System Change

Derek still couldn’t quite wrap his head around the system and its stats. Maybe this system isn’t as stingy as I thought it was. He shook his head and inwardly sighed. It’s just something I’ll have to figure out for myself, just like Alanah says.

“So.” Derek shifted the conversation. “I know you’ve moved the auction up and even combined them, but nobody has told me why. What happened?”

“I was wondering when you were going to bring that up.” Alanah said. “This is only known to a few of the higher ups in the Kingdom, but there is a new dungeon that needs to be cleared.”

Derek shrugged. “What’s so special about that? Why all the secrecy over a dungeon?”

“It’s because of the type of dungeon. It is both a raid-type dungeon and time distortion.” Alanah explained. “If it were just one of those, then there wouldn’t be much of a problem, but combined, we end up in this situation.”

“How many people?” Derek asked.

“Twenty-five people.” She answered. “But that’s not the worst part. The time distortion in that place is big. By the calculations of those who went in before, it’s at least one to twelve. With each day spent inside, twelve passes on the outside. Because it’s a max level raid dungeon, it could take months inside to finish.”

The reason why it was a big deal clicked for Derek. “So twenty-five of the Kingdom’s elite have to run a dungeon that could take years on the outside. Which means Cydaria will lose much of its military power while the dungeon is being completed.”

“Hence all the secrecy.” Alanah said.

“And you pushed the auction up because they plan on starting this raid soon.”

Alanah nodded. “Exactly. The team plans to enter the dungeon a week after the auction.”

“I see…” Derek rubbed his chin.

“Mhm. The times are quite interesting.” Alanah said. “Now, hand me your membership card.” She commanded out of the blue.

“Huh?”

“Your Crown membership card. Hand it to me.” She reached out with her hand.

“O…kay.” Derek searched through his storage bracelet until he found the white membership card Stella had given him. With a flick of his wrist, it appeared in his hand. “Here.” He handed the card over to Alanah.

Derek watched as Alanah looked over the card, then began injecting her mana into it. He saw as the card changed from white to blue, then eventually purple, before finally settling on black. The golden logo of the Crown shined brightly against the black background. Alanah flicked the card back to Derek. He fumbled with it before he finally caught it.

“Congratulations.” Alanah said. “You are one of the very few who has a tier four membership. Now you can enjoy heavy discounts on lesser tier services, including hotel stay, along with being able to book suites and dine off the upper tier menus in the restaurants. You get VIP treatment in all Crown locations and auctions.”

“Thanks?” Derek shrugged and put the card away.

“You know that people would kill for that, right?”

“Aye, but killing for a membership card would be a sure way to not be eligible for a membership card.” Derek smiled.

“True.”

Derek stood. “Alanah, it has been a pleasure finally meeting you. But I have to go give a halfling a heart attack, and the sooner I do it, the better.”

Alanah stood as well and nodded. “Oh no, the pleasure has been all mine.” She gave him a radiant smile. “It’s not often I get to talk with someone without holding back my emotions. It’s freeing. You can come by anytime.”

“I’ll hold you to that.” Derek began to turn to leave.

“Oh, before I forget.” Alanah stopped him. “I’m holding a pre-auction dinner with a few guests in two days. I hope you will attend.”

“Just send me the details. I wouldn’t miss it.”

After that, Derek left his first meeting with Alanah and headed over to Roman’s shop. He was right, the halfling almost had a coronary after receiving the whole Void Beast carcasses. Then, when Derek told him that the Crown would be supplying him with multiple sets of materials for his new potion, he freaked out even more.

The glint in the halfling’s eyes when he received the whole corpses was scary. Derek couldn’t imagine what kind of experimentation the man was going to get up to in the coming days and weeks.

After visiting Roman, Derek dropped by Geoffrey’s business to thank him for the showers. The seedy looking man was more than happy to discuss them and the business he thought they could bring. Unfortunately, there was nothing like copyrights and trademarks in the Kingdom, so they were both sure that it wouldn’t take long for the design to be copied by competitors. Still, it was always better to be first to the market.

Once he was finished with all his tasks for the day, Derek spent the rest of the day relaxing in his shop and talking about managing the business with Malorie. Rayna and Jacks came back late after training for the day. Jacks was much more happy ever since his son visited. Rayna was as focused as ever at becoming stronger.

Thomas dragged his tired body back to the shop just in time for dinner. Shae was still driving the teen hard.

“Shae told me that he was only going to be able to train me for a couple more weeks.” Thomas said.

“Why is that?” Derek asked.

Thomas shrugged. “He wouldn’t tell me. He told me I was ready to go to the Academy, though. I just need to gain the extra levels to be qualified.”

Derek nodded. It wouldn’t be hard for him or Jacks to help Thomas gain the extra levels. Though, the two weeks’ notice is oddly specific. I bet Shae’s going to be part of the team that raids the dungeon. I wonder what Judy has to say about that. Him leaving her alone with all the paperwork for the guild for that long isn’t going to make her happy.

The more Derek thought about the dungeon, the more interested he became in it. What would the rewards for such a dungeon be like? Even the most stingy of systems would have to reward something like that with something great. Derek shrugged. Oh well… it’s not like it concerns me. I’m more concerned about that meeting in a couple of day.

Who is important enough for Alanah to invite them for dinner? Better yet, who is strong enough that they won’t be affected by her passive… charisma? Maybe I’ll finally get to meet Natalie. Surely she is important enough… being the City Lord of Savannah and all. Derek snapped out of his thoughts and continued his conversation with Thomas and the others.

“So, what have you been working on while I’ve been gone?” He asked Thomas.

“Shae has had me focusing on my main skills. Mostly my Soul Spear and Flurry. Spear Specialist levels up as long as I’m using a spear. He said that the skills will level up much slower with just our sparring, but that it was good to learn to fight against other people.” Thomas explained.

“He’s right.” Derek said. “You’re equally likely, if not more, to die by another person than a beast in this world. That’s just how it is.”

A distant look flashed through the boy’s eyes. “Yeah…”

After dinner, Derek went down to the basement to check on the noticeably absent Brandi. Again, he waited for a break in her crafting as to not distract her.

“You missed dinner.” He said.

The girl startled and turned around. “Oh, was it dinnertime already?”

Derek rolled his eyes. “You’re going to drive your mother crazy.”

“I know. I already talked with her today.” Brandi said. “Greater Meditation is amazing…”

“It is, but don’t forget about everything else.”

She nodded. “I won’t. It’s just so good that I can keep going as long as I have materials.”

“Speaking of which…” Derek said. “I made another deal with the Crown, so you will have all the materials you need. You just need to tell your mother what you need and she’ll get it for you.”

“Really?” Her eyes lit up.

“Yup, but Malorie is in charge of it, so you better listen to her.” Derek laughed at Brandi’s pout. “That’s right, no more skipping dinner. You need to be at least a little sociable.”

“Fine.”

Derek flicked his wrist, and a spherical object appeared in his hand. It was one of the mana cores from the golem dungeon. He tossed to the girl.

“What’s this?” She asked.

Derek went on to explain to her what it was and how he got it. Including how it powered the golems of different elements. Her face brightened more and more as she listened. Then, when she found out he had thousands of the cores, she went giddy with excitement.

“Thousands? You have thousands of them?”

“Yes, and they’re all yours. But you have to be careful. In fact, it would probably be beast if you didn’t work with them until you level up more… a lot more. They are all from golems at level 160 or higher, and they pack a punch when they explode.” He explained. “It may even be a good idea to talk with Alanah about getting some defensive runes installed down here that could withstand an explosion of that sort.”

“I’ll be careful.” Brandi said.

“You better.” He said. “Though I don’t think they are dangerous until they are filled with mana. And I got the notifications for killing the golems, so I don’t believe they will reform an enemy golem if you can get them working again. Though it would be best to have someone powerful down here, just in case.”

Brandi nodded hard and stored the core inside her ring.

“When I get some extra storage rings, I’ll give you the rest.” Derek said, before turning to leave. “Remember, be careful.”

“I know, I know. You don’t have to keep telling me.”

“Yes, I do.” Derek smiled. “I’m going to sleep.”