System Change

“What? Why?” Derek asked Edgar. Why would the man not want Blitz to be able to communicate with anyone? It seemed like a waste. It was much better when he made Silvi that communication necklace that let her speak out loud. If nothing else, it would make others feel more comfortable around an intelligent beast.

“Blitz… well… Blitz is a bit… different,” Edgar explained.

“Different how?”

Edgar hesitated again and looked at Blitz before sighing. “He’s not necessarily the smartest beast around.” Blitz let out a snort, causing the prince to roll his eyes.

“So? What’s the problem? You shouldn’t keep him from being able to communicate because of that,” Derek said.

“Like… he’s really… really not smart.”

“That’s fine. We can live with that. Just think of all the politicians and nobles out there. It won’t make much of a difference,” Derek said with a smile.

“Fine…” Edgar caved and held out the scroll in front of Blitz for him to use. Blitz stared at it for almost a minute before it finally disappeared.

Once Derek was sure that the wyvern had learned the skill properly, he tried speaking to him telepathically. “Heya, Blitz. How are you doing?”

Out of nowhere, the wyvern’s wings expanded and flapped forward, pushing the massive beast back, away from them all. Then the beast began looking around, ready for a fight. ‘Who was that? Where are you? You’re not Eddie.’ A deep voice sounded in Derek’s head.

Derek stared dumbly at the beast as Tyron scowled and picked up a few material pieces that were blown away by the sharp gust from Blitz’s wings. Edgar facepalmed and Avery smiled and petted Lyra on the side.

“What did you say to him?” Edgar asked.

“I asked him how he was doing…” Derek said. “Then he got confused and couldn’t figure out who was talking to him because it didn’t sound like you.”

Edgar sighed. “Do you know why I flew around so long on Blitz while we were in the trial dungeon?”

“Because it was fun?”

“It was… but I figured out pretty quickly that Blitz was… special. And I spent most of that time drilling into him that he just needed to listen to me and everything would be great. Now, other people with Telepathy will be able to communicate with him, which is going to cause a whole slew of new problems.”

“Then why did you let him have the skill?” Derek asked.

“Because you were right. I shouldn’t keep him from being able to socialize just because it will be easier on me. What kind of prince or leader would that make me? We’re just going to have to do some extra training, is all.” Edgar looked at Blitz with kind eyes. “There’s nothing wrong with that.”

Edgar and Blitz stared at each other for a bit, the Edgar turned back to Derek. “Try talking to him again.”

Derek nodded. ‘Hey Blitz, I’m Derek. Eddie’s friend.’

The wyvern eyed Derek suspiciously, then, his deep masculine voice rumbled in Derek’s head once again. ‘Why did you try to scare Blitz like that? I almost hurt the little man, Derek.’

Derek’s eyelid twitched, but he pushed on. ‘I didn’t mean to scare you. I’m sorry. I just wanted to talk with you and see how you were doing is all. Are you enjoying being with Eddie?’

‘Eddie is great! So smart. I can fight so good with him helping.’

‘That’s good. He is a smart person. It’s good to listen to him. I’m sure you’ll have a ton of fun on a bunch more adventures,’ Derek told the beast.

‘Me too!’

Derek looked back over at Edgar. “He’ll be just fine. He’s a good boy.” Honestly, Blitz reminded Derek of a big puppy. He even thought about ripping one of the giant trees out of the ground and playing fetch with the beast. He liked Blitz even more after talking with him. It was always easier to get along with good-natured people who weren’t exactly smarter than others.

After talking a bit and making a new friend in Blitz, Derek got comfortable and waited the wyrm’s prison sentence out while watching Tyron dismantle all the parts and begin building a more permanent forging and crafting area. Soon enough, sixteen more hours passed, and Derek received the notification that the sentence was almost up.

“Are you ready?” Derek asked Tyron after getting his attention.

Tyron nodded.

“Alright, let’s move a bit away from your crafting area so you don’t accidentally destroy anything vital,” Derek suggested, and they all moved. Edgar hopped on Blitz’s back and Avery jumped on Lyra’s. They would easily contain the wyrm if it got away from Tyron, then Derek would toss it in the Time Prison’s lobby if he needed to.

While moving around, Derek got the notification that the wyrm had been released. Which meant it would be in the lobby once he opened the Time Prison instead of its cell. Finally, they made it to an area that they all deemed far enough away from both camps and got ready. Edgar was kind enough to give the smith an extra contract scroll if he needed it, but the man already had one, which would hopefully be enough.

Derek tore the space open to reveal the door to his prison. “I’m going to need you to stand directly in front of the door, so it goes after you when it comes out. As soon as I open the door, I’m going to take to the sky so I don’t get in the way. These things are pretty aggressive, so be careful.”

Tyron nodded, prepared for the battle. The dark metallic aura began to flow over the giant of a man and formed into a tangible armor around him. He also didn’t hesitate to channel his heat into his aura to create a growing orange glow.

When Derek assessed him and figured he was ready, he placed his hand on the door to his Time Prison and opened the door. As soon as he slung the door open, he kicked off the ground and into the sky. Then he looked down and watched.

Within seconds of the door being opened, an enormous wyrm covered in a green moss came crashing out the door. Without waiting, Tyron took a step forward with both arms out and grabbed at the giant maw of the beast. The wyrm wasn’t ready, as it hadn’t even noticed Tyron standing in front of it before it was too late.

With both hands digging into the face of the beast, and using its momentum against it, Tyron shifted his weight and lifted. Derek watched in awe as the massive beast was lifted off the ground, whipped over the smith’s head, and slammed back into the ground behind him.

Of course, it was going to be like this, Derek thought. When Avery fought against the lesser dragonkin, it was like an adult fighting against a child. Of course, it was going to be the same with Tyron. He was a man who went toe to toe with Avery and barely lost. And it hadn’t been an all out fight, either.

The wyrm crashing into the ground caused an immense rumbling to resonate through the area. Luckily, there was already precedent for such a noise, as Edgar had been flying Blitz around after the wyvern learned Telepathy and introducing him to the others. The wyvern had crashed to the ground more than once throughout the day.

Once the wyrm was on the ground and stunned, Tyron brought out his hammer. In a moment, the hammer grow to a gigantic size and an anvil appeared behind the smith. With a swing of the hammer, it landed on the belly of the wyrm.

A viscous yellow liquid flowed freely from the maw of the beast after the collision and walloping it took. Tyron kept his enlarged hammer pushing into the beast with one hand, then pushed out with his other. In seconds, the ground around the wyrm was covered in a molten lava, which caused a gut-wrenching howl to emit from the beast.

Stopping there, he retracted the lava and pulled out a scroll. Still holding the beast down with his hammer, he took the scroll and held it in front of the wyrm’s face. The man didn’t even speak a word. As soon as the beast saw the scroll, it disintegrated and part of it flowed into Tyron, with the other part flowing into the wyrm.

The acceptance was instant. Derek didn’t think that such a thing was even possible. Lyra probably took much longer than that to form a contract with Avery, and Blitz definitely had. Hell, even Silvi took longer to form a contract with Derek, but then again, Silvi was a sneaky little bunny.

The fight only lasted a matter of seconds. Derek doubted a minute even passed from when he opened the Time Prison door and when the wyrm accepted the contract. Derek hopped down from his perch on a void ripple and landed in front of the door, which he quickly closed and pulled the tear in space back together.

“Well, that looked easy,” Derek said.

Tyron put his hammer away and released his aura. The ground around was desolate and burned, but that’s all that remained of the fight. Well, the wyrm look like it had been hit by a truck.

The smith shrugged. “It’s about what I expected. I have a rough estimate of the prince’s strength, and he subdued Blitz. If anything, I think it was an overkill.”

“Well, it worked. Overkill or not.” Derek nodded at the wyrm, which was cowing down in front of Tyron.

Tyron shrugged again. “We should get back. And Edgar should go make sure nobody heard the commotion and is on their way here.”

Derek nodded, and Edgar flew off. Finally, the three human, Lyra, and the newly contracted wyrm made their way back to Tyron’s new temporary crafting area. As soon as they were there, metallic fire began flowing around the wyrm and covered it in an enormous sphere.

“You don’t waste any time, do you?” Derek asked Tyron. That was the sign that he had formed a bond with the beast.

“No reason to put it off if it’s going to happen,” Tyron said. “The sooner, the better.”

Then they waited around. Derek watched as Tyron continued to place things around his camp, getting everything set up perfectly for the crafting that was to come. Avery and Lyra flew off to play, and Edgar came back to let them know that he had taken care of everything. Even if he wasn’t sure they all bought it. He had told them that Lyra and Blitz had sparred, and Blitz had gone a little overboard.

The fact that they had met the wyvern personally now made it more easy to accept the explanation. Everyone with Telepathy had been introduced to the wyvern.

Six hours later and the wyrm’s shell broke, allowing it to fall to the ground. The formerly moss covered wingless, limbless dragon, now shown in a dark metallic gray with orange veins running throughout its body… its extremely small body.

Derek did a double take. The wyrm was maybe five feet long and a foot tall and wide. How had the wyrm evolved into such a little thing? Its evolution was the exact opposite of Lyra’s.

He looked questioningly over at Tyron, who was already beside the beast, nodding. The giant smith obviously wasn’t disappointed in the outcome. Finally, Tyron cracked a smile. “Rocky has the same qualities as my bound hammer. He can change his size as needed, provided he uses enough mana.”

Everything then clicked for Derek. That was a great ability for the wyrm to have. “I guess we won’t have any problem hiding him, then.”

“Nope,” Tyron agreed.

“So, did his rarity change to legendary? Did you get the Achievement that Avery did? You don’t have to answer me if you don’t want to,” Derek quickly added.

Tyron furrowed his brows and frowned. “Of course he became a legendary wyrm. That’s what happens when a beast bonds with a person with a legendary class.”

Derek opened his mouth to speak a few times, but nothing came out. Tyron just admitted that he had a legendary class. Of course, he did. He was a crafting class with more fighting power than almost anybody. He should have guessed.

“That’s good. Does he need a Telepathy scroll?” Derek easily accepted what he just learned.

“I’m going to get to know him more first, then I’ll give him one myself,” Tyron answered.

“Good deal,” Derek said. “Well, good luck with everything. I’ve got some things to do.” He needed to go prepare to level up. He would be upgrading his class for the last time and he didn’t want to take any chances.

“Alright. I’ll let you know when I need you for your glaive,” Tyron said. “I’ll need you to channel your element into it while I’m crafting it so it will be attuned to you and able to withstand your skills better.”

“Sounds good.” With that, Derek left to go find some privacy. It was time to level up.