System Change

”That... but...” Derek was once again at a loss for words. While he was tongue-tied on the outside, his brain was running a mile a minute. Damn these old monsters. Am I just that bad at keeping parts of myself hidden? Dave could have prepared me a little better—at least helped me with a plausible backstory instead of having to think of things on the fly. Maybe I should have given more thought to my backstory, too.

How was I supposed to know I was going to run into two Ascendants like Logan and Sheen? At least me ascending from a lower system isn’t exactly something I cared that much about hiding. It’s not as bad as someone finding out I use a void affinity. At least... I don’t think it is. He did say that I wasn’t the first one he’s met, so that’s a good thing, right?

”You needn’t worry about anything,” the stoic patriarch said after seeing Derek’s panic. ”Yes, ascending from a lower system is a rare thing in the System Universe, but that is only based on total population. It wouldn’t be a fraction of the total population, but thousands, if not tens of thousands, of system users ascend from a B-tier system to the Origin System each year. It is probably about as rare as a young genius with the potential to reach mid-or high-Ascendant status. When you are an elite, you see many of these geniuses—so many that rare almost seems to become uncommon or even common. You don’t notice it until you spend time in a regular city on a regular world.

”So yes, it may raise some eyebrows since only the geniuses of the lower systems are able to ascend like that, but it’s not enough for anyone to want to harm you over it or anything. Besides, usually, when a figure ascends like this, they have some kind of ties with a Transcendent already. Your ties with Davenresh are just proof of that. Though I will say that it is somewhat odd,” Logan finished.

”What’s odd?” Derek decided that there was no point in denying it. Sheen had given him some very valuable information, so maybe the patriarch of the clan would do so, too.

”So, you are not denying that you have ascended from a lower system?” Logan asked.

”After that deduction?” Derek asked with a slight smirk. ”I feel like denying it any longer would just be disrespectful. I have enjoyed my time in your clan so far... at least for the most part.” He looked down at the training ground he’d just fought on.

”I am happy you have ’enjoyed your time’ here,” Logan replied. ”And as the patriarch of the clan, I really should apologize for our younger talent.”

”That’s fine, you don’t need to apologize to me,” Derek said.

”I said I should apologize. I didn’t say I would apologize,” the patriarch smirked. ”I oversee the entirety of the clan while continuing to grow my strength. If anyone needs to apologize to you, it is the person himself, his parents, his branch head, or even a branch ancestor. If you would like, I could have Ancestor Sheen come apologize to you. Perhaps if the young man had been a member of House Shield, it would be my place.”

”No,” Derek shook his head and chuckled. He couldn’t even imagine Sheen walking up to him and giving him an apology. Besides, what Sheen did in front of everyone was already more than enough. ”There really isn’t a reason to apologize. He got punished enough. I don’t need anything else.”

”Good, good...” Logan replied. ”Now, I am a bit of a studious man. Ascension from another system has always intrigued me as someone born in the Loomis Clan here in the Origin System. What was it like?”

”Can I ask you two things first?” Derek asked. ”Maybe three?”

”Go ahead.” The man nodded.

”First, are you really okay just talking to me like this? As a patriarch, I feel like...”

”Like you should be more respectful?” Logan finished.

”Something like that.”

”I’ll tell you a little secret,” Logan said. ”When dealing with the old elite—those who are Transcendent, at the cusp, or well-aged Ascendants—if you are alone with them speaking, at least half of them won’t care about standing or politics. They would rather you speak plainly and get it over with because most of them do not care for wasting time through conversation. Of course, it is different if it is in public or private with others around. Then it is best to err on the side of respect.”

”Gotcha,” Derek said.

”Your second question?”

”That... how close are you to reaching Transcendent?” Derek asked. He had been wondering since hearing the exchange between Sheen and Logan.

”How close?” The stoic man rubbed at his chin. Finally, he shrugged. ”No clue.”

”Huh?”

”Yeah, I don’t know. I may already be there, but I don’t want to mess up,” Logan explained.

”What do you mean?” Derek asked.

”Well, my affinity with Soul Thread: Soul Shield is at 94%, and my level is 997. By all accounts, I should transcend as soon as I reach level 1,000,” Logan answered. ”The only question is, do I take the chance and do it now, or do I try to reach 95%? I don’t know. But I do feel as if I can grow my affinity more.”

”Oh... wow,” Derek muttered. ”Yeah, Dave said he was at 93% when he upgraded and reached Transcendent, but his brother was like... 91%, I think, and he got stuck at Ascendant.”

”You should stop there,” Logan said to Derek.

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”Stop?”

”Yes, especially for Davenresh. Don’t leak this kind of information that isn’t already public,” the patriarch warned.

”Dave didn’t seem to care at all about it when he told me,” Derek said. ”You don’t seem very private about it since you are telling me.”

”I am exchanging information with you so I can learn more about something that intrigues me,” Logan replied. ”Davenresh is a very private person. The overwhelming majority of users who reach Transcendent allow the Origin System to send out a system-wide notification informing everyone of their triumph. Dave did not do this. I heard that his family was more surprised than anyone when he reached it. Nobody actually knows how long ago he reached it, really.”

”Oh,” Derek replied. ”I’d come to understand that Transcendents don’t really care about people knowing that stuff once they’ve made it.”

”Most do not—it is just like with the system notification,” the patriarch replied. ”But again, it is always best to err on the side of caution with those types.”

”Gotcha, so you don’t want me to say anything about your affinity either?”

”Not my percentage,” Logan replied. ”I’d have every elder pushing me to break through if they knew I was so close. Now, the fact that my affinity is Soul Shield... that’s public knowledge in the Loomis Clan. But the last time my affinity was recorded, it was 83%. As far as anyone knows, I am just close.”

”Are there people who would try to take you out if they knew how close you are?” Derek asked.

”Actually? Yes, there are,” Logan replied. ”House Grimshaw, for one. Then, there are also assassins whose only goal is to stop Ascendants from reaching Transcendent. I am well past the percentage that one of them would take note. I’m sure I’m on some Transcendent watch list for these assassins, too. So, if you don’t mind not speaking of it with anyone, that is another reason it is easier for the second Transcendent than the first. Those assassins are less likely to attack with a Transcendent close by.”

”Of course,” Derek replied. ”But why do they care if someone reaches Transcendent?”

”Everyone has their reasons. It’s harder to control a Transcendent. A Transcendent destroyed someone’s home. Every new Transcendent means less overall power for other Transcendents. I could probably go on for an hour about reasons ranging from petty to grand.”

”So... greed and revenge?” Derek said.

”That pretty much sums up everything,” Logan replied.

”Got it,” Derek said. ”Well... based on what you told me, let me be the first to congratulate you on reaching Transcendent.”

”Thank you,” Logan said with a real smile. ”I still have a way to go, though.”

”If you say so,” Derek replied.

”Anyway, what was your third question?”

”Ah, I just wanted to know what you thought was odd about my ties to Davenresh,” Derek replied.

”Well, unless I am mistaken, Davenresh’s System was C-tier the last time I checked, and I don’t recall seeing that change—though it has been some time. Malrik’s System—Malrik is one of the four Transcendents in House Gravenholt and Davenresh’s older brother, by the way—was B-tier and the one that any system user from Davenresh’s System would have to go through. But also, any system ascendant that I have ever spoken to ascended to the Origin System at level 500 and Ascendant or high-Mythic. You look to already be high-Mythic, but you obviously ascended at level 250.”

”Oh... uh...” Derek stuttered.

”And by the way you just reacted, something was very different with your ascension than the usual one,” Logan explained. ”And if I had to guess, with the lack of recognition you showed when I mentioned Malrik and your overall obliviousness about some things... and the fact that Davenresh was the one to recruit you... I would say that you somehow came from the Davenresh System straight to the Origin System.”

”Well... uh... is that really rare?” Derek gulped.

”Rare? It is unheard of—at least by me. But also, I am someone who has spent some time studying advancements and requirements, so if anyone should have heard of such a thing, it should be me. Yet, I have not,” Logan replied. ”Which is why I wanted to speak to you privately up here, shielded, where nobody else can monitor us. It is why your story about the teleportation scroll sending you to a random place didn’t make Sheen suspicious. It didn’t even cross his mind that a level 250 user could have advanced from a lower system.”

Yeah, that and the fact that he latched on to a much more deadly secret for me, Derek thought. I’m just lucky neither of the two seems to care to share any of this information with others. At least, Sheen said he wasn’t going to, and it doesn’t seem like the patriarch will either.

”I’m going to have to come up with a better background story,” Derek finally said.

”Yes, you are,” Logan replied. ”If you were level 500, nobody would take more interest than usual. But skipping an entire system tier and coming straight to the Origin System? How did you do it?”

Leaving everything about the void that he could—including his stay in it—Derek gave Logan a general outline of what had happened. From system integration to stepping into a portal and being sent to the Davenresh System, all the way to his advancement to the Origin System. And the whole time, Logan was enthralled. His stoic demeanor broke and was completely replaced by giddy interest.

”Fascinating!” Logan finally said after taking a few minutes to process. ”I noticed that you left out some pretty big details or secrets, but I won’t push you about them. Just this... I can’t believe I am speaking to someone who was part of not just another system, but a system integration. You have a Transcendent-level background, that is for sure. And how many different systems have you visited now? Three? That means you have the System Traveler Title?”

”Uh... yes?” Derek said. He wasn’t sure about discussing Titles and skills with the man.

”Oh, sorry,” Logan said. ”That was rhetorical. I didn’t mean for you to answer, but that is indeed intriguing. I won’t ask what the rewards were for it, but they are known to be good. It’s a shame that there is no way for a person from the Origin System to obtain such Titles. But it also makes sense—we have far more resources.”

”Yeah... a shame...” Derek said. If he could get his Void Travel skill up high enough, that would be the simplest Title for anyone around him to unlock. Of course, he didn’t know about dropping a level 900+ Ascendant off on Earth. Would it be able to handle it, or would it just explode? Like that dungeon was going to do when Silvi and I appeared there.

”And to think, you were also part of an invasion, and on the winning side against a Universal System,” Logan finally had to take a breath and calm himself. ”Excuse me, there are not many things out there that can excite me like this.”

”That’s fine,” Derek said. ”It’s a private conversation and all. No need for formalities.”

”Well, needless to say, it is no wonder that Davenresh took such an interest in you. He would have been a fool not to,” Logan replied. ”I am just surprised that you have a space-related affinity and not one related to earth. In fact, that makes you even more special. It is no wonder you chose such a duel. I’m sure you would have embarrassed Young Garrett even more than you did had you used any skills.”

”Did you actually see the duel?” Derek asked, but inwardly, he was cursing and hoping that the patriarch didn’t ask him to demonstrate any of his spatial skills. He didn’t doubt for one second that the patriarch would realize just as quickly as Sheen did that it wasn’t his primary affinity.

”I glanced at it,” Logan said. ”But going off what has been explained to me, it only makes sense.”

”Right...” Derek said.

”Well, thank you for this fascinating chat,” Logan finally said. ”Tell Davenresh I wouldn’t mind having a drink with him once I reach Transcendent. He is a very mysterious Transcendent, but doesn’t seem bad based on the few things I’ve heard and what you just told me.”

”Of course,” Derek replied. ”I will definitely tell him.” I will tell him that, and I’ll also tell him how unprepared he left me. I’m like a chicken running around with my head cut off.