System Change

Earlier that morning…

Jacks watched Derek walk away with most of the group trailing him, leaving him and Rayna standing near the hotel. He was tasked with keeping an eye on and helping the woman who seemed so keen on making herself useful. When she talked about not wanting to be weak, he felt her determination.

He knew exactly what it felt like to be in a helpless situation. Of course, his wasn’t because of his strength, but because of that godforsaken contract. Still, he could take some solace in the fact that he was able to get his son out of the dangerous situation created by Torith.

Jacks felt a fire burning inside him. He had been cooped up, doing nothing but standing guard and occasionally projecting his aura. Sure, when he was under contract for Torith, he was called Captain, but that wasn’t in his contract, so he didn’t take it too seriously. The last thing he wanted to do was help a group of pawns to be used by the Toriths grow stronger.

That’s not to say he didn’t enjoy training people, he did. He had helped with the training of some of his old party members. Then, he had put everything he had into training his son before sending him off to the Academy. He actually enjoyed it… not as much as he enjoyed fighting beasts and testing his own skill, but close.

Now that he was tasked with helping the lady in front of him, he planned to go all out. She was one of Derek’s trusted companions, so he would give it his all. He owed the man with the purple eyes everything, and if he was eventually able to see his son again, he would owe him even more.

“Let’s go.” He said with his scratchy voice.

“Where are we going?” Rayna asked.

“I have to see what you’re made out of first, so we’re going to the Adventurer’s Guild.” He explained.

The walk to the guild was short, and soon, they were at the front of the line. A brown-haired woman with a tan greeted them. “Hello, Sir. Welcome to the Savannah Adventurer’s Guild. How may I help you today?”

“One Gold Ranked room without any extra amenities. Two hours is good.” Jacks put his badge on the table in front of the woman.

“30 gold.” She replied.

Jacks placed the money on the table and, after the woman examined his badge, took it back, strapping it back to his shoulder.

“Go ahead.” The woman motioned them to an opening that should have had a door, but didn’t.

Jacks nodded and led Rayna through the door, taking a turn down a hallway, until they arrived at a room. He placed his hand on a rune, causing the door to open.

“How did you know which room to go to?” Rayna asked.

“This hall has the Gold Ranked rooms.” He answered.

“How did the rune know to open to you?”

“The attendant marked my badge before giving it back. The room is linked to my mana signature for the next two hours.” He explained.

Rayna didn’t ask anymore questions, and followed him inside the room.

Once in the training room, Jacks motioned the woman to the center. “We’re going to spar.” He said. “Well, we’re not going to spar. You’re going to go all out against me. I need to see your exact strength.”

Rayna nodded and walked to the middle of the room, taking the sword Derek gave her out of her ring along the way. “Ready?” She asked.

“Go ahead.” Jacks didn’t draw a weapon. He knew she was only level 53, so, even if she had a rare or epic class, she would be no threat.

A green glow fell over the blond woman’s feet as she dashed forward. She was quick for such a low level, even if she was using a skill to up her speed.

Jacks took a step back, causing the sword to miss his face by inches. Then he sidestepped when she swung back around, aiming for his leg. Soon, she jumped back. Instead of landing on the ground, she was floating in the air.

Jacks felt a light breeze begin blowing around the room. Soon, the wind picked up, causing the woman’s long blond-hair to blow in every which direction. A light green glow fell over her sword, and she swung.

A green crescent of energy flew sharply at him. He jumped over the first one, hearing crash as it landed on the ground behind him. Before he even landed, another blade of wind was nearing. He smiled before shifting his body in the air, dodging it. A third appeared right behind the second. Before it arrived, he managed to land and move to the side.

If she was able to fire off the blades rapidly, he wouldn’t risk jumping over it again. It was never a smart idea to leave the ground while fighting a wind user unless you had a good way to counter it, which he didn’t.

The spar continued like this for a while before Rayna came down, panting. Jacks released a toothy grin when he saw her state. “Looks like you finally ran out of mana. I was surprised. You lasted longer than I thought, and definitely launched that skill more than I thought would be possible. Have you invested a lot in your magic stats?”

Rayna shook her head as she panted. “No, just trained the skill up as much as possible.”

Jacks nodded. “That’s good. Do you have Meditation?” He asked.

Rayna snorted. “Yes.”

Jacks didn’t understand why the question drew such a response, but he didn’t linger on it. “What level?”

“Seven.”

That was actually pretty good. “That’s good. Go recover a bit, then we’ll talk about what you did wrong.”

Rayna removed herself from the center of the training room and rested against one of the walls. After around ten minutes, she opened her eyes.

Jacks walked over and sat in front of her. “You’ve trained the spells you used against me well, but you’re overusing them. From what I can make out, you’re some type of Elemental Swordsman who uses wind as your element.”

Seeing Rayna nod, he continued, “That’s well and good, but you have been neglecting your physical skills. You were nowhere near as good when you fought me physically as you were when you were using your magic. That’s the first thing we’re going to have to focus on. Sometimes, you run out of mana, or the enemy is resistant to your magic type. In those situations, you need to be ready.”

“I understand.” Rayna replied.

“Good.” Jacks said. “I assume you have Weapon’s Mastery and some other skills that were given to you with your class?”

“I do.” She answered.

“Great.” He replied. “You are level 53, but you fight way above your level. Which means you have at least a rare class, and you’ve had a rare class since at least level 25. Either that, or you somehow got your hands on an epic class at level 50, but it feels more like a rare class.”

Rayna’s eyes shot open. “How did you know that?”

“Experience.” Jacks replied. “I’ve been fighting for over 50 years. You tend to learn a thing or two about classes and people.”

“You don’t look that old.” Rayna replied.

“Good Vitality and Endurance will do that for you. You’ll also have to increase your Endurance alongside your other stats so your body doesn’t break with the speed you’ll end up having. I suspect you’ll end up with some passive movement boosts at level 100. That, or the chance to change to a lightning type class.” Jacks explained.

“Lightning?” Rayna asked.

Jacks nodded. “Wind based classes aren’t as common as fire, water, and earth, but are more common than lightning, ice, light, molten, and others. Lightning is a natural advancement from wind, just like ice is from water. I had a chance to change to a molten type class, but I chose to go the pure fire type. I’ve never regretted my decisions. I would have lost skills that I love if I would have switched.

“That’s not to say that one shouldn’t switch. Sometimes, just the jump in rarity is worth it. In my class, the rarity was the same, it just came with extra skill points and skills. Like I said, I’m a purist, so, unless you can get one of the special elements early on, or it increases your class rarity, providing you with more stat points, I don’t think it’s worth it.”

Rayna nodded. “I don’t think I’ll ever switch from wind. I would for sure lose my Wind Blade, and I’ve already invested such a long time into the skill that it wouldn’t be worth it.”

“I agree. I’ve faced some people who became arrogant because they changed to a more rare element when they upgraded their class at level 100. Most bumbled around, trying to use their new element the same way they used their other element. Besides, there are cases when a water blade or mage gets ice skills, or an earth or fire user gets molten skills.” Jacks explained.

Rayna remained silent. Obviously thinking about the information he had provided her.

Finally, Jacks stood. “Come on. I know what we’re going to do now. I hope you’re not opposed to getting your ass kicked.”

Rayna frowned. “As long as it makes me stronger.”

Jacks chuckled for the first time. “Oh, you will definitely come out stronger for it.”

If he was going to train someone, he was going to do it properly. He would give the woman the training he wished he had at her age. Training that was too harsh to give his son. He saw the resolve in the woman’s eyes. She could handle it.

He took her hand and pulled her up. “Let’s go.”