System Change

“So, what did you think of Lyra after finally talking with her?” Derek asked Stella as they walked toward the entrance to the Dragon kennel. Lyra had already turned her head and was back to resting, or whatever it was that she was doing.

“She is an amazing beast.” Stella said. “Lyra is the perfect companion for Avery.”

“How do you mean?”

“Well… she’s a very intelligent being,” Stella replied.

“Which means?” Derek asked with a chuckle, knowing where she was going.

“Well… Avery isn’t dumb or anything, but when he fights—actually fights—he gets wrapped up in the combat and doesn’t always think things through. Lyra seems to be the exact opposite of that. She can keep him from going overboard in a battle. It’s like he somehow picked out a beast copy of Alanah as his companion—it’s such an odd coincidence.”

“I don’t really think it was that much of a coincidence,” Derek said. “When we were fighting, and he was looking for a companion, he noticed Lyra right away. She was the smallest amphithere out of all of them—actually, she was the smallest dragonkin in that entire trial as far as I know. But she stayed back, commanding all the other dragonkin, which caught his eye. Once he noticed her, I think it was pretty much a done deal—unlike Edgar and Blitz. I think Edgar saw fighting Blitz one on one as more of a challenge than anything else.”

“I see,” Stella said. “So, because of his time spent with and around Alanah, he was drawn to Lyra and decided to make her his companion. I guess that isn’t such a coincidence after all. How many dragonkin were in the trial?”

“Hundreds,” Derek said. “I’m sure there was probably more than a single dragonkin with psyonic or other mental-type abilities, so him choosing her is still a bit of good luck. It seems that you never really know what kind of personality a bonded beast is going to have until after the fact,” he explained, thinking that he would have never been able to guess what Silvi was going to turn out like. “Then again, most of the dragonkin were your basic earth, fire, wind, and water elements. Even Blitz was a fire wyvern before Edgar bonded with it.”

“I can understand that. You see those elements in classes much more often than you see others. It was lucky that Lyra was even among the others,” Stella said as they grew closer to the kennel. “Speaking of Lyra, what did the two of you talk about, anyway?” she asked Derek.

“You’re right that Lyra is smart… We were talking about bonds and what would be best for the remaining dragonkin once all the ones that are already spoken for are taken. She seems to have a very good understanding of bonds based on what limited information she has,” Derek answered. “What about you? What did the two of you discuss?”

“We talked mostly about Avery, actually. We seem to have the same opinion on him,” Stella replied with a half-chuckle. “But I also asked her what she thought I should do regarding the dragonkin—whether I should bond with one or not, and when I should bond with one if I choose to do so.”

“And what did she say?” Derek leaned in to asked, he was interested in Lyra’s take on the question. She had already told him that she thought Stella would make a good companion for one of her ‘kin.’ So he wondered what she had told Stella. If she were to ask Derek, then he would most likely tell her to go for it. He hadn’t regretted bonding with Silvi at all.

“She told me not to rush into things,” she replied.

“What do you mean?”

“Well… she said that it may be possible for me to tame one of the amphithere right now if I really wanted to and was willing to put in the effort. She also said that she would watch over me if I tried, so I wouldn’t need to worry about things going badly. But she also thought that it would be best if I waited until I was stronger.

“She told me about the class upgrade from epic to legendary that Avery received, even though he was already at max level. That was something I didn’t know was possible. As I am right now, I’m closing in on my final upgrade. I actually would have most likely hit it while partying with Rayna and the others, if not for the war. I’m not sure if my epic class will get that upgrade at level 200 to legendary, but odds are that it won’t,” she explained.

“Oh, I see,” Derek said. “So if you don’t get the legendary class upgrade…”

“Then I may be able to bond with one of the dragonkin like Avery did sometime after I hit level 250. Now, Avery has been level 250 for a long time, so I would need to work on my skills and such for a while after I hit it before I tried, to get the best chance possible, but it’s an option that I didn’t have before,” Stella explained. “Before, I was more than happy with an epic class of my own so early on in my leveling—like Avery. But now, it seems like there are more possibilities that I hadn’t imagined.”

“Maybe you’ll get a legendary upgrade when you hit level 200 and you won’t have to worry about it,” Derek said. “I don’t know how long it’s been since you reached your last class upgrade level, but I’m sure you have leveled up tons of skills since then—even if they are supplementary ones to do with cooking and management. You never know what the system is going to see and reward you… if that’s how it works.”

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“Maybe,” Stella replied with a sigh. “But I doubt it. I think that my focus on all the other skills may actually hinder my chances of getting a legendary class. It’s not like that rarity is easy to come by. If it were, then you would see more than a few people each generation with the rarity, but you don’t. Actually, since you appeared here, there have been a lot of strange things happening—like Avery getting an upgrade or Walter being let out of his family’s soul contract. You certainly bring interesting situations with you.”

“I don’t know about that,” Derek said. “But I don’t think all those other skills you have will hurt your chances in any way. I think that you’ll be given a lot of new options for entirely different classes instead, and maybe even some hybrid choices from your life skills and combat skills. Like… a Combat Accountant or something.”

“Yeah,” Stella snorted. “Crunching numbers and monsters all at the same time.”

“Exactly,” Derek replied with a laugh. “You have the combat part, which is something you said you really enjoy and are good at, then you have the management part, which is something that I know you’re amazing at. I don’t see why something like a hybrid upgrade can’t be a possibility.”

“Who knows?” Stella said. “Once Alanah gets back and everything is back to normal again, I’ll have to work on getting my level and other combat skills up.”

“I would offer to power level you, but you know the importance of focusing on your skills first,” Derek said.

“I do,” Stella said. “You don’t have to worry about me,” she continued. “I’ve had the path I’m going to take planned for some time now. I may need to adjust it some, now that we’re allied with the other kingdoms. I imagine that will bring access to a ton of dungeons that I didn’t have before, and I’m not afraid to lean on Alanah to get that access.”

“Nor should you be,” Derek said. “In a world like this, you have to do what you can to grow powerful, or you’ll be left behind or left for dead—neither of those options are good.”

“Within reason,” Stella corrected. “You don’t want to end up like Gerald Torith or his lackeys.”

“Well, yeah,” Derek replied. “That goes without saying.”

The two continued walking for a short amount of time, until they finally arrived at the stable areas for the dragonkin. The first set of stables held the smaller dragonkin—the amphithere. Once again, Derek marveled at the black obsidian-like material used to create the stables. This time, he remembered to use Identify, and he received the name of the material: Shadowsteel.

“Wow,” Stella said from the side. “The Walking Forge really went all out with these stables, didn’t he?”

“Why do you say that?” Derek asked.

“This entire thing is made of equal parts Shadowsteel and Abyssal Iron,” she explained. “Do you remember the Dragon-Formed Obsidian that our buildings in Savannah are made out of?” she asked.

“Yes?” He could distinctly remember her not wanting him to punch the wall to see exactly how durable it was.

“Well, these two materials are around two tiers higher than that,” Stella said while shaking her head. “The Shadowsteel had amazing durability against magical damage, and the Abyss Iron is the same, except for physical damage. I always wondered how rich The Walking Forge was, and this just makes me even more curious.”

“Huh…” Derek ran his hand over the Shadowsteel and was surprised that, though it looked pretty rough, it actually felt like smooth glass. “It makes sense,” he said. “Tyron’s at the point where he only makes weapons for trades instead of money. And, he goes out and gathers a lot of his materials himself because of how powerful he is in combat,” Derek continued. “It’s not hard to imagine him finding veins of amazing ores and other materials and just… mining it.” It will be even easier now that he has Rocky with him, he thought.

“I guess…” Stella muttered as she, too, felt of the materials in front of her.

“Plus,” Derek started. “It’s not like he’s not going to be getting all of this stuff back. These dragonkin aren’t going to be held here indefinitely or anything. In fact, there are only two beasts that aren’t already spoken for, and I don’t think it will be hard to find someone to bond with one.”

“That’s true.” Stella nodded her head, then moved around the stable to the front, where she could finally see the amphithere resting inside. “That’s interesting,” Stella said as she looked upon a winged serpent.

“What is?”

“It seems relaxed,” she said. “Like it’s perfectly fine with being captured.

“Lyra actually explained all that to me before,” Derek said. He then went on to tell Stella about the dragonkin all basically being newborns and infants, and how they were all just living by their instincts at this point. “So, the only thing they really want or need is food, and they are getting that in droves.”

“That is interesting,” Stella said. “That also makes dungeon breaks, and monsters that slip out just before a break, make more sense. With a dungeon break, the monsters just attack everything they see—no real thought involved. It’s different from… say… a beast that’s been living in a forest or something for multiple years.”

“Exactly,” Derek agreed. “Now, was there a dragonkin that you had on your mind that you may want to bond with?” he asked. “Avery thought you would want an amphithere, like Lyra, so that’s what we captured for you, but there is also a drake that isn’t taken. It also doesn’t seem like Alanah has any plans to bond with the wyvern she tamed. I don’t know how those contracts work, but I guess it would be possible for you to bond with that if Alanah really chooses not to.”

“I’m not sure if I would be able to even bond with a wyvern without already having a legendary class,” Stella said. “At least, it would be much harder, maybe even impossible, for me to do.”

“That’s true,” Derek said.

From there, Stella walked through all the stables with Derek following her. They caught the eye of Lindsay, but the Beast Tamer only nodded at him and didn’t come over. Finally, after looking at the biggest beast—the wyvern that was captured for Brandi—they stopped.

“There’s only one wyrm?” Stella asked.

“Yeah,” Derek said. “We didn’t get too many of those. Just Rocky—Tyron’s bond—and a nature element, one that would be easy for Jacks to fight and contract with if he wants it. Which is why that was the only one you saw. Of course, you could talk with Jacks or Rayna, or even Brandi if you wanted—you all don’t have to settle for the dragonkin that we picked out for you. You may find that the wyrm suits you and Jacks may like the amphithere, who knows?”

“They really are magnificent beasts,” Stella said.

“Yup,” Derek replied. “Just like Blitz.”

“But I truly don’t know,” Stella said. “I’ll have to talk with Alanah once she gets back. I am definitely leaning toward the amphithere, though.”

“I know what you mean,” Derek said. “Lyra really leaves an impression, doesn’t she?”

“Yes,” Stella said as she turned her head to where the massive winged serpent was resting outside. “Yes, she does.”