System Change

Jacks led Rayna out of the Adventurer’s Guild. He had seen all he needed to come up with a plan for the woman. A plan she would come to hate, but he guessed that Derek would be all for the plan. If you had the correct mental fortitude, nothing would help you get stronger than getting your ass kicked over and over.

His next destination was the teleport building. Now, he wasn’t planning on taking her to a different city, he just needed to confirm something. When they got there, he had Rayna wait outside while he went in.

Jacks waited for Shelby to finish instructing a group entering the city, then walked up.

“To what honor do I ow The Crimson Blade for his visit today?” Shelby asked with a cheeky smile.

Jacks rolled his eyes. “Are those apes still in the same spot as the last time I was here?”

“Apes?”

“The Cudgel Apes. You know, those level 120 beasts that nobody wants to clear because of their health and defense.” Jacks explained.

“Oh… those apes. As far as I know. There’s always a quest to cull them on the Adventurer’s Bounty board. Never gets picked up, so it ends up becoming a mission.” Shelby explained.

“Thanks.” Jacks turned and raised his hand in farewell.

“Wait!” Shelby called out. “What about those drinks?”

Jacks looked back. “I’m busy for the next few days. I’ll come by sometime after and we can go.” Without another word, the former captain turned back and left.

“C’mon.” He said to Rayna when he came back out. “Two more stops, then we’ll get you trained.”

“What is my training?” She asked.

“Just some beasts outside the city. We need to start today, before that bastard starts sending goons after us. I’d guess we have a week before it isn’t safe to go outside the city without Derek.” Jacks explained.

“What?”

“Just because that old bastard won’t do anything to Derek and his companions inside Savannah, doesn’t mean he won’t send people to wait outside in ambush. We need to get you capable of defending yourself, and quickly. There aren’t many assassins like Bones and Ogre, so if we can get your stats to upper Gold Rank or Platinum Rank, we shouldn’t have to worry too much about it. But we have to be quick. You don’t want to rely on Derek for everything, do you?” Jacks said.

“Of course not. That’s why I want to get stronger. He’s already saved my life twice. Once from a dying state.”

Jacks nodded. “Then we need to hurry. We’re on a clock.”

Jacks then led Rayna to an Alchemy shop that he remembered being competitively priced. Again, he went inside and left Rayna waiting in the street. After dropping a mindboggling amount of gold, it wasn’t long before he was leading Rayna through the city once again.

As they approached the edge of the city, they stopped at an empty plot of land with people all around, taking measurements. Jacks breathed a sigh of relief. “Good, now I won’t have to go find anybody.”

Jacks found Rudy talking to a guy with a hooked-nosed and walked over with Rayna. “Rudy!”

Rudy turned in the direction of his voice. “Jacks. What are you doing here?”

“Was hoping to find Derek, buy you’ll do.” Jacks said. “Me and Rayna are going out to train. We probably won’t be back for a few days. If we’re gone longer than a week, then you should start to worry. I just wanted to let Derek know. I should have bought a communication’s crystal, but it’s too late for that. Just let him know. Okay?”

“Umm… sure.” Rudy said. “I’ll tell him when he gets here.”

“Great.” Jacks looked at the land. “I take it discussions went well?”

Rudy smiled. “Well, indeed.” He said. “Having an Onyx Badge sure does go a long way in getting things done for cheap.”

“I guessed as much.” Jacks had a good amount of money saved up after not spending anything in years. Even though he was basically under a slave contract before, he made sure he had a great salary for if he ever broke free.

He planned on giving some to Derek if he needed it for the building, but doubted it would come to that. And, as he could see, he was right.

Rudy nodded. “Yeah. They’re building everything at cost. The boss even said that Derek could have gotten everything built for free if he would have contacted a bigger contractor.”

Jacks nodded. “He did good by not doing that. Nothing is ever ‘free.’ At least by doing it at cost, the favor he owes won’t be too great.” He explained. “Anyway… I’m done wasting time. We’re off. See everybody in a few days.”

With Rayna trailing behind, they soon exited through the gates of Savannah. “There is a hunting ground not far from the city. It’s very populated, but few adventurers hunt the beasts there. They are too troublesome.”

“Then why are we going there?” Rayna asked.

“Multiple reasons.” Jacks answered. “But first and foremost, there most likely won’t be anyone else around, so we can train without worrying about giving away any secrets. Another reason is because the beasts only have physical damage, no magic, so they make good sparring partners. Plus, you don’t have to worry about a critical hit instantly killing you.”

“I… see.”

Two hours of hiking later, the duo arrived at the hunting zone. The zone was a forest area, but it was sparsely populated with trees. It was more plain than forest. Sure enough, there wasn’t another adventurer in sight.

The Cudgel Apes were king of the area. No other beasts were around, either. The problem with the Cudgel Apes was that they were considered pests, but were still vital for a small variety of alchemic potions. Plus, though there were many beasts that provided better materials for armor that were much easier to deal with, the armor that could be crafted from the Cudgel Apes was still decent.

Of course, it wasn’t decent enough for adventurers to hunt the harder beasts instead of the easier to kill ones. And the potions made by the materials weren’t as good as other potions from easier to hunt beasts.

The apes were just as Jacks remembered them. After a quick use of Identify, he could see that most of their levels were between 110 and 135. The apes were just under chest high and had extremely thick skin. In fact, he wondered if Rayna’s wind would even be able to do more than just leave a mark.

Their feet were shaped just like any other ape’s feet, but it was their hands that gave them their name. Instead of normal hands were abnormally clubbed fists. The apes could barely grip anything with their club like fists, but they made up for their inflexibility with their sheer strength. They swung their hands like cudgels.

“Those are what I’m going to be fighting?” Rayna asked with doubt.

Jacks nodded seriously. “Yes, make sure you fight one at a time. Be sure not to pull more than one.”

Rayna summoned her sword from her storage ring. “I guess there’s no time like the present.” She stepped forward, towards the closest ape.

“Wait.” Jacks stopped her. He reached his hand out. “Give me your storage ring.”

“Why?”

“Because I can’t have you relying on anything inside it. I want you to fight without leaning on anything.” He explained.

She shrugged and put her ring in his hand. “It’s not like I have anything in there that would help me.”

“Now you can go.”

With that, Rayna walked forward until the ape was in range. Catching it off guard, she launched one of her wind skills at it. The blade of wind hit the ape on the back of the neck.

Good aim. Jacks internally praised. Then he smiled as the ape turned around and charged the woman. Unfortunately, it’s not going to be enough. Surprisingly, the blade did cut the beast. A small amount of blood dripped down its back as it charged at the woman.

The ape closed in on her in a matter of seconds. In that time, she launched two more wind blades at the beast, but only caused minor damage. In an instant, the ape was on her. It swung its heavy fist at the woman’s midsection, causing her to sidestep.

The clubbed fist missed her by inches. Rayna jumped to the air to rain wind down on the beast. Unfortunately, the ape jumped as well. It couldn’t stay in the air like the woman could, but the flexibility and power from its legs were enough for it to keep up with her.

Plus, she had to make sure not to drag other beasts into the fight. Her flying didn’t work as well when surrounded by trees, even if there weren’t many of them. The ape, however, was in its natural habitat. It leaped from tree to tree, swinging its fists at the woman every time they crossed paths.

She soon realized that fighting in the air wasn’t going to work against the beast. She would run out of mana well before she could whittle its health down if she continued to waste it on floating. Rayna soon landed on the ground and the ape followed.

Jacks’s eyes never left the battle. He stayed at the ready just in case something happened.

After some time, many of the cuts on the ape had healed, and Rayna was heavily panting. This was what Jacks expected to see. The woman’s reactions were becoming worse and worse, until soon, one of the fists connected with her thigh.

Jacks heard the bone snap and the pained yell that followed behind it. Throughout the entire fight, he could tell that Rayna was fighting with expectations that Jacks would step in if it got to be too much. And he would. Only… his definition of too much was different from her definition.

Rayna fell to the ground with the ape towering over her. “Jacks!” She yelled.

Still, Jacks did nothing, but he very carefully watched the actions of the ape with held breath.

The ape raised his cudgel like fist, and Jacks released a sigh of relief. The ape brought its fist down, and with a sickening crunch, crushed the woman’s ribs in one blow. Instantly, Rayna’s state changed to ‘dying.’

Jacks quickly acted. The ape’s separated from the rest of its body, leaving a bloody trail behind. Jacks lifted Rayna’s head and poured one of the potions he picked up from the Alchemist down her throat. A while later, she coughed and grasped at her ruined midsection.

“Why?” She muttered.

Jacks handed her a healing potion. “So you stop relying on others, and rely only on yourself. It’s holding you back. Now, drink this.”

She drank the potion, causing her injuries to lessen in a short amount of time.

“Meditate.” He commanded, and she did.

A couple hours later and she was back to fighting condition.

Jacks pointed at another ape. “Again.”

“But…”

“Go!” He commanded.

She got up and went in for her second fight.

Time blurred, and two days passed. Jacks poured another Revival Potion into Rayna’s mouth and waited for her to wake up. It was the ninth time this had happened. The woman managed to defeat multiple apes in the two days, but occasionally, one got a lucky it. That’s all it took for it to win.

There were a couple of instances where Jacks had to interfere to keep the ape from hitting Rayna with a critical hit and causing instant death. But he kept a close eye on the fighting, so there was never any real chance of her dying.

Soon, Rayna woke from her forced slumber. She stared incredulously at Jacks. “Really?”

“What?” He asked with a toothy grin.

“You could have just told me we were doing this to gain an Award.”

Jacks chuckled. “Do you like it?”

Rayna snorted as she gulped down a healing potion. “Why does it have to be called Damsel?”

“Because that’s what you have been.” He answered. “Now, hurry and meditate. You’ve got more apes to hunt.”

“Wait! What?” Rayna shouted. “I thought we were just getting the Award.”

“What gave you that idea?” Jacks answered. “You’re killing apes until we have to leave. The more you kill the higher level you get. Even with your failing, your levels are increasing rapidly. If you hurry, you’ll be able to get to level 100 before we have to leave. Now, meditate.”

Rayna huffed. “You’re evil.”