System Change

“Recipes, ingredients, and opposable thumbs?” Dave questioned with a laugh. “I think I can do something about those first two requests, but that last one’s a bit… much. There are some transformation skills—none of which I have—that could grant you opposable thumbs for a certain amount of time, but I can’t seem to recall any turning a beast into a human or human-like being.

“You’d most likely be turning into a different beast that happens to have thumbs, and I can’t imagine that transformation from your current form being easy or painless. Besides, if you truly wanted changes with your current self, then your evolution—the one assisted by the Origin System—would have helped build you a body that matches your ideal form. Instead, it helped you move away from pure void into a hybrid crafting class, and it even changed your race, but your form barely changed at all,” the man explained.

Derek took it all in. This ‘Dave’ was extremely knowledgeable and much too generous. He had taken the time to explain some things that had been plaguing Derek since he arrived in this world… actually, even before that. He’d answered questions he’d had ever since the system first came to Earth. And now, he was even going out of his way to help Silvi—if she was even paying attention to his explanation—it didn’t look like she care much about what he’d been saying. So, while he would receive the items he’d been given, he was still waiting for the other shoe to drop.

“Then ingredients and recipes!” Silvi said, seemingly not too upset about his explanation.

If Derek were to be honest, he preferred Silvi the way she was. If she wanted to change that, it would be fine, but he just couldn’t imagine her being some type of bunny girl or—heaven forbid—some transformed bunny ape just so she could obtain a pair of opposable thumbs. How would that even work? Would she be considered some beast chimera if she transformed like that?

“Recipes and ingredients I can do,” Dave said, drawing Derek’s attention back in.

The fact that he planned on giving Silvi any rewards at all was interesting. That was one of the upsides and the drawbacks that he’d always known about their bond—they count as one person in a dungeon, but at the same time, they only get rewarded as one.

“For recipes, there are a few that I can think of which you may find interesting,” Dave said. “One is for your precious Void Beasts. With it, you will be able to squeeze more out of the prepared meals than some of the other recipes floating around on this planet. It may not be very helpful to you currently, but it could end up being very handy in the future.

“There are two others which are personal favorites of mine. I’ll have to change some things around so they work with the materials you currently have access to—the benefits may be dramatically reduced, but the taste should still be quite good.”

With that, instead of taking out a scroll or something, Dave brought out some paper and a writing utensil. In seconds, he wrote down some recipes on the paper, then handed them off to Silvi. “Here you go. As a chef, I’m sure you can change the recipes to suit your own taste. They are yours to do with as you wish. As for ingredients, I believe you won’t have any problems finding base ingredients such as meats and the like, so I have some seasonings that could work. It’s best to use them sparingly. Too much can ruin a dish and may even cause harm.”

Two small containers full of spices appeared in the man’s hand. The first container had a flaky red-colored spice or herb in it, reminding Derek of some of the crushed red peppers he’d always enjoyed, but a bit more slivery than crushed. The other container contained something he really couldn’t compare with anything he could remember. It was an extremely fine green powder—like if garlic powder or even cinnamon powder was green.

As soon as the man’s grip loosened on the two containers, they both quickly floated up and swiftly moved in front of Silvi’s eyes. After a short time, it seemed Silvi figured out how the container’s worked, as part of the top of the green powder opened, and she brought it to her nose. She took in a deep breath, then released it happily before storing the powder.

Next, the same thing happened with the container with the red spice, but, when she took a sniff of it, she began uncontrollably sneezing and went into a coughing fit. A short amount of time later, Silvi nodded and stored the spice, much to Derek and Dave’s amusement.

With a laugh, Dave said, “I should also warn you not to serve any meals created with those two spices to anyone who hasn’t broken through the proper thresholds. They are both quite extreme. The first is zest from a Pyroburst Plant. If you really want a spicy kick to a dish, a dash will go a long way, even for an extreme quantity of food. Keep it away from anyone who has yet to break through the third threshold in endurance. The other is Sylvan Leaf Powder, extracted from a type of mystical tree that many elven races consider sacred. Be careful not to let anyone under the third threshold in wisdom get hold of it.

“The powder will give any recipe a light earthy flavor with subtle floral undertones, while also having significant calming effect. It’s a very refreshing spice, especially after a heavily seasoned meal, and can even help improve one’s gains in mental skills for a time, depending on the recipe used. Again, use sparingly and avoid giving to weaker people,” Dave finished explaining. Then, after tinkering with a storage ring that appeared out of nowhere, he tossed it in Silvi’s direction, too. “There’s nothing special in there—just basic seasonings that you would easily be able to obtain in this system. I figure since you somehow ruined your own because of that skill you used, you’d like some more.”

Silvi took the ring with her telekinesis and in moments, it was in one of her pockets with the other storage rings she kept on her person. After the ring was stored, Silvi ducked back down and happily finished the last bite of a pastry that had been presented to her earlier, along with everything else, with tears in her eyes from the Pyroburst zest.

“For the final gift I give to you,” Dave smiled. “I will allow all those dungeon monsters out of your separate space and into the overworld this one time, and one time only. Dungeon monsters should stay in dungeons unless bound or contracted.”

“Oh…” Derek said smartly. He wasn’t sure if he would be able to take the beasts out of his Time Prison before, but now he knew. Though, I guess I could just have someone go in to tame one with the door open…if it would work like that. “How does that work, anyway? I’ve tried some experimenting with my Time Prison skill.”

“Don’t we know it?” Dave rolled his eyes. “You can take anyone into a dungeon and let them out as long as the participant limit hasn’t been met and they are of proper level for the dungeon. Dungeon monsters are monsters spawned only for dungeons, and unless nobody has allowed the essence to recycle, and it’s just built up for ages causing an overflow, they should and will stay in dungeons. Contracting a beast completely stops its growth and bonding creates an essence link, which you know.”

Well, that answers those questions. Clay must have counted towards the participant list. The Void Beast wasn’t part of a system, and the maximum participants had already been reached and I couldn’t let Bones out, even if some of those participants had died.

“Speaking of which,” Dave continued. “I commend you on keeping your ties to your bond even while going through such an evolution. The extra essence it’s going to cost the two of you will be much greater the stronger you grow, but I do like seeing that loyalty. You two are on slightly different affinity paths, and those are still individual, so your bond won’t hurt that—it may even help it.”

“Thanks?” Derek said, unsure. “We’re in this together.”

“That’s good. Keep it that way. Making someone you can have absolute faith in is not an easy thing to do, especially in the System Universe. Some may live thousands of years only to have ‘friends’ who will discard them at the drop of a hat just for a small boost in their own power, and few choose to accept the responsibility that comes with a proper beast bond. Remember that.”

“I will,” Derek said firmly. He couldn’t say it about anyone else, but because of the bond he and Silvi shared—even though she was a selfish, gluttonous bunny—he knew she’d have his back no matter what. Some of that may be directly from the bond, but he could also get a general sense of her feelings toward him, and they were the same he shared about her. Everyone else may leave, but she would stay. And even if they were apart for years at a time, those feelings and bonds wouldn’t change.

“Though I imagine essence—or level—growth will be the least of your problems in the future. That’s the easy part for everyone. Affinity is the problem.” Dave gave Derek a knowing look, but Derek didn’t really get why.

Sure, it seemed that him reaching 50% or even higher in his Affinity seemed to be something impressive. Otherwise, why would this Origin System take so much interest in me? Going as far as to give me a challenge to complete in the process. “What do you mean?” Derek asked.

Dave waved the question off. “You’ll find out sooner or later. For now, it seems that our time has come to an end.” With a swipe of his hand, everything other than where Derek and Silvi were sitting disappeared. “Much longer and your raid party may find you missing. Now, hurry and learn those two skills before I take them away.”

Derek laughed and injected his mana into each of the two skill scrolls Dave had given him. First Spatial Rend was consumed, then Spatial Collapse. He was excited to try out his new skills, and he also wanted to level up his new Mental Resistance skill as fast as possible—he had the perfect person to go to for help, too.

“Good,” Dave said “Up, up.” The man waved his hand, and both Derek and Silvi raised off their seats, then were gently placed how they were when they came—with Derek standing and Silvi sitting on his shoulder.

Then, before his eyes, everything else in the room disappeared, and Derek and Silvi were left standing there alone—even Dave had disappeared from the room. Derek searched, but there was no sign that anyone was or had ever been in the space with them. Is that it? Derek thought. After all that, that man’s just going to send us back to the party without anything else? He’s just… that kind? What? He felt bad about the Origin System interfering? I don’t buy it.

But soon, Derek didn’t have to think about it anymore. He got his answer.

“Oh, and Mr. Hunt,” the man’s voice called out from nowhere.

“Yeah?” Derek asked, looking up and around, but still not able to find even a trace of Dave.

“One day soon, I’ll need a favor,” the voice said and Derek’s heckles rose.

“Here it comes,” Derek said. “There are no free meals. I knew it was all too good to be true. You even made me use the skill scrolls so I wouldn’t throw them in your face…” he said on the outside, but inwardly, he had already accepted that there was no way he was getting all this information and skills out of the kindness of the man’s heart.

“Don’t be like that. What I ask of you will be beneficial to you, as well as me.” A blinding white light washed over Derek and Silvi as Derek heard the man say one last thing. “I do hope you accept, for both of our sakes.”