System Change

Derek stepped out of the void and sat Silvi and her pot on the ground. Next, he turned around and closed the portal behind him. Finally, he turned his head back and looked forward—at a fuming Tyron.

“Uh…” A wry grin fell over Derek’s face, and he put his hand on the back of his neck.

“What. The. Fuck! Derek!” Tyron, in his fury, shouted out. In his hand, he was holding the hilt of a sword… well, the hilt of half a sword. Half of the blade was intact, the other half lay scattered around the forge—a very large and beautiful forge. If Brandi were to see it, she would absolutely fall in love.

“Whoops,” Derek said. It was just about all he could say in that situation. He was on a clock—of course, he didn’t know how much time was on that clock, but it was better to err on the side of caution. “Sorry.”

“Whoops? You’re sorry?” Tyron muttered. “I’ve been working on that blade for hours! And the material… do you know what was in it?”

“Not a clue,” Derek replied. Just as he answered, the pot that had covered Silvi disappeared, and the bunny appeared, sprawled out on the floor. She looked like she’d swollen up a little in the short time that she’d been tucked away. That’s not good, Derek thought.

“That…” Tyron started, but then his eyes fell to the now wobbling and trying to stand bunny. “Are you… okay?” he asked Silvi.

“Fine,” Silvi’s voice rang out from her crystal. “Just… need…” All the sudden, multiple Mage Hands appeared, and dozens of items that weren’t bolted to the floor began to fly around the room—including the pieces of the shattered blade. After that, she began disappearing and reappearing over and over.

“What are you doing?!” Tyron half-shouted in confusion.

“Mana!” Silvi’s voice managed to ring out once she appeared next to Tyron again. After that, she disappeared, and all the floating items fell to the ground. The next second, a rumbling shook the forge and the already toasty temperature in the building raised.“What the hell is going on?” Tyron asked Derek—all anger completely replaced by utter confusion.

Derek, with wide eyes, shrugged, then ran for the door. When he got outside, he was met with a scene of chaos.

The forge that Tyron was currently using just happened to be in the center of the Capital of Cydaria. Around him and Tyron—who had followed him outside—men, women, and children were all running around in a panic. The reason for this was because of the small floating bunny in the sky.

Silvi was hovering in the air and breathing out the biggest Dragon Flame that Derek had ever seen. Of course, she was shooting it straight into the sky so nobody would get hurt, but the scene itself was quite scary—he could understand why somebody would panic. In fact, she’d already drawn quite a bit of attention.

“What is she doing?” Avery appeared out of nowhere and asked Derek. Moments later, Edgar also appeared with Vanessa right on his heels.

“Uh… letting off some… steam,” Derek managed to say. He knew exactly what Silvi was doing, because Derek actually felt like doing the same—though, to a much lesser extent. He’d only eaten a small amount of the food that Dave had prepared for them, but Silvi? She’d eaten way too much.

The stamina regeneration was already making Derek feel fidgety—something he’d not really felt since before the system came. The health regeneration had his body feeling extra… pumped was the only way he could put it. Those two things weren’t too bad, and he felt they were easy to handle—they were only a little inconvenient. However, the mana regeneration was the worst of all. It has his body aching and had him feeling like a balloon. If he felt like that, then he couldn’t imagine what Silvi must have been feeling.

“Letting off steam?” Edgar asked. “In the middle of the city? With people everywhere?”

“Yeah…” Derek said. “It’s my fault. If I’d known how things were going to be, I would have stayed away for a little longer.”

“Stay away? How what would be?” Tyron asked. “Again, what the hell is going on?”

“Silvi ate too much,” Derek finally replied, causing everyone to stare at him blankly. “Let’s just say that the food she ate gave her enough mana regeneration to cause a regular level 250 person to explode in a matter of seconds… probably.”

“That much?” Vanessa asked as her eyes shifted back to Silvi.

“Yup,” Derek said. “Looks like she needed to get it out, and that skill was probably the best one she could use to do so.”

“Then the Mage Hands, Teleporting, and Telekinesis in the forge…” Tyron muttered.

“Was her trying to get it out without causing mass panic,” Derek said.

“Didn’t work,” Edgar said with a chuckle. “This is going to be a huge pain… for my brother and father.” He continued laughing.

“Probably,” Derek said. All that he could picture at the moment was Edward standing in front of a large crowd talking about a training exercise gone wrong. He couldn’t help but chuckle.

The five continued to stare up at Silvi for a while longer until the flames began to die down. Finally, the bunny floated back down, hopped off her pot lid, and landed on Derek’s shoulder.

“Whoops…” her voice rang out, and Derek almost lost it.

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“Whoops…” Tyron said, as rage began flood back into him with the reminder of what happened earlier. “Derek…” he said through gritted teeth. “Come inside… now.”

“Yes, sir!” Derek did a mock salute, then followed the smith back into his forge. “Ya’ll come too,” he said to Edgar, Avery, and Vanessa, and they followed behind.

“You… have got some explaining to do,” Tyron said once they were all inside. His forge was a mess, with items scattered about. “Can you explain to me what was so important that you needed to cause me to fail a craft?” he asked straight up.

“Relax…” Derek said. Then, when Tyron raised his brow and he saw the giant smith’s anger begin to flair once again, he continued, “What were you making? Just a weapon for some noble? Right?”

“Yes,” Tyron answered instantly.

“See,” Derek said. “No biggie. I have something really important that you need to do. Much more important than any of that.”

“And what’s that?” the smith asked.

“Well…” Derek rubbed the back of his neck again—trying to think of the best way to put it. His eyes met Avery’s, then Edgar’s. Finally, he said, “I need you to make some weapons for some nobles.”

“You!” Tyron said, but Derek held up his hands.

“I’m just kidding… sort of,” Derek said with a smile, then his demeanor changed and he turned serious. “But really, I need you to make some weapons. As good as you can… legendary if possible. Avery’s going to need a bow and daggers, Edgar’s going to need a sword, Vanessa… will need whatever she needs…” Derek paused in thought. Finally, he sighed… “Also, get in touch with Osian and see what he needs.” That’s a lot of firepower, but not many people… he thought.

“Derek,” Edgar said, his smile gone, too. “What really going on? Why do we all need legendary weapons?”

“Because…” he started, but a slight pain shot through his head, and he winced. “I can’t say,” he said. “But you’ll need them, that is for sure. Anything to help.”

“Cleavers!” Silvi’s voice chimed in from Derek’s shoulder. “Need two cleavers! To chop!”

Usually, Derek would think Silvi was just trying to get some cooking tools out of Tyron while she could, but he knew that she was being serious. When she did have to use weapons, cleavers were her weapons of choice. It would be good for her to have them if she ever ran low on mana and needed to physically fight her way out of somewhere.

“Yes,” Derek said. “Silvi needs cleavers.”

“You want me… to make the strongest people on the continent… even stronger.. But you can’t tell us why…” Tyron muttered. Then, he sighed and said, “With what material?”

“Speak to Malorie back at the Void Emporium,” Derek said. “There should be plenty of materials for you to use. I’ll let her know that you’re coming and to give you whatever you need.” He then looked at Avery. “If Alanah had any good material stored that she left, consider allowing Tyron to use that, too.”

“Okay,” Avery agreed.

“How long?” Tyron asked.

“I… I don’t know,” Derek said. “Hopefully, you’ll have enough time to get everything done.”

“What about armor?” Tyron asked. “I can pretty much guarantee epic-grade, but I doubt I can make legendary, even with good materials.”

“That…” Derek muttered. “I plan on paying a visit to Vallum once I leave here. Hopefully, I can get some of their smiths to help.”

“Good idea,” Tyron said. “To be perfectly honest,” he continued. “It may do you well to find a better weaponsmith over there, too.”

“No,” Derek said while shaking his head. “You made Harbinger, and I know how good it is. Plus, I don’t know if I’ll be able to get their help, anyway.”

“Okay,” Tyron replied with a nod. “I’ll need the person whose weapon I’m creating at the time to stick around at the forge if you want it to be attuned,” he said while looking around. “We will have a much better chance at creating a good weapon that way.”

Everyone nodded as they took in what was being said.

“I’ll be last,” Silvi said. “Need weapons less than others…”

“Sounds good,” Derek said with a smile. The fact that Silvi wasn’t being selfish at the moment must have really made everything set in for the others, as they all became even more serious.

“I’ll go just before her,” Vanessa said. “I don’t use weapons all that much, but if it is possible to attune something to me and increase my shadows’ efficiency, it will be worth it.”

“I don’t need armor,” Edgar finally said. “Mine is already lightning attuned, and legendary. It is a relic passed down throughout my family’s history.”

“Really?” Derek asked.

“Yes,” Edgar replied.

“And you brother’s armor?”

“A… knock-off, but still epic-grade,” Edgar replied. “But my sword…” He pulled out his sword and held it out for Tyron to take. Once the smith did, he said, “If you can make something of higher quality, but near identical, I would be in your debt.”

“I think I can do that,” the smith said as he examined the blade. “I’ll begin with you, then.”

“Thank you,” Edgar said.

“Edgar,” Derek said, getting the man’s attention.

“Yeah?”

“You need to head to Indria and speak with Osian,” Derek explained. “See if he needs weapons or armor. I think he’s the only person there who can actually help.”

“As long as it keeps me out of the palace,” Edgar said with a slight grin.

“Oh, I have a feeling that you’re not going to be spending much time in the palace soon,” Derek replied. He was trying to think of who else there was that could be the Davenresh System’s ‘quality’ over the Universal System’s ‘quantity,’ but he really couldn’t think of much. Natalie isn’t really a fighter, he thought. What about Alanah’s old friend from the other continent? It may be worth looking him up if there’s enough time.

“It’s going to be that bad?” Edgar asked, breaking Derek out of his thoughts.

“I… don’t know,” Derek replied. “But probably… Maybe even worse than that bad.”

“Just what is going on?” Vanessa whispered to herself from the side. Derek just looked at her and gave her a shrug.

“I wish I could tell you,” he said with a shrug. He then looked at Avery and Edgar. “Have the two of you worked things out with the Void Beast meals and stuff?” he asked.

The two men looked at each other, then nodded. “We have,” Edgar said.

“Good,” Derek replied. “You need to get whatever boost you can. And give some to Vanessa and Tyron, too.”

“Of course,” Edgar said. “We already have been. My body is currently saturated with the energy, so it needs to process it before I can gain anything else from them. The same is true for Vanessa and my brother. And it’s only right that Tyron gets his own share for the work he’s about to put in.”

“The same is true for me, Stella, and the kids,” Avery replied.

“That’s good,” Derek said. “Now… Let me contact Malorie real quick.” Derek pulled out a red communication crystal and channeled his mana into it. After a few seconds, Malorie’s voice came through.

‘Derek?’ she asked.

‘Mal,’ Derek began. ‘Tyron or Avery… or someone is going to be coming by to collect materials. Give them anything they need.’ He let out a deep breath, then sent, ‘Even gather what I’ve given to Brandi if it’s needed. This is urgent.’

‘What’s…’ Malorie started to ask, but Derek cut her off.

‘I’ll try to answer questions later, but I can’t right now,’ Derek said. ‘This is very important. I’ll make it up to Brandi if we have to use her materials.’

Malorie paused on the other end for a moment before replying, ‘Okay. Is there anything else?’

‘I’ll let you know if I think of anything,’ Derek said. ‘I got to go now. Stay safe, me and Silvi are going to be gone for a little while.’

‘Okay,’ she replied.

‘I’ll talk to you soon,’ Derek said, then cut the crystal off. He looked around and said, “Okay, Malorie knows that someone will be coming for material. Tyron, I’m counting on you.”

“Fine,” Tyron said. “But you owe me for an epic-grade blade.”

“Just take it out of my materials,” Derek said with a chuckle.

“Oh, I will,” Tyron said. “My time is very expensive.”

“Good to know,” Derek replied. After that, he looked around once again. “You all… be ready for anything,” he said. “Now, I got to go see a dwarf about some armor.”