System Change

“I am quite old,” David said. “There’s something about light magic—whether healing or otherwise—that keeps the body in good shape. That, and the fact that my family has some elven ancestors on my father’s side.”

“So you are elven?!” Marrick nodded in affirmation. “I knew it. If the Dawn Siren met you before she took the ship over to the other continent, then you shouldn’t be more than a decade or two younger than that old former King of Cydaria.”

“I was young back then, but Alanah and I adventured together for a short while,” David replied with a sigh. “I would have liked to have kept her in my party, but nobody else would give her a chance to show them who she really was… so she left. But it seems that she made the correct decision. I am happy to learn that she made some proper friends.”

“She did,” Derek said. “She may not have made many, but the ones that she did make are very loyal to her. Actually—and I’m sure you might have guessed it already—but she is very close to the Siren’s Second on the Guardian list.”

“Did she have a son or daughter?” David asked.

“No,” Derek replied. “But he is like an adopted son, and she treats him as an equal. She basically raised him. I don’t know much more than that. But Avery Swan is a very good man.”

“And he was strong enough to earn a position as a Guardian.” David smiled and nodded. “I would like to meet this young man one day.”

“That can be arranged,” Derek said. “He’s currently busy holding down Savannah with Braxton… Braxi… but I’m sure he’d love to meet you once the invasion is over.”

“Then I guess I must do my best to stay alive until then,” David said.

“Yeah,” Derek chuckled. “Alanah would probably be mad at me if I let you die at this point.”

“Speaking of Alanah, Sir Marrick tells me that she has gone?”

“Yes,” Derek replied with a nod. “I’m sure that you know of the re… requirements.” He smiled when he didn’t feel any warnings coming from any of the three systems that were watching over everyone.

“I see…” David replied. “You need say no more. I understand what happened.” He smiled. “Good for her. She is the first that I have heard of to complete the requirements.” He then looked at Derek seriously. “And I would guess that you are the second? Assuming your title on the Guardian list means what I think it does.”

“That’s right,” Derek said. “Just sticking around until this invasion finishes. Can’t let Alanah get too far ahead of me, now can I?”

After that, the three of them chatted for a while longer until David had to go oversee his city. Marrick also left with the man. The two of them seemed to have become good friends in the short time that they’d spent together. Derek decided to stay at Ashgarde for the time being.

Like that, a few days passed.

Derek was leaning forward over Jace as the bald man’s eyes slowly cracked open. He quickly jumped back and stood straight.

“Ugh…” Jace said as he slowly sat up. There was a cup of water on the table beside the couch he’d been resting on, and he grabbed it and gulped it down before even knowing if it was for him or not. “How long was I out?” he asked.

“Oh… give or take a few days,” Derek replied.

“And what were you doing hovering over me like that?” Jace frowned and stretched. “And what do you have behind your back?”

“Oh, this?” Derek moved his hands from behind him and showed Jace the ink and writing utensil. “I was just… doing some paperwork.”

Jace blinked a few times, then flicked his wrist. A small mirror appeared, and he looked at his reflection. “I always wondered what I would look like with a mustache and… some questionable tattoos on my forehead,” he said, then a bright glow washed over him and the ink disappeared. “Not good is the answer.”

“Dammit!” Derek cursed. “How the hell did I forget about the Cleaning skill? All that work for nothing.”

“You’re not very talented at drawing, are you?” Jace winced as he moved around on the couch. “Damn… that shit really took it out of me. It’s never been like that before.” He looked down at his arms, which were nothing but skin and bones. “Never had these side effects or penalties for using it, either.”

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“Yeah,” Derek said. “You turned into a lanky ghoul or something. What the hell was that? And how are you as strong as you are? I’ve had some crazy luck. What’s your excuse?”

“I’m not as strong as I seem,” Jace said after thinking for a moment. “I mean… I am, but I have to be strategic about it. If I’m not, I’m probably barely on that list of Champions.”

“You’re not on the list,” Derek replied.

“Well… I was asked, but I refused,” Jace responded. “Too much work. Those bastards would probably be bugging me even more than they already are if I were on the list. And it just didn’t feel right to accept.” He then looked Derek in the eyes, and a wide grin appeared on his face. “And it looks like it was the right decision to make. It’s been far too long. And what a fight!”

“Yeah,” Derek said. “I guess it’s good to see you, too. Especially now that the roles are reversed.”

“You still have to win 27 more times just for us to be even,” Jace snorted. “You have a long way to go. And don’t think I’m going to sit back and watch you grow stronger.”

“We can go knock those 27 more wins out real quick if you want,” Derek said. “I’ve got nothing more important to do at the moment.”

“You’ll have to give me…” Jace started, then paused. He narrowed his eyes, then winced again. “At least three more days.”

“That long of a cooldown?” Derek asked.

“Yeah,” Jace replied.

“So… you grow stronger the longer you fight? Or the more injured you get?” Derek asked.

“Something like that,” Jace said. “Anything that I consider a battle. The more dangerous, the faster the growth. And as you saw, there are limits.”

“You’re awfully forthcoming with that information,” Derek said. “Are you sure that’s a good idea?”

“Who cares?” Jace replied. “You are my best friend, after all.”

“Uh… huh,” Derek muttered. “And what about that ghoul-like state?” he asked, changing the subject back to Jace’s skills.

“Fills my Battlelust up by a certain amount,” Jace said. “I guess I finally got to see what it would do if I was already at my Battlelust cap before I used it.”

“It seems to break the limit, but with some severe consequences,” Derek said.

“That’s exactly it,” Jace replied with a nod. Then he rolled his eyes and looked down at his bracelet. “Those idiots just don’t know when to give up.”

“Yeah,” Derek said. “That thing’s been ringing off the hook the whole time you’ve been recovering. I almost took it off you and answered it, but decided against it.”

“That would be funny,” Jace said as he took it off and held it out to Derek. “Do you want to do it? Use the video function. I want to see what that smurf’s face looks like when you answer.”

“I better not,” Derek said. “You can just let them keep worrying.”

“Fine,” Jace pouted and put the bracelet back on.

“So,” Derek said. “Why don’t you get me up to speed about everything that happened after I… left? Silvi didn’t seem like she knew much when I asked her.”

“Hey!” Jace whipped his head back from his bracelet to Derek. “Why did you visit her, but not me?”

“You seemed pretty far away from Earth, and there was a lot of shit that could have gone wrong if I stayed inside that other system,” Derek said. “According to that red Kelvin guy, I almost blew up Charlotte by going into a dungeon that I was a higher level than. I didn’t know if you were inside a dungeon or how strong you were. I did know this invasion was going to happen and hoped that you might join. If not, I was still eventually going to find you. You owed me some fights, after all.”

“Oh… that’s fine then,” Jace said casually. “You know, Kelvin said that the two of you had a really close fight, right? He said that the two of you were evenly matched. Silvi cleared that up for me, though.”

“Oh, he did, did he?” Derek’s mouth formed into a toothy grin. “Well, we’ll have to see about that. He’s over on the other continent right now, I think, but I’m not sure. I haven’t checked on him in a few days.”

“So… you can just track anyone?”

“Anyone who I’ve met, and that has left an impression on me,” Derek replied with a shrug.

“He left an impression on you?”

“Yeah, we fought, so there’s no getting away from me now. I’m just letting him run around for a while.”

“He’s mine,” Jace said after thinking for a moment. “At least… if he doesn’t do something stupid.”

“Fine with me,” Derek said. He didn’t bother asking what the man had done to offend Jace. Then again, what does anyone have to do to offend Jace? Not fight him when he asks? “Now, back to what happened after Silvi trapped me in a Portal.”

“It all basically happened the way you would think,” Jace said with a shrug. “That cowardly monk kept running away from me every time I tracked him down. I beat Big Jim up a couple of times, but it wasn’t the same as beating you up. I actually felt bad about hurting him. Crazy, right?”

“No… Big Jim was like a teddy bear.” Derek shook his head.

“Oh!” Jace snapped his fingers. “I finally found Jiù Zhǔ and beat the hell out of him, too. He put up a good fight. I thought we were going to be good friends, but then I was never able to find him again. All those other leaderboard bastards either ran as soon as they saw me or tried to poison me or some shit. Earth was no fun after you left.”

“I… see,” Derek replied. That wasn’t exactly what he was asking about, but it was his fault for not realizing that would be the first thing that Jace thought about. “And what happened with the leaderboards and stuff?” he asked.

“Oh, that? I got offered a chance to leave Earth for coming in high on the leaderboards, and I took it. I met Kelvin then, beat up a bunch of his subordinates, got sent to some places called Battlefield Planets, and killed a lot of monsters. Battlefield Planets are awesome. They are what happens when the beasts take over a planet after its introduction or something like that. I’m not sure, I wasn’t paying a lot of attention when Lieutenant… uh… Captain… hmm… well… when the soldier guy told me about it.

“I also got a team forced on me.” Jace let out a sigh of exasperation. “That was not fun. Just people who refuse to fight me who just leech off of my kills. It was nice having a healer, I guess. And a blacksmith is a good party member, too. They are good at repairing my kukri.”

“Oh…” Derek said. “That’s… pretty much exactly what I thought might have happened. But those Battlefield Planets do sound fun. Hopefully, I’m able to visit one someday.”

“You should,” Jace replied. “If you aren’t weak, you can get enough materials to sell and have someone in the system store make you some great stuff.” He reached over to the table where his two kukri were lying and placed them on his lap. “Some very… great… stuff.”