System Change

The light dissipated, and Derek and his party reappeared in front of all the dungeon orbs. Everyone else looked at the returning group with different emotions playing on their faces. Some looked angry, some looked shocked, and some seemed to be content. However, the majority of them looked curious more than anything—and why wouldn’t they be? Nobody learned of what the rewards were for the previous trial, and now another trial had been completed.

Not only had another trial, the final trial, been completed, but it was another epic trial like the whale had been. With the amount of beasts, Derek could assume it was bordering on legendary, even. It was only moments before 19 of the 21 remaining members of the dungeon party were all gathered around.

“So?” Elena Webb, the number one healer in the party, stepped forward. “How was the trial? I actually expected you all to come back sooner.”

Derek liked Elena, and the only real reasons she hadn’t been taken on the last trial with them was because Jasper had a drake companion, and she had already been the healer on three of the six trials.

“We would have,” Derek replied. “It was kind of like the second trial—after taking care of the enemies, we had to wait for the rest of the day to pass. We didn’t have to wait too long, but still.”

“And what of the rewards from it?” she asked, drawing everyone’s attention to their conversation.

Derek shrugged. “Stat points and Skill Upgrade Points.”

“Good rewards!” she said.

Again, Derek shrugged. He was still pretty bitter at not receiving the rewards that everyone else got. He had some theories bouncing around in his head, though, and he had some ways to test those theories. He just needed to get out of this dungeon and make sure Cydaria, but mostly his people, were no longer in danger.

“Are y’all ready to get this over with?” Derek half shouted at the group, so nobody had any difficulty hearing him. Seeing that nobody objected, and since their party had already recovered while waiting to leave the trial, he walked past the trial orbs and placed his hand on the bigger, now active dungeon orb. When his hand touched it, he received a notification.

Dungeon Boss

Boss Type

Unknown

Participants

25

Boss Difficulty

Unknown

Please Select Participants

0/25

Preparation Time Remaining: 1 Day 23 Hours 58 Minutes 27 Seconds

Now this is finally starting to look like a raid boss. Derek smiled. When he first took up the task of going on the raid, a giant boss that required all members of the party to take down was what he imagined. It was what he had grown used to during his teen years when he played a few popular video games.

Fuck the preparation time, Derek thought as his eyes traced over it. He selected every remaining member of the raid party and tried to start it. Unfortunately, the dungeon wasn’t having that, and he received a new notification.

Dungeon Boss will activate in: 1 Day 23 Hours 58 Minutes 14 Seconds

Please make preparations for dungeon boss. Dungeon boss will spawn in current zone.

Well, at least it doesn’t look like it’s the system trying to be a dick this time, he thought. It was a bit too much time for him, but at least it would give everyone enough time to put away anything from their camp—anything they didn’t want to get destroyed by the upcoming fight.

Derek nodded and turned back to look at everyone.

“Okay. We have two days to prep for a dungeon boss. There isn’t anymore information than that. Its difficulty and type is unknown. I would suggest resting for a day, then packing everything up.” He gave his opinion, which may as well have been an order at the moment, to everyone. “You’re welcome to check the dungeon orb yourself.”

Derek let out a sigh and walked back to camp to find a good place to rest. He was slightly exhausted mentally, so a break would be nice. Avery and Tyron fell in beside him. Seeing that he was finished with his announcements, everyone broke off to do their own thing.

“By the way,” Derek said to Avery. “I hadn’t thought to ask until Elena asked about the trial rewards. What did you all get for completing the last trial?”

Avery tilted his head, taking a bit after Silvi, then grinned. “Well, it was only epic ranked, so the rewards weren’t as good as the dragon one, especially after being able to capture the dragonkin.” Avery flexed his back, still proud of his dragon wings. ”But they weren’t bad. We got some more potions and two Skill Upgrade Points each. Definitely nothing to scoff at.

“I see,” Derek said. He might actually be the only person in the kingdom, or even on this entire planet, that wasn’t desperate for stat points and Skill Upgrade Points—well, some extra Skill Upgrade Points would have been extremely useful, but he still had more than enough levels remaining to hit the previous 1500 point cap on his stats. Unfortunately, if things were like he was thinking, he wouldn’t have been able to receive the upgrade points, anyway.

Derek found a nice clearing to wait out the timer and sat down. Avery fell in beside him, and Silvi went off to do a bit of cooking. She had decided not to overdo it without having proper access to a kitchen and her herbs and spices. At the moment, the best she could do was some light spices that hadn’t gone bad and meat.

A couple of hours later, Derek had a thought. He stood from his meditation and opened a human sized door to his Time Prison. If he wasn’t mistaken, his two inmates should be close to completing their sentences. Sure enough, they were. He went ahead and adjusted the time flow on their sentences, then exited the prison.

Seventeen hours later, and he received the message that Bones was soon to be released—Ogre would be another hour or two. Derek smiled, then stood and went to look for Vanessa. He found the former Vice Leader of the Assassin’s Guild sitting alone a good distance off from the rest of the camp. Avery also seemed to be bored waiting on the preparation timer, and had decided to tag along as well.

“Hey, Vanessa. You got a minute?” Derek asked.

The Shadow Witch rolled her eyes and stood to face the incoming duo at eye level. “Like there’s anything else for me to do. What do you want?”

“I was actually needing your help on something,” Derek said, then he turned and opened the human sized entrance to his Time Prison. Vanessa was unaware of the captured dragonkin, so seeing the giant cells would be surprising, but he wasn’t worried about her giving anything away anymore.

He no longer needed to worry about things like that. Plus, even if he did, Vanessa was bound to the kingdom now, and since Edgar had been a part of everything, she wouldn’t dare let any of his secrets slip. Also, because of who she was, she was good at keeping secrets when needed.

“Follow me,” Derek said.

Vanessa groaned, but still followed. “I hate this place,” she said. She’d never spent any real time inside—at least not in any of the cells—but she did spend a few hours in the lobby of the prison once, with Gerald Torith pretty much as her only company at the time. “That’s new,” she said, as she stopped and stared at the giant cell door to the side.

“That’s nothing for you to worry about,” Derek said. “We’re here for another matter.”

“And what matter is that?” she asked.

“This.” Derek walked to one of the remaining cells that was still human sized. When he stopped moving, everyone else stopped as well. Then he stood silently, waiting in front of the cell.

“So…” Vanessa started after waiting for a few minutes.

Derek raised his right hand, and she went silent. “Just a few more…” In his head, he counted down with the clock. Three… two… one… When the timer hit zero, the cell door to cell number 001 in front of them opened, becoming slightly ajar. Derek waited, but Bones, who was inside the cell, didn’t seem to have any intent of pushing the cell the rest of the way open.

Derek was interested in seeing how the man had fared while inside the prison. The only ones he had to go by right now were the Void Beast he captured and put inside, and Clay Torith. The Void Beast was only in for a short time, and Clay Torith’s outcome was less than desired. Even with as terrible as the young man was, Derek still felt a bit bad about it.

Seeing that Bones didn’t plan on leaving on his own will, Derek placed his hand on the side of the door and gently pulled it open. What small amount of light Derek had in his Time Prison at the moment crept in and slightly illuminated the inside of the cell.

Sitting cross-legged with his back to the door, a shirtless man with raven black and gray hair down to his shoulder blades, and bones that seemed to almost stick through his skin, turned his head and met eyes with Derek and the others.

“Bones,” Derek said cautiously. “You can come out now.”

To Derek’s surprise, the man sighed and began to stand. Derek winced as the man’s bones made multiple cracking sounds as he stood. When he got to his feet, Derek noticed the shirt in his hand, and the man pulled it over his emaciated body.

“So, the monster has returned,” Bones said as he took a wobbly step toward him. The man seemed to be much less disturbed by his prison than Derek had thought he would be. “Are you to give us to the kingdom now? Has the guild made a deal to take us back? Maybe feed us to the dogs for our failure?”

After a few more steps, the thin man finally seemed to look behind Derek—behind him and at Vanessa Hodges, the Shadow With.

With a sense of recognition, the skeletal man’s eyes widened, and he fell to one knee. “Vice Leader! I only jest.”

“So, this is why you brought me here,” Vanessa said. “We all did wonder what had happened to the duo assassins. Though they were only mid-ranked assassins, they had a stellar record.”

“What’s your opinion on Bones and Ogre?” Derek finally asked, letting the man continue kneeling on the ground.

“They were quite good at their job,” Vanessa said. “Both taken in by the guild at a young age and raised together, almost as brothers. Never took any missions against those who had yet to unlock the Great System. They preferred a challenge when picking their assassination targets, even from a young age. If they had been left to grow, they surely would have moved up in the hierarchy of the guild. Bones may have even made it to a head position. Ogre… not so much. Didn’t have the brains for it.”

“You know more than I thought you would about them,” Derek said.

Vanessa shrugged. “It was my job to keep an eye on talented individuals.”

Something in Vanessa’s words seemed to provoke a response from Bones. He looked up from the ground and met her eyes. “Was?” he asked.

Vanessa smiled wryly down at Bones. “Yes… was,” she replied. “It seems you and your partner are not the only ones who have fallen into harsh times by attacking someone you should not have attacked.”

“B-but… you’re the Shadow Witch!” Bones was beside himself. “You’re power… it… it’s…”

“A lot of good it did me,” the Shadow Witch cut him off. “This is just what happens when you accept work from the wrong people…”

“So… the Assassin’s Guild?” Bones asked.

“No clue,” Vanessa shrugged. “It’s been… well… for them, I guess it’s been well over a year since I’ve been a part of the guild.”

“A year?” Bones asked, then looked at Derek. “How long was I in there?”

“Ah, I’m glad you asked,” Derek said and took a step inside the cell and pulled the man up to his feet. “But before that, I have some questions for you.”