System Change

Derek sat next to the dungeon orb, topping up on his health, mana, and stamina before leaving. He was also doing some thinking. What he was hoping for most was that he would actually be rewarded for completing the trial. With his latest interaction with the other system, he thought there might be a chance that he would no longer be rewarded for doing things inside his current system. Well, things other than levels up to 250.

With the trial complete and nothing pressing to do while he recovered, Derek began going through his notifications.

You have killed level 250 Caustic Whale of Pestilence.

236,550,000,000 Experience Gained

Level Up

173,919,275,550/212,325,000,000

Derek smiled. Even with the amount of experience points he needed to level, he was still able to get a bit more than an entire level for one fight. It was also nice to see that the level had netted him 35 stat points to use at his discretion, instead of his previous 30. It wasn’t a huge upgrade, but stat points were stat points, and now that it looked like he could go beyond the 1,500 stat point cap, every point mattered. After dismissing the kill window, he viewed his now status sheet.

Status

Personal Information

Name:

Age:

Level:

Experience:

Class:

Race:

Derek Hunt

30

203

130,370,000,550/193,000,725,000

Void Monarch (Mythical)

Human (Void)

Health:

Mana:

Stamina:

37625

15465

37625

Stats

Strength

Dexterity

Endurance

Vitality

Intelligence

Wisdom

Stat Points Remaining

1000

1000

1505

1505

1500

1031

35

Contracts

Alanah Swan (Crown Restaurant)

Silvi (Bonded Beast)

Stella Brighton (Crown Restaurant)

No Proxy (Torith Adventurer’s Guild)

Rudolph Mckinney

Natalie Savannah via Malorie Stewart

View Contract

View Status

View Contract

View Contract

View Contract

Contract Unavailable

Skills

Absolute Nullify Lv. 12, Bare Fist Specialty Lv. 1(View Upgrades), Basic Repair Lv. 1, Chain Lightning Lv. 14, Channel Void Lv. 20, Cleaning Lv. 9, Cure Toxin Lv. 10, Dismantle Lv. 12, Enhanced Movement Speed Lv. 2, Greater Meditation Lv. 10, Identify Lv. 17, Magic Resistance Lv. 20, Multi-Strike Lv. 14, Physical Resistance Lv. 20, Polearm Specialty Lv. 2 (Void’s Harbinger), Rejuvenation Lv. 16, Sweeping Slash Lv. 20, Telepathy Lv. 7, Time Prison Lv. 14, Void Call Lv. 4, Void Creation Lv. N/A, Void Sense Lv. 20, Void Shift Lv. 10, Void Steps Lv. 13, Void Storage Lv. N/A, Void Travel Lv. N/A

Skill Points Remaining: 15

Skill Upgrade Points Remaining: 0

Shared Skills from Companion: Active Void Shift Lv. 10, Void Lightning Bolt Lv. 6

Skills Available to Share (Please select two to share. These skill selections cannot be changed for one year): Absolute Nullify Lv. 10, Channel Void Lv. 10, Time Prison Lv. 10, Void Call Lv. 4, Void Sense Lv. 10, Void Shift Lv. 10, Void Steps Lv. 10, Void Storage Lv. N/A, Void Travel Lv. N/A

Achievements

Greater Giant Slayer, Jack of All, Lesser Dungeon Explorer, Lesser Dungeon Traveler, Lesser Enigma, Lesser Enforcer of Oaths, Repetitive Dungeoneer, Minor Slayer of the Unknown, Solo Diver, Magical Glass Cannon, Meat Shield, Lesser Explorer, Offensive Powerhouse

During the entire fight that he used Harbinger, his Polearm Specialty had leveled up a single time, which Derek believed to be pretty great progress. It was an evolved skill, after all. Greater Meditation was not an easy skill to level, so he was already prepared for Polearm Specialty to be the same. Especially with skill leveling speed somewhat dependent on level.

Cure Toxin had also made it to level 10 at the end, which was great. The skill was finally useful again. If nothing else, it was good to have. Everything else seemed to be around the same as the last time he had checked his sheet. Well, all but one thing.

Derek studied his contract list with a frown. Francesco Jaccobs was no longer listed as the proxy to the Torith Adventurer’s Guild contract he had signed back in Torith. Does this mean that he died? Or did he break his contract with the guild? A number of scenarios ran through Derek’s thoughts. He was the Adventurer’s Guild manager in Torith. He could have had some connection to the Torith family. IF that’s the case, it would make sense that he died.

But Derek frowned. Surely they wouldn’t have taken this long to eradicate those with close ties to Gerald. It’s been like a year since we caught him. It just doesn’t add up. I’ll have to ask Shae and Cain when I get out of here. Maybe those two or Edgar will have a clue. I can’t say that I liked the guy, because I didn’t. But I’m not sure he would be involved in something like that. I thought he was just an elitist jerk. Still with a frown, Derek dismissed his status sheet.

Next, he stood and walked to the edge of the small island. Since I’m not using the Time Prison as a hotel anymore, I don’t think I’ll be needing these. With a flick of his wrist, a storage ring appeared out of his storage bracelet and he put it on. Then, with a wave of his hand, two bathing tubs appeared next to him. Then, he took one and dunked it into the toxic water, then did the same with the other.

He was sure that the water would probably eat through the tubs rather quickly, so he swiftly stored them back in a storage ring where the destruction would halt until he removed them. His thought was that at the very least, Roman or Brandi might find the liquid interesting. If nothing else, he wasn’t against using the water to increase both his Cure Toxin and Rejuvenation levels. He wouldn’t enjoy it, but he would do it.

Finally, after viewing his status once more to make sure he was topped off, he moved back to the trial orb and placed his hand on it. Then, he was hit with the completion notification.

Trial Complete…

Assigning Rewards…

Assigning Rewards…

Err…

Assigning Rewards…

Congratulations, you have received an Achievement: The Bigger They Are

What? The notification he received was the oddest one he’d gotten. It seemed like his hunch that he would have a hard time getting rewarded by his current system wasn’t terribly far off. However, the system had somehow pushed through and given him an Achievement. Yet, he didn’t know if that was the same one he would have gotten before the other system interfered.

Still, he received something. And with the name of it, it was most definitely related to the trial he undertook. So, he dismissed the completion notification so he could view the next one.

The Bigger They Are

3% increase in all stats per magnitude in weight when battling an enemy larger than yourself. Max increase in stats is 15%. Stats cannot increase greater than the system limit.

Now that’s an Achievement. In fact, his new Achievement reminded him much more of the Titles he used to get from his former system. For the most part, when he received Achievements from ‘The Great System’ they were always stat points, skills, or the like. He hadn’t really received one that had a percentage increase other than his Solo Diver Achievement and Repetitive Dungeoneer Achievements which conditionally increased stats in dungeons or possible reward percentages for dungeons.

But, those only worked in dungeons. And the one that increased his stats had the caveat that he had to be in the dungeon alone. He hadn’t actually checked his stats while fighting the whale, but he hadn’t felt any increase in his usual stats, so it was likely that it hadn’t activated in the trial as it was a part of the dungeon which had multiple participants.

But, he was very content with his new Achievement. He seemed to be fighting enemies that were much bigger than himself lately, so the extra stats would surely come in handy later on. It’s definitely a better reward for me than the skill scroll. But I wonder if it’s an Achievement I could have obtained by fighting massive enemies later on.

With a shrug, he dismissed his new Achievement. Then he placed his hand back on the trial orb and prepared himself to go back. After getting a couple tubs full of the corrosive water, he thought about trying to salvage some of the whale, but for some reason, it didn’t float, and had already sunk deep down into the ocean, and he really didn’t feel like diving in water like that, so he gave it up.

With a thought, he selected to leave the trial, and, as always, a bright light flashed over him. The next thing he knew, he was standing next to the row of trial orbs and was being surrounded by the rest of the raid party.

Before he could even get his bearing, he was rushed by Victor Greenland, Asana Greenland’s cousin. The elven mage grasped Derek by the shoulder and glared deep into his eyes.

“One day!?” the elf half yelled. “How is it that my cousin died, and you came back fine in not even one day? Tell me! What happened in there?”

Derek could tell that the man was half angry and half confused, and he couldn’t blame the guy. Victor and his cousin, from the little that Derek had seen, had a pretty good relationship. They stayed together for the most part, and both had close to the same personalities.

Derek grabbed the mage’s arm and removed it from his shoulder. He wasn’t a big fan of being touched unwarranted. Then, before the man could speak again, Derek held his hand up. “Give me some time to get oriented,” he said. “We’ll wait for Edgar to get here, too. I don’t feel like explaining myself twice.”

Derek saw Victor ball his hand into a fist a couple of times, but, in the end, the seething elf chose to stay quiet. But he didn’t have to wait long, as Edgar, Avery, Blitz, and Lyra arrived together less than thirty seconds later.

“Already?” Edgar asked as soon as he hopped down from Blitz’s back.

Derek nodded. “Yeah.”

“Was it that easy?” Avery asked. He was more interested in the fighting than anything else, especially after being couped up in the capital with Alanah helping to take care of her business.

“Not exactly,” Derek said before recounting everything he went through. Of course, he held back exactly how he defeated the whale, but he explained everything else, like the system banning the use of the escape scrolls when the duel started, and the literally toxic fighting conditions the trial had. Once he finished, he watched as Victor’s rage left him and his head fell.

“She never had a chance. I doubt I would have had a chance. Damn it!” The elf stomped the ground before he strode off. Everyone left him alone. It looked like he needed some time to grieve.

“Sounds like quite the battle,” Edgar said.

“Seems easy enough,” Avery chirped. “It wouldn’t have been a problem for Lyra and me.”

“If the system allowed you to take her with you,” Derek pointed out, and Avery frowned. Then he turned his attention back to Edgar. “You’re going to have to take control of the raid. If the Great System is going to keep coming up with tricky trials like the last two, we’re not going to be able to half-ass it anymore. Unless you want half the raid party to die.”

Derek made sure to speak to Edgar loud enough for everyone to hear. Perhaps his words would have some effect on them, and would make it easier for Edgar to assert control. Of course, he could do so any time he wanted. It would just be better if everyone was on board when he did.

“I’m starting to think the same,” Edgar sighed.

“Anyway, there’s something I want to talk to you about,” Derek said, then he looked into the group and signaled for Shae and Cain. “I need to talk to all of you.”

“Is this about Torith?” Edgar asked, causing Derek to frown.

“What?” Derek asked. “The proxy to my contract with the Adventurer’s Guild disappeared. It was through the manager at Torith, so… I guess? He wasn’t a very likeable guy, so I thought he may have had some dealings with Gerald. Was that not the case?”

That was when Derek noticed that, along with Shae and Cain, Walter had also come forward.

“Walter?” he asked.

“It seems… something major has happened in Torith,” the older healer sighed. “And we don’t think Gerald is the reason.”