System Change

Derek’s day-to-day life fell into another lull with Marrick gone and Shae grounded—this time, possibly for forever. So, when Thomas came around, he jumped at the chance to help the boy out. Besides, training with the boy gave him something fun and entertaining to do—something to keep him occupied. He looked forward to every time the boy got a day off.

After sparring for a while, Derek even took Thomas out to ‘fight’ monsters and beasts. It wasn’t just any kind of fighting, though. Derek put Thomas up against beasts that the young teen could not possibly hold a candle to. It wasn’t a punishment or anything like it, as the boy happily agreed to the idea, and was very excited about it. Derek was there for safety, and Thomas didn’t have to worry about killing the monsters and increasing his level because he couldn’t actually kill the monsters.

Well, he wasn’t supposed to have been able to kill them, but he somehow managed to down one of them. It was a Razorback Swine. Thomas seemed abnormally good when fighting against pig-type enemies. However, when Derek saw that the pig was about to bleed out, he hit it with a quick Spatial Rend to finish it off so Thomas wouldn’t get the full experience points. The boy did, however, end up with quite the amount of skill level ups during their day hunting.

None of this would have been possible for Thomas and Derek—well, it would have, but it wouldn’t have been ‘okay’—if not for the academy removing all the restrictions it had during the war, and even loosening up their former ones for the current students who missed a lot during that time.

The biggest reason that Derek chose this method of helping to train the boy—other than the experience of fighting something that was more powerful than himself, but not impossible to beat—was because the boy’s second team dungeon was coming up soon. With the kingdoms’ teleporters all linked and very lax, dozens of new dungeons in the level range of the students became available, and it became easier to book dungeon runs for the classes.

Thomas and his class would have a very hectic schedule of dungeon diving soon. They were about to make up for all the dungeon time they had missed in the previous year.

“Remember,” Derek said as he walked the student to the teleportation building, causing Thomas to look up at him. “Don’t just accept anyone who wants you on their team. Choose your teammates wisely.” Derek knew that it wasn’t something that needed to be said to the boy again, but he chose to say it anyway.

“I know,” Thomas replied. “I’ve already talked with Syd and Eric, and we are going to form a team. If we can find a decent healer who can work well with us, we may try to run some of the harder dungeons in our level range. I think we can do it, but if we can’t, we will at least have the escape scrolls provided by the academy to those at the top who want to test themselves. Though using such a rare scroll comes with its own set of consequences.”

“Mhm…” Derek agreed, then looked around the area before swiftly handing Thomas two escape scrolls that he’d managed to get his hands on over the last few weeks. “Just in case. I hope you don’t have to use them.”

“Can’t have you dying on me because of something like picking the wrong dungeon, now can I?” Derek said with a chuckle.

“No, I guess not,” Thomas replied, then sighed. “It’s a shame that these scrolls are so rare,” he said as he put them away into his storage ring. “There wouldn’t be as many dungeon casualties if they could be provided to everyone.”

“There wouldn’t, but at the same time, some students would probably misuse the scrolls and take them for granted if they were given out so easily.” Derek said and smiled warmly at the kid. Even after his experiences, Thomas was still a kindhearted boy. “But I don’t care about everyone else. You take care of yourself first, then you can worry about others later. Remember what I said to you when we first met? One of the most important things about living in a world like this?”

“Be an asshole?” Thomas said with a grin.

“That’s right,” Derek replied. “Be an asshole, get strong, then be a hero. You can’t save anyone or anything if you’re already dead.” It’s good to see that my sage wisdom has been taken so seriously by the boy. He’s going to go far.

“I’ll remember,” Thomas said. “Me first, then whoever I can help after.”

“Good, good,” Derek said. “Though I don’t think you’ll have to worry about any of that right now. You have a great foundation for a team with Syd and Eric. You just do your best.”

“I will,” Thomas said with a nod, then reached forward and pulled Derek in for a hug. Derek tousled his hair and hugged him back. Finally, Thomas let go and took a step back. “I got to get back. Early day tomorrow,” the boy said.

“Go,” Derek replied, and the boy nodded before vanishing into the building. “I wonder what I would have done with a system if I had gotten one when I was his age…” Derek wondered out loud as he turned back to make the trek home. He shook his head, then thought, Nah… I’d have gotten myself killed in about three seconds if it was a young me.

Stolen novel; please report.

After a while, Derek finally made it back to the shop. From a distance, he looked at it and released a breath. Due to the renovations, the Void Emporium closed its doors until they were complete. Even in a magical land with a system, construction work was extremely loud and irritating, and the shop part of the building didn’t have silencing runes built into it like all the bedrooms did.

The construction that Malorie and Geoffrey had settled on was quite the undertaking. Derek could see the frame of another floor being built onto their current building, along with two other buildings on their connected lots being brought up.

Malorie had decided, with good reason, to make the future top floor one that only contained bedrooms and bathrooms. Then, the floor under that—the second floor—would be converted to more of a rest floor. It would include an updated and much bigger dining room. A massively improved kitchen for their resident bunny, and a sitting room—or as Derek called it, the living room.

Rudy’s contract store would no longer be attached to the main building. Instead, where his store was currently, was being converted into Malorie’s office and a small storage room that—once Derek finishes using a favor or two—will be more protected than some kingdoms’ main treasure rooms.

Rudy didn’t mind his shop being converted, though. One of the buildings being built was going to be for him and his shop as more of a standalone. It would be easier for people to see and get to because it would no longer be on the backside of the Void Emporium. He would have an even bigger office, and he was working with Geoffrey to make it perfect for what he needed.

Another one of the buildings was an over-sized bunk house. It was pretty much made specifically for Ogre, as he was just too big for most of the other places. Built into the ‘bunk house’ was also a ‘tasting room.’ Since Ogre was Silvi’s official taste-tester, they needed a good place to do their work. Derek also wanted to make sure the big man and his ‘brother’ were comfortable, so he even commissioned an extremely over-sized reclining chair and bed from Geoffrey, and he gave Bones a chair of his own since they had so many extra already.

On top of the extra floor being added, the old building even got a makeover. Well, it wasn’t a makeover per se because none of the visuals really changed. Instead, Geoffrey and Malorie decided to update it with higher tier materials and runes while keeping the unique outer and inner mystical looks. It was the reason that everything was taking a long time to be built.

It was much harder for Geoffrey and his team to replace things that were already built than it was for them to build something new. However, that part of the construction was finished, so the remaining part would go by rather quickly.

Derek gave his home one last once over before walking inside and going downstairs into the basement—which was the first thing that had been updated. Honestly, to Derek, it didn’t look much different from before. Mostly, Brandi’s forge, anvil, and the majority of her blacksmithing equipment had been upgraded and the crafting equipment that she didn’t use was either taken away or moved to a small corner in the basement just in case she needed it for something.

The floor had also been lowered another few feet, and the basement was expanded. It was actually bigger—longer and wider—than the base of the actually building now. Brandi was very happy with the results. However, she had already made it her own, and the entire thing was already a mess.

Finally, Derek walked upstairs to see all the work being done there. Gone were all the bedrooms on his side of the floor. Derek had made sure that it was the first area that they worked with, as he didn’t actually need any sleep, so it didn’t matter to him if he no longer had a bedroom for a while.

Luckily, it took them no time to create the sitting room, and Derek had already decorated it with all the extra chairs except for his own. There was an open space in the corner of the room specifically for him, which he walked over to and placed his chair. Derek popped the footrest up and leaned back to relax.

“You’re getting antsy,” Malorie’s voice sounded out as she walked through the door into the sitting room. She didn’t bother keeping her chair stored, so she walked over and sat in it.

“What do you mean?” Derek asked.

“You’re constantly up and about looking for something to do,” she answered. “This is the longest you’ve stayed put since we met you, as far as I know.”

“Maybe,” Derek said. He couldn’t disagree with the woman. He had such a nice place in a nice city, but the longer he was there, the more anxious he became. He still had experience—or essence—to get and skill levels to earn. Even back on Earth after the system came, he went out hunting and fighting by himself very often and only stayed in his cabin to rest or to heal from a particularly hard fight… or a beating from Jace.

“No maybe,” Malorie said. “You are, and we can all see it. It’s the same reason we told you to go on the raid. You were already running out of things to do in the city back then. You should go hunt, explore. Don’t forget about that skill you have. You’re what? Less than a minute away from your home, no matter where you are in the kingdom?”

“Something like that,” Derek said.

“I’m pretty sure you don’t enjoy watching Brandi crafter her items near as much as you make it seem you do,” Malorie said. “And I know Thomas appreciates the one-on-one time with you—probably more than either of us know—but, so what if you miss training with him occasionally? I think he needs time to visit instead of just coming from the academy straight to training with you. He definitely enjoys his time with you massively, but his grandparents also enjoy their time with them.”

“Ah,” Derek said. “I guess that’s true. I have been pushing him a lot lately and hovering around Brandi, now that I think about it. They are both growing fast.”

“Yes, they are,” Malorie said. “And that’s all thanks to you.”

“I guess,” Derek said.

“So, why don’t you go do something? Reward yourself. Have a little fun,” Malorie said.

“I will,” Derek replied. “I’ve made the plans, at least, but Alanah and Avery have gone dark.” Derek had made plans to go adventuring with Alanah and to hunt Void Beasts with Avery, and he was ready, but he hadn’t heard from either of them since they got back. He didn’t want to be gone if one of them came looking for him.

“That is my fault,” a seductive voice that he would recognize anywhere sounded from outside the door. “I really like what you’ve done to the place,” Alanah said as she strolled inside with Stella on her hip. “I think… we need to have a chat.”

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