System Change

Bronson retired to his rented room in the village inn. Normally, the small undecorated room with an even smaller bed would have made him scoff. Currently, though, his mind was racing, and it did not even pick up on the state of the room.

What was that? He was, of course, referring to the obvious threat that Derek had given him. Bronson thought back to all the time he spent with Derek throughout the day. The man’s attitude and personality had switched constantly. He could not put his finger on which was the ‘real’ Derek. One thing is for certain, he is a dangerous man.

What about his beast companion? What kind of class and level would one need to have to get that kind of result bonding with a regular Horned Rabbit? That thought made Bronson shudder. He had never seen a purple element before. At first, he thought that it was a more powerful lightning type element, but when he saw the bolt of lightning hit the boar, his opinion changed.

The boar had died on impact, but the skill had not left a mark on its body. Bronson even paid attention to the boar while the bunny was ripping it apart. There was no apparent damage to the boar internally. It’s almost like the attack extinguished the soul of the creature. It was the only possibility that Bronson could think of. The only reason he even knew that souls existed in the first place was because of Maria and her powers.

Before the bunny attacked, Bronson had thought that Derek had a class that focused on physical ability. How else would he have been able to stop his greatsword with one hand? Up to that point, Derek had given no indication otherwise. He had, of course, used some type of healing or restoration spell on his hand, but Bronson figured the spell could have come from a scroll or dungeon.

Then he saw the bunny’s transformation, then its attack on the boar. Still, Derek had not shown any of his personal skills. Well, until his threat at the bar. His purple irises had stretched to cover the entirety of his eyes. Looking into them, Bronson could only imagine his soul shuddering.

Then there was the teleporting. He was not even sure if he should call it teleportation. There was no time between when he was in one chair, then the other. Bronson had seen people teleport before, and it was never as instantaneous as what Derek had displayed.

Above all else was the pressure Bronson felt when Derek gave his warning. Bronson had only felt a pressure like that once in his life, when the City Lord’s father had come to visit from the Capital and brought a guest with him. That guest was the King’s Advisor.

Bronson sat on the small bed in the cramped room and went over what he was going to report to his master. At this point, the death of Wallace and the birth of a dungeon that rewarded storage rings had been moved to the back of his mind. That night was one of the most restless nights in his life.

***

Derek opened his eyes and sat up. He reached out his arms and yawned while he stretched. I haven’t slept that good in forever. After leaving to his room the night before, he had slept like a baby. After stretching, Derek looked back at his pillow. Silvi was curled up snoozing against the headrest. She had basically slept on his head the previous night.

Derek transmitted Silvi a message to wake her up. ‘Wake up. It’s time to go, we’ve got a lot of travel ahead of us.’

Silvi opened her eye and glared at Derek. ‘Can’t. Must sleep. So comfy.’ She sent back.

‘Nope, no sleeping in today. Come on.’ Derek said. The bunny stared at him before giving up and rousing itself awake. Then she flew into his arms.

‘You carry. I will allow. I sleep.’ She said.

Derek shifted Silvi into his left arm and left his room. He looked at the room that Bronson stayed in the previous night and wondered if he was still there. He walked over to the bar and asked Bart. “He left the inn yet?”

“Nope, yer the first one up.” Bart replied.

“That’s good. I have some things to take care of before we leave. By the way, I’ll be headed to the city with him today. I don’t know how long it will be before I come back.” Derek stuck out his hand for a handshake. Bart grabbed it. “It was nice meeting you.”

“Yer welcome here any time.” Bart said.

Derek nodded. “When he wakes up, tell him I’ll meet him at the Rayna’s place.”

“Will do.”

With that, Derek left the inn and walked towards Mal and Brandi’s place.

He rounded the corner to the courtyard, and saw that either Brandi had worked all night, or she woke up very early. She was in the middle of making some piece of clothing. Derek waited for the girl to finish what she was doing.

Brandi held up the shiny cloth over her head so the sun could catch. She nodded her head and released a breath. “What’s that?” Derek asked from behind her, startling her out of her daydream.

After calming down, the girl spoke. “It’s a cloak for Silvi. She’s just so cute, I thought she needed something more.” She handed the cloth to Derek.

Derek took the cloth. The cloth was smooth, almost like a mix between silk and cotton. It was purple, almost the same shade as Silvi’s mane, just a bit darker. “How did you get the color?” He asked.

“Oh, that’s one of my Alchemy skills. It lets me take any plants and make dyes the same color. The trick part was getting the black hide to brighten up so I could make a color other than black. Finally, I just made a white dye, then used the purple dye after. It worked pretty good, right?” She asked.

“Very good. I’m sure she will love it.” He smiled, then took Silvi and sat her down on the bench.

‘Why? Was so comfy.’ She sent as she woke back up.

“Look at what Brandi made you.” Derek held up the small cloak. Silvi sniffed it and asked what it was for. “It’s a cloak, it will keep you warm and give you a little extra protection.” He took the cloak and tied it around Silvi, just under her mane. ‘Well, what do you think?’ He asked.

Silvi hopped around the area. The cloak rose and fell with each hop. ‘I like. Am I elegant?’

Derek laughed at her question. ‘Yes, very elegant indeed.’ He looked over at Brandi and gave her a thumbs up. “She loves it.”

“That’s great!” Brandi said. “Hold on, I have to go get yours.” She said and ran inside the house.

Oh, I wonder what she made me. It was not long before the little girl came running back out holding two identical pieces of clothes.

“You said you were running low.” She held out two dark black t-shirts. They seemed to be made out of the same material as the cloak Silvi was wearing. She had gotten the shape and form very close to the shirts that Derek usually wore. “I couldn’t get the feel any closer. I don’t know what material whoever made yours used. I made these out of the bats I picked up. I had to use my tailoring skill a lot to get the hides to soften. They lost a lot of armor because of the skill, but I figured you don’t care a lot about the armor, so I used the skill until they stopped getting softer.”

Derek took the shirts and examined them. “Thank you! They’re great!” He was not being overly kind either. He really was running low on t-shirts and he was genuinely thankful for the girl’s gifts.

Brandi beamed. “You’re welcome!”

Derek could not imagine what another Leathersmith would think about the girl using hides over level 100 to make shirts like this. His shirts were even softer than Silvi’s cloak, so she must have used whatever tailoring skill she had much more on his. He would not have it any other way.

Soon, the mood changed, and Brandi started pouting. “Do you really have to leave?”

He patted her on the head. “I do, but I will be back.” Then he moved in a lot closer. “And if things go like I hope, I can bring you with me.”

“Really?” She asked in surprise. “What about mom?”

“Her too. It would be better that way.” He answered. “But first, I have to make sure that it’s safe. Remember, you have to keep your skills a secret. The storage rings too.”

Brandi nodded.

“I’m going to go say bye to your mom, then Rayna. After that, I’ll be off to the city. You be good.” He said as he walked to the front door of the house.

He knocked on the door and waited for Malorie to answer. The door opened, and she invited him inside.

Not long after, Derek walked out of the house with a steaming hot biscuit in each hand. And, since there was food, Silvi had once again made an appearance.

After some begging, Derek finally relented and gave one of the biscuits to Silvi. According to her, it was the best food she had ever tasted. It took Derek some time to convince Silvi that she still had to follow him and that she could not stay with the ‘Wonderful. Beautiful. Delicious lady.’

After that, he headed to Rayna’s residence to say his goodbyes to her. That was also where he planned to meet back up with Bonson. He would stop by Thomas’s house on his way out of the city. He wanted to give the boy as much time as possible to say his goodbyes to his grandparents.