System Change

“Do… we trust you?” Edgar repeated Derek’s question.

“Yes, do you trust me?” Derek asked once more.

Edgar shrugged. “I trust you well enough to invite you to this raid with me. It takes a lot of trust to leave my back to someone…” he said.

“Mistress Swan trusts you, therefore I have no reason not to,” Avery spoke up. They were around a bunch of people, elites even, so he made sure to use honorifics for Alanah, even though they were not needed.

“You need a weapon, and I’m the one who has to make it.” Tyron smiled. “I doubt you would do anything to jeopardize that. Why do you ask?”

“Well… I have an idea that you all may like.” Derek then proceeded to tell them all about what he wanted to do.

He wanted to send everyone but himself into the Time Prison, then close the door. He would then adjust the time on the inside so it would pass slower than on the outside. That way, they would only be inside for minutes or hours, even if the ones inside the trials were gone for days. It would solve the problem of people getting antsy, and should prevent any other problems that could arise otherwise. And he would at least feel useful.

Plus, there was another thing he was thinking about, but he didn’t say it to the others. He wanted to know what a few days with such high-level people inside his prison would do for the skill. If its leveling speed would increase even though they weren’t locked inside the cells. It was another good experiment for him to run.

The only thing was that it would be up to the others to accept or not. That is why he told Edgar and the others first, before tossing the idea to the rest of the party. It would be up to those three to convince everyone else.

As it turned out, Edgar was very much on board with the idea, and Avery was indifferent. Tyron was the only person who didn’t want to do it. Well, he didn’t think it was a bad idea. He just wanted to spend the time crafting instead. He didn’t want to waste time like that when he could be improving his craft and creating useful things.

Derek could understand where he was coming from, and accepted it. In fact, it was actually perfect. He figured everyone else would be more assured if someone stayed outside with him. It might as well be Tyron.

When he suggested that, everyone agreed, and Edgar went off to convince the others. There were surprisingly few complaints. They were all just curious. Most people wanted to get the raid over with, or at least get their own turn inside one of the rewarding trials as quick as possible.

They had all already seen the inside of the prison, and it was well equipped for comfortable living. Besides, one could only play cards for so long before getting bored, and Derek didn’t want to bring out his alcohol just yet.

The hardest thing for them to accept was that they wouldn’t be able to access any of their abilities once the door closed. However, Edgar made a show of it to allow Derek to shut him inside, then came out and explained everything that happened.

After that, a few people at a time went inside to experience it before they agreed that it wasn’t too bad. With that, it was settled. Everyone except for Derek and Tyron would go inside the Time Prison to pass the time. It may not actually decrease the time they would spend in the dungeon, but it would feel that way to them.

Derek went inside and made sure everything was perfectly set up before going back out. Then everyone else went in. He made sure everyone was okay with it one last time before shutting the door. Then he made sure to adjust the time before pulling the void shut.

He and Tyron both looked at where the prison had been before turning and looking at one another. Derek smiled, then went over, closer to the trial orbs, and sat down to meditate. He had plenty of practice passing time. Tyron shrugged and went back to his temporary crafting facility and began his work.

Derek closed his eyes and slipped into a deep meditation, one he hadn’t done since he unlocked Greater Meditation. Though, he made sure to keep his Void Sense as active as possible. He wasn’t alone, after all, and he needed to be aware when the others completed the trial. Like this, days passed.

Before long, it had been seven days since the others had entered the trials.

Derek couldn’t help but grin as he looked over his skills list.

Skills

Absolute Nullify Lv. 11, Basic Repair Lv. 1, Chain Lightning Lv. 13, Channel Void Lv. 16, Cleaning Lv. 9, Cure Toxin Lv. 4, Dismantle Lv. 12, Enhanced Movement Speed Lv. 1, Greater Meditation Lv. 10, Heavy Weapons Mastery Lv. 18, Identify Lv. 16, Magic Resistance Lv. 20, Multi-Strike Lv. 10, Physical Resistance Lv. 20, Rejuvenation Lv. 14, Sweeping Slash Lv. 19, Time Prison Lv. 8, Unarmed Combat Mastery Lv. 14, Void Call Lv. 4, Void Sense Lv. 16, Void Shift Lv. 7, Void Steps Lv. 13, Void Storage Lv. N/A

Skill Points Remaining: 17

Skill Upgrade Points Remaining: 7

It wasn’t a ton, but in just seven days, his Time Prison skill had increased from level 4 to level 8. On top of that, he had even gained a level in Greater Meditation and Void Sense, proving that using the two skill simultaneously was the way to go.

He had even paused a couple times to reopen the void leading to the door of the prison to adjust the time. He didn’t actually open the door, as all he needed was to touch it. At this point, it would be even faster for those inside.

Tyron had given him an odd look when he first did it, but after a light explanation, he understood. It made sense to the smith that a skill such as Time Prison was low, as there had only been two cells occupied when he had explored it. The fact that it was leveling fast also made sense with the average level of those who were inside.

Of course, Derek didn’t let on that it had leveled four times already, as he had only gotten up to adjust the skill time distortion twice, and Tyron didn’t need to know it was already level four when they started, either.

Like this, Derek went back to his sitting position once again to meditate. All the while wondering how everyone else was progressing.

***

Brandi’s eyes gleamed as she held the sword high and jumped up and down in celebration. It may have been foolish, the work she had decided to do, but she had finally succeeded once. In her hands was the culmination of all her hard work.

She was glad she had sound dampening runes on the walls of her work-basement, as the sounds of her celebrating surely would have drawn her overprotective mother down to check on her. Which would have also led to her seeing the state Brandi was currently in.

She was covered in soot from head to toe, and her hair, that had grown out a little over the last couple of months that Derek had been gone, had almost been completely burned off. That failure had led to her having a realization. It would be better to work with one of the water or earth cores instead of the fire or wind ones. Those two were just too powerful.

Luckily, once she learned enough Runesmithing, she went around and meticulously reinforced her entire basement with fortification runes. At first, she thought it was overkill, but she still did it because it helped raise her skill levels. Now she was glad she took the time to do it.

Still, even with the slight injuries, her Greater Meditation skill being at level five was more than enough to cope with them. She only wished the skill regenerated her hair and eyebrows as well. She would have to ask her mom to look for some kind of skill that would help with that. She would surely help, too… what mother would want to walk around a city like Savannah with a bald and eyebrowless daughter?

Brandi chuckled at the thought. She honestly didn’t mind, as it was even easier to craft when her hair wasn’t there to get in the way. Plus, she preferred to stay in and work on her smithing, alchemy, or Runesmithing than going out with others.

Speaking of Smithing, Alchemy, and Runesmithing, those were the three crafts she had worked on the most and enjoyed the most. She thought Leatherworking would be her favorite, as it was the first craft she had taken up, but it turned out that she was wrong. She still enjoyed it, but she preferred the others.

Her favorite was Smithing and working with different metals and materials. Runesmithing was the perfect support skill for Smithing, so she made sure to focus as much as needed to keep the craft on par with her others. Alchemy had turned into somewhat of a refreshing distraction when she needed to think.

It was just fun. It allowed her brain to reset. She found if she focused too much on one craft, she would eventually hit a wall. However, she also found that if she changed craft after hitting the bottleneck, it would be much easier to come back later and break through.

She had also focused some of her time on her Brewing skills, as she wanted to surprise Derek when he got back. Though she didn’t particularly enjoy it, and it was hard for her to know if what she brewed was good or not. It all tasted bad to her, and she had gotten into trouble when she showed her mom.

Still, she found that it mixed with Alchemy almost as well as Runesmithing mixed with Smithing. So that was something to look forward to.

Even so, Smithing was her go to craft. Which led to her snapping out of her thoughts and looking once again at the precious sword she held in her hands.

It wasn’t the best looking sword by far, and she had only come up with the idea on a whim after hearing Rayna talk about how much mana some of her skills cost. In fact, the sword was quite terrible looking. The edges weren’t sharp, hell; they weren’t even that even. But she didn’t care about any of that.

What she was focused on was the mana core situated in the hilt of the sword. To an ordinary person, it would look like a small blue gem in the sword handle. Something that was there only for decoration. But Brandi knew better. She knew the power that rested in the gem.

So do did her class. The experience she gained when finally completing her craft had rocketed her level all the way to level 50 and a class upgrade, which she had ignored thus far.

She had managed to combine one of the mana cores that Derek had left her into her craft. First, she had to use her Runesmithing to adjust the size of the mana core, which was a pain in itself, then she had to find a way to allow the resized mana core to channel its mana into the sword.

It took a lot of Runesmithing research, but after such a long time, she had finally found the correct runes. Then, it was just a matter of adjusting everything ever so slightly to increase the stability. But, after weeks of grueling work, she had done it.

She only needed someone with an affinity for the water element to test it. If her theory was correct, they could charge the mana core. Then, when in battle, if they activated their water-based skill while using the sword, it would pull mana from the core instead of the person.

Luckily, she knew just the person to test it.