System Change

“I can pick!?” Silvi’s childlike voice rang out from her communication crystal. She was very excited at the prospect of choosing which ingredients to go get. “Gimme!” She motioned to the map, then hopped to the ground.

“Okay,” Derek chuckled and sat the map on the ground in front of his companion. Silvi moved her head up and down, intently studying the map of the dungeons on their current continent. While she did that, Derek checked his current skills.

Skills

Absolute Nullify Lv. 20, Bare Fist Specialty Lv. 5(View Upgrades), Basic Repair Lv.6, Chain Lightning Lv. 20, Channel Void Lv. 20, Cleaning Lv. 16, Cure Toxin Lv. 18, Dismantle Lv. 20, Enhanced Movement Speed Lv. 4, Fire Resistance Lv. 20, Greater Meditation Lv. 16, Identify Lv. 20, Magic Resistance Lv. 20, Mental Resistance Lv. 20, Multi-Strike Lv. 20, Physical Resistance Lv. 20, Polearm Specialty Lv. 3 (Void’s Harbinger), Powerstride Lv. 9, Rejuvenation Lv. 20, Spatial Collapse Lv. 9, Spatial Redirection Lv. 5, Spatial Rend Lv. 8, Sweeping Slash Lv. 20, Telepathy Lv. 12, Time Prison Lv. 20, Void Call Lv. 12, Void Creation Lv. N/A, Void Sense Lv. 20, Void Shift Lv. 15, Void Steps Lv. 20, Void Storage Lv. N/A, Void Travel Lv. N/A, Whirlwind Slash Lv. 11

A lot of his basic skills, like Cleaning and Basic Repair, had gained a few levels. They weren’t skills he needed really, but he’d neglected them before, so when he had a chance, he chose to use them here and there. All in all, he was surprised at how little effort it actually took to level them. He was especially proud that he’d gotten Dismantle to level 20. He could now dismantle a beast with the best of them.

However, out of all the skills he had been leveling lately, he was most proud of Time Prison finally reaching level 20. First was that after it hit level 20, he was able to change the time distortion by a much greater deal than before—he wasn’t sure how much greater, but it was more than he’d been expecting. The final level had increased the distortion by quite a bit more than the previous ones.

The number of normal-sized cells that he had inside had also jumped up to 200, and he was able to adjust them bigger or smaller depending on the size of the prisoners. Of course, doing so would either decrease or increase the number of available cells at that time. He thought that it being based on size was quite interesting. That was because Silvi was one of the strongest, if not the strongest, beasts on the planet, yet she could be held in a very small cell. While a huge golem would need a much larger cell. If anything, he thought it should be based on strength and not size, but it wasn’t something he could change.

However, what he liked the most about his current Time Prison was the size of the lobby. It was massive. He could fit his shop—underground and all—inside and still have plenty of room available for other things. As long as he was alive, and people didn’t mind standing elbow to elbow and possibly stacked on top of one another, he felt he could even store a small city’s worth of people inside.

Was that something that he would ever do? No… that possibility was near zero. However, it was nice to have the option to be able to ‘protect’ so many people at once. Finally, he was actually able to commute a sentence now. However, there was a long cooldown if he did it—whoever he let out without finishing their sentence wouldn’t be able to be imprisoned again for an entire year. Still, he was glad that the option was there.He also wanted to do two last tests with the Time Prison and the void now that it was at level 20. However, he could do those later. He was going to be pretty busy for a while and really… those tests could wait.

Finally, and surprisingly, Void Call had gained a bunch of levels, too. It was definitely a hard skill to level, and was getting harder and harder with each level, but after around four days of casting it over and over as soon as possible, it had grown six levels. If he were to use it for another couple of weeks without stopping, he was sure that he could get it to level 20.

But that would require him to summon an absolutely staggering amount of Void Beasts from the void, and he didn’t currently want to do that. Honestly, he would do it if it became the last possibility to advance, but, just as before, he wasn’t the biggest fan of slaughtering Void Beasts after meeting Asher.

He knew he was being hypocritical because he still did it, but his friends’ futures were more important than his feelings on the matter, so… he would be hypocritical. And if push came to shove, his future was also more important than his feelings on the matter. In the grand scheme of things, it wasn’t actually that many Void Beasts. Yes, it was a lot, but if they were smaller beasts in dungeon waves, Silvi could kill as many as they had defeated in four days, in about four seconds, with her Dragon Flame.

Honestly, though—and he hated to admit it—but since the system came to Earth, then all that had happened to him after the Portal incident, he really had become desensitized to killing. However, he felt it was only natural considering what he’d been through. At least he wasn’t as far gone as many of the people on Earth just weeks after the system came. He was desensitized to killing, and he really enjoyed a good fight, but he didn’t enjoy the killing part—at least, not of humans and other intelligent life.

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In some ways, he was like Silvi. Maybe he’d been hanging around with her too long, but if he saw a beast that looked like it would make a mouth-watering meal, he wouldn’t have any regrets hunting it at all. Especially after Silvi cooked it for him and he was eating it. He looked over at his companion, who was still studying the map, and thought, Still… no elf burgers.

Derek closed his status screen—happy at his current improvements—and waited for Silvi to finish.

“We can do any of these?” she finally asked.

“Any that we can get into,” Derek said. “So, nothing under level 250.”

“What if…” she started. “What if somebody else goes into a lower leveled one, and we follow? With Void Travel. There is some juicy sounding meat in this level 225 one.” Silvi was being very serious at the moment. It was rare for her to use well thought out and complete sentences.

“That…” Derek opened his mouth to say that what she was suggestion wasn’t possible, but… could they? Was it possible? “I don’t know… I feel like we would be breaking some rule or something. There are so many things that may go wrong. I can almost guarantee that Dave wouldn’t be happy.”

“Maybe dungeon explode!” Silvi said in jest.

“Actually… that is one possibility that I was thinking of,” Derek said. “It is possible that we’d be too strong for a lower leveled dungeon to hold.” He thought about it for a bit, then said, “Let’s hold off on that. We can ask Dave if we see him again.”

“Kay…” Silvi said. “No juicy crab meat…”

“Well, there are plenty of crabs and other sea creatures in the sea. We don’t just have to do dungeons,” Derek said. “They are just the easiest ways to go… grocery shopping.”

“Mhm…” Silvi muttered. “We go fishing after dungeons.”

“If you say so,” Derek said. “Like I said, this is your trip.”

“Kay!” Silvi said happily, then started showing Derek where all they were going. For the most part, she only selected dungeons that Derek and Alanah had already visited, so they would be very easy for them to get to with Void Travel. Though, there were a couple dungeons that had terrible rewards that they hadn’t gone to, that Silvi wanted to visit. Derek was curious what different types of elemental bears would taste like, so he had no problem traveling a little to get to those dungeons. “Ready?” Silvi asked.

“Whenever you are,” Derek said. “Which one first.”

“This one!” Silvi placed her paw on the map, by one of the dungeons that Alanah and he had completed.

“Sounds good,” Derek said, then opened a portal with Void Travel and walked inside. Silvi followed closely after.

Over the following days, Silvi and Derek wreaked havoc on several beast dungeons throughout the four kingdoms on the continent. There were even a few times Silvi had taken them to a popular dungeon where they had to wait their turn. Surprisingly, Silvi was happy to wait because it let her do a bit of showing off by cooking some meals in front of others.

Only on two occasions did someone try to steal something that she was cooking. On one of those occasions, Derek thought he wasn’t going to keep Silvi from making a dwarf burger, and the other occasion was even close, as it was an elf who made the scene. Luckily, Silvi held herself back and just sent both people flying a few hundred feet away from the camps.

After that, for some reason, their spots in line for the dungeons they were waiting for were moved up. The adventurers around those dungeons were even kind enough to allow them to run them more than once. Silvi was thrilled that she was able to find such kind people everywhere she went.

Finally, Derek and Silvi entered the elemental bear dungeon. The rewards were pathetic, as they were basically just gold and nothing magical. Gold was pretty much worthless for Derek, as he had more than he’d ever needed, and his shop was continuing to bring it in. But he had to admit, he was very interested in whether the element of the beast they were eating would cause it to taste different.

The dungeon was an easy one. It was one of the basic gladiatorial dungeons where they were spawned in the middle of an arena and had to fight against wave after wave of monster until they fought a final boss at the end. However, there was something very different about the dungeon that had Derek extremely anxious.

Before triggering the first wave, Derek quickly glanced at his status sheet. What he saw there made his heart pound in his chest.

By the end of the dungeon, he and Silvi would reach level 250. There was no doubt about it. In fact, he was just as anxious about the previous dungeon they had run, but there were fewer monsters than he had expected inside, so they barely missed getting the last level. But here, in the bear dungeon, he was sure they would get there.

Derek closed his status sheet and spoke to his companion. “Are you ready for this?”

“The dungeon?” Silvi asked. “Or level 250?”

“Level 250,” Derek clarified. Of course, they were ready for the dungeon. They had no doubt that they could basically stand completely still in the middle of the arena and be safe. But neither of them knew what reaching level 250 might bring. It could do absolutely nothing, but it could be the key to everything.

“I’m ready!” Silvi said excitedly. “We advance or we don’t,” she said. “We can find more ingredients not from here if we advance! I don’t have ingredients to cook recipes tasty magic elf Dave gave me. Can’t find here. Need more spices like ones he gave. So good!”

“I see,” Derek said. That was definitely a reason that Silvi would get excited about possibly ascending to another system. Derek was definitely interested in the different beasts and fights they could get into in a different system—particularly the Origin System. But, more importantly, it would mean that he was a step closer to finding Alanah again, and it would mean that he could grow even stronger.

However, he hoped they would be allowed the same window of time to get their affairs in order that Alanah did if they completed the second requirement. If not, not only would he have to find a way to Alanah, but he would also need to find a way back to Cydaria. He couldn’t just leave without saying goodbye, after all.

“Okay,” Derek said after letting out a long breath. “If you’re ready, then I’m ready.” The two of them stood in the center of the arena. Then Derek looked at the dungeon message that had appeared and selected to begin the first wave. “Let’s do this.”