System Change

The tests that Derek and Silvi ran went off without a hitch—actually, they went ever better than Derek had been expecting. Of course, the test subject, Maxwell, did end up dead at the end of the process. Though, that was neither his nor Silvi’s fault.

At first, Derek had covered the man in a full set of void armor. This had allowed him to lift the man and enter the void with no side effects. It was very straining for Derek to do this for someone the size of the man, but he had done it.

After that, Silvi had made a massive pot with a lid and crammed the guy inside. It went just as well as it had with the third boar. She did, however, make sure to put pressure on the lid to avoid it coming open. After that, Derek told her that she could probably imagine clamps for the lid to connect to the pot, and that worked even better.

For their final test, Derek actually held the man and moved through the void—coming out at a different portal he made by the Golem Dungeon—a place where he suspected there would be nobody around. Then, they came back, and Maxwell, an in between for Gerald and certain unsavory elves, came out of it alive and kicking with no signs of any harm.

The death of the man occurred from a slight oversight on Derek, Silvi, and even Phillip’s part. When Silvi came back from moving through the void with the man, she opened the lid to show that he was fine. Then, she dismissed the pot altogether, and the trio—mostly Derek and Phillip—began a short discussion on the results. During that short amount of time, Maxwell was free, with nobody holding him captive.

He took it on himself to try to escape… via the void tunnel created by Silvi. To his credit, he made it about five steps inside before he realized something was wrong and turned back. Three steps later, the man died. Derek also took note that since Void Travel wasn’t an attack skill, and things were killed naturally inside it, he and Silvi didn’t receive any experience points. They didn’t with the turkeys either.

Another thing that Derek noticed was that the man didn’t seem to die in pain. It looked painful, but the man made no sounds and his eyes didn’t look to be in pain, either. He also noted that Maxwell had been lucky and hadn’t been hit by the consuming aspect of space, and instead seemed to die of old age… at least on the upper half of his body.

All in all, the tests took less than the three hours that Alanah said she required to be back to 100%. And now, Derek and Silvi found themselves being led back up to the Great Hall by Phillip Musgrave, the king’s only remaining adviser.

Derek’s initial thoughts about the adviser once they were alone together were that he was arrogant. However, though he was arrogant, he didn’t seem like a bad person—at least he was much better than Gerald Torith, but that wouldn’t take much. The man was very knowledgeable in most things Derek asked about the kingdom, and actually seemed to have worked for his position as adviser instead of lucking into it, or… creating a circumstance to luck into.

And if that was so, Derek couldn’t blame him for being arrogant—he certainly wasn’t going to blame himself for being arrogant. He even asked the man about releasing his aura in Torith—one of the few… or the only story he’d heard about him. He just replied that it was something people expected and that it would give the lower class something to keep them occupied with for a time. It also didn’t hurt that it prevented beggars from begging him for things afterward, either.

Finally, after the long walk from the dungeons to the Great Hall, they made it back. In the time it took for his experimenting, Alanah, looking much better than before, had joined Natalie at her small table off to the side. Elouise had disappeared somewhere, and the prince and king trio were up, speaking silently by the throne. The two captives were bound in opposite corners, being watched over by some guards.

Derek did notice that everyone in the room didn’t take their eyes off of the captives for long, though. They were ready in the off chance that they tried something, which could have also been why Elouise had left the Great Hall.

When Edgar noticed Derek and Silvi make their entrance, he quickly bounded down the steps from the throne and rushed over to him.

“So, what were the results?” he asked. Everyone else dropped their conversations and turned to listen in.

“Better than we could have hoped for. It looks like Silvi and I will have no problem taking two other people with us—three if two of you don’t mind being crammed inside a pot together. Well, we didn’t test that, but I figure it would still be the same,” Derek answered.

“So, there were no casualties?” Edgar asked.

“Sir, there was one,” Phillip answered for Derek. “However, it was not Mr. Hunt’s nor Ms. Silvi’s fault. It was my oversight that led to the man trying to escape… through the portal that they had been testing.”

“Ouch,” Edgar replied.

“Indeed,” Phillip answered.

“We also came to the conclusion,” Derek started, getting the attention back to himself. “That if we cover the storage rings along with everything else, that the contents inside should be safe, as well. Though we didn’t test it, and Silvi is adamant about not bringing her rewards along with us to find out. So, I will leave it up to you whether you want to risk bringing perishable contents along in your storage rings or not.”

“That’s good. I have a few things inside my own that I won’t mind losing,” Edgar said.

“I imagine it will be safe. At least, all signs point to it being safe,” Derek said, and internally thought, Though, I don’t know how to make the same thing true for either my Time Prison or my Void Storage. Maybe those are considered a part of me, and if I cover myself in the void, it will also cover the things inside? Just another thing to test, but I doubt that’s the case. It would be too broken.

With all that said, everyone relaxed and waited for Alanah to reach full power. She sat with Natalie, sipping on a special tea prepared to help calm and relax her mind. Apparently, because of how often she’d been using her transformation skill, she had prepared a lot of it.

Edwin questioned Derek about the end of the raid and everything that had happened after Edgar and Blitz had made their exits. He even went as far as apologizing to Derek for his son putting him in that position, and made sure to state that none of the deaths were his fault. They were platitudes, but Derek accepted them. He and Elena had already gone back and forth on who’s fault it was, but really, there wasn’t anything either one of them could have done to avoid them.

Soon, another hour and a half passed, and Alanah stood.

“Are you good to go?” Derek asked when he saw her walking over.

“I am,” she said.

At that, Silvi hopped over to him, and Edgar came over as well.

“Alright,” Derek said. “So, we are going to, hopefully, portal to the capital of Indria. Then, either we sneak or storm our way into their castle or palace or whatever they have. Finally, we find the king and… are you all sure this is a good plan?”

Edgar shrugged. “We have Ryven, and you’re basically a counter to their barriers that they are so proud of. It shouldn’t be hard to get to the king if we make it into the city. I doubt there is anyone who can stop any of the three of us… at least speed wise. By now, they should have heard about the terrible defeat they suffered in the last battle.”

“Sounds good to me,” Derek said. “But I have one very important question.”

“What’s that?” Edgar asked.

“Who… is traveling inside the pot?”

***

Sabrina Elras had a very stressful last few months. Everything had been okay until her father had attacked Savannah, earning the ire of Alanah Swan, the Dawn Siren. Ever since completing her mission to Cydaria, her uncle Osian, the king, had brought her in on various goings ons in the kingdom. She still wasn’t entirely sure why, but she could make some guesses.

She hadn’t been blessed with the same barrier type class choices as the rest of her family. Instead, all of her upgrade choices at level 50 were rare, but basic. Then, the same thing happened for her level 100 class upgrade. All hope was on her achieving a useful class at level 200, and she had a feeling that her uncle was leading her to some class that he hadn’t yet deigned to share.

However, she would follow orders and hope that her father could somehow find a way to succeed with their current attack. Because, if he failed, nothing she’d been doing would make a bit of difference. But for now, she would put all those rampant thoughts to the back of mind and enjoy the one time at the end of the day that she could relax.

Sabrina lifted her leg up out of the bath water, then brought it back down. The bubbles were running low, and the water was becoming cooler. “Jessica! Bring more soap and a bucket of hot water.”

“Yes, ma’am!” her servant squeaked and ran out of the room. Moments later, she came scurrying back in with a giant bucket and a handful of her scented cleaner. With a flick of her hand, her servant tossed the scented soap in the bucket, then poured the entire thing into the tub at the foot of the bath.

Instantly, the cool water took a refreshing turn and warmed. Sabrina sighed and sunk back down into her bath. “Leave!” she commanded before lowering her head under. There was nothing as refreshing or sacred as a nice, warm bath.

Suddenly, her stomach turned, and she began to shiver. She shot upright in a sitting position and looked around. Her servant, Jessica, was standing in the corner of the room, where she was supposed to be, shaking. She didn’t look well at all. An overwhelming feeling soon took hold of Sabrina. She couldn’t explain it.

“T-towel!” Sabrina stood from her bath and commanded, but there was no answer. She looked over again, and Jessica was on her knees, frozen. “J-Jessica! T-towel… n-now!” but she didn’t move.

Sabrina raised her leg and took a shaky step out of the tub, then clumsily made her way over to Jessica—or the towel hanging beside her. She soon made it and was barely able to wrap the cloth around her body when the overwhelming sensation turned into anxiety—into dread. What’s going on?

“Ma’am! Is everything alright in there?” One of the house guards pounded on the door.

Sabrina didn’t know what to do. They didn’t need to see her in such a state. Where are my storage rings? She had given them to Jessica, but she was near catatonic.

“I-it’s fine,” she managed to get out.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, don’t come in here.” She could not allow them to see her in such a state of undress.

However, the dreadful feeling finally subsided, and Sabrina was able to take in a full breath. Jessica also gasped in a deep breath of air.

“Give me my storage rings!” Sabrina commanded, but her servant still wasn’t answering. No, she was staring wide eyed at the opposite side of the room. What is she looking at? Then, all of the sudden, she heard a thud behind her, causing her to turn, but she stopped her motion when she heard somebody speak in a low voice.

“Looks like we came at a bad time.”