmette.” She explained.

“So, if we get to the circle at six-fifteen, then we would have to wait 45 minutes until the next chance to leave?” Derek asked.

Stella nodded. “That’s correct. It makes it easier that way.”

“What if there’s an emergency?” Derek asked.

“It depends.” She answered. “If it is a citywide emergency and everyone needs to teleport out, the most likely place to go would be to the Capital. The Capital has six teleportation circles within, so you can get there at any time. Of course, under normal situations, you are still only allowed to use the circle at the designated times.”

“How do you know if someone is coming from the Capital?” Derek asked.

Stella laughed. “The color is different.”

“The color?” Derek asked.

“Yeah. Normally, the mana projected out during a teleport is your run-of-the-mill light blue mana. However, the teleportation circles at the Capital are built with better, more powerful runes, so when someone comes from there, the mana is a much darker color.” She explained.

“Oh.” Derek said. “I guess that makes sense.”

“It is what it is.” She said. “They used to require badges. Kind of like the Adventurer’s Guild ones, but temporary. That got expensive, and materials got harder and hard to get. Of course, a good runemaster would be able to make one easily with just paper, but who would want that job when all that was actually needed was a schedule?”

“We’re almost there.” Jacks cut their conversation short as they arrived closer to the city.

“Everyone, put your Adventurer’s Guild badges on.” Stella suddenly commanded as she pinned a platinum badge to her collar.

Derek didn’t ask any questions and strapped his golden badge to his arm. He looked around and saw Thomas proudly take out his bronze badge and put it on. Rudy also wore a golden badge, and Jacks had equipped a platinum one.

“Herrett, you walk up front with me.” Stella said. “Rudy, you and Derek walk in the back. Everyone else, form two lines and walk between us.” With that command, the group formed up in double file.

Stella looked over the group and frowned. “Derek, do you have any decent looking armor you can equip?”

Derek nodded and quickly equipped a set of leather armor over his clothes. “Will this do?” He asked.

She looked him up and down. “It would be better with a tunic, but that should be enough.” Then she looked at the bunny on her shoulder. “Silvi, you need to hide somewhere. Does anybody have a pack of some kind?”

“Ooh, I do.” Brandi chimed in and pulled a rough leather backpack out of her ring. “I was working on making some travel packs, so I have a few. This one has some cheap materials stored in it from when I was testing it.”

“Great.” Stella praised. “Give that to Thomas. Silvi, you need to hide in the pack until we get to the next city. It would be best if you hid under the materials as well, in case someone decides to do a quick search. Brandi, could you give a pack to Rayna, Malorie, and wear one yourself?”

“Sure.” She happily replied and withdrew three more packs. One was full, like the one Thomas was wearing, and another was about half full. The last was almost empty. “I have one more if you need it.”

Rayna took the full pack, Mal took the half full one, and Brandi kept the empty one.

“It’d be better if you put something in yours. It doesn’t have to be much though. Make sure it’s cheap, whatever it is.” Stella said.

Brandi nodded and stuffed some materials in the sack. Afterwards, she slung it onto her back. “Is that good?” She asked.

“Perfect.” Stella flashed the little girl a smile. Then, she looked over the group again. “It’s believable that two golds and two platinums would have storage rings, so we don’t need the other sack. Thanks, though.”

“What next?” Derek asked. Stella seemed to have some kind of idea, so he let her have the lead and followed.

“Herrett.” She said. “Will anyone recognize you here?”

Jacks put his hand on his chin in thought. “Hmm… possibly. Most likely, no, not unless they are looking for me.

Stella took out a cloak and wore it. The shadow of the hood covered her face. Then she took out more and tossed them to Jacks, Rudy, and Derek. “Put those on. We’ll look uniform at the very least. Thomas… put your badge away. This way, we’ll look like a team of adventurers hired to escort people and materials. In fact, if you have some higher quality materials, it would be good to put some on top in the sacks.”

Brandi grinned and ran around, placing handfuls of the bat cloth she had made out of the bat hide on top of the sack.

“Good.” Stella said. “I think we’re ready.”

With that, Stella started forward, and the group moved. Before long, they were standing at the gates to the city. It was late evening, so there wasn’t much traffic. They were soon next in line to enter.

“Reason for entering?” One of the gate guards asked.

“Taking supplies to Savannah.” Stella answered flatly and cocked her head to the side, giving the guardsman a good view of the platinum badge.

The guard nodded. “You better hurry. Teleportation starts in five minutes. Unless you plan on staying here for the night.”

Stella nodded. “Thanks for the warning. We should be able to make it.”

The guard nodded and stepped to the side. “Safe travels.”

Stella led, and the group followed. Wilmette had a layout almost like Torith, but on a much grander scale. Unfortunately, Derek wasn’t able to take much in because they were in a rush.

“The circle is in the Merchant Square. If we keep at the same pace as we were going outside, we may not make it.” Stella said as they rushed down the street.

Passersby saw the cloaked figures with platinum badges and sprinted out of their way. Derek chuckled as he noticed a would be target of a pickpocket scurry away, leaving a boy with his hand outstretched in a compromising position. The boy cursed as he withdrew his hand and disappeared into an alley.

“We need to move faster. Derek… Rudy.” Stella said.

Understanding what Stella wanted, Derek moved forward and picked Malorie up in a princess carry. “Sorry.” He said.

Rudy saw Derek and did the same with Brandi.

“Woah.” Brandi shouted, then giggled.

“Let’s move.” Stella commanded, and the group picked up the pace. Without Brandi and Mal slowing them down, they were able to travel at Thomas and Rayna’s top speed, which was much faster. “We should be good with this.”

The group flew up the street, buildings and stalls flashing by every second. Before long, they were at the gate to the Merchant District.

Stella flashed her badge. “We’re looking to make the next teleportation.” She spoke hurriedly.

The guards saw the two platinums in front and didn’t make any fuss, allowing them through.

Before long, they were standing before a building in the merchant district.

“This is it.” Stella said and walked inside.

Derek and Rudy dropped Mal and Brandi and followed.

When Derek walked inside, he saw Stella chatting with a man at a counter.

“Eight…” He heard her say. Then, the man mumbled something, and she answered again. “Savannah.” With that, she tossed the man a small bag. The man dumped the contents of the bag onto the desk and nodded.

The man pointed to a giant rune drawn on the floor. “Better hurry. Only three minutes left.”

Stella nodded. “Let’s go.”

With that, the group all stood in the center of the circle, and Stella nodded. The man at the counter pulled a crystal of some sort out of his storage ring and placed it in a slot on the counter before placing his hand over it and channeling mana.

The rune around the group glowed blue before a flash of light blinded them. In an instant, they disappeared.