System Change

As they rode on the back of Blitz, Edgar kept his communication crystal in hand—he wanted to contact his people as soon as possible, and whatever it was that was disrupting the crystal’s ability to reach the outside was still active even though the duke had been captured. So, whatever it was, it was not Ryven who was controlling it. Derek wondered if the block spanned the entire kingdom or just portions.

Blitz was fast—even faster than Lyra—and it wasn’t long until Edgar smiled and the crystal in his hand lit up. Soon, he put the crystal away and turned to Derek.

“They’re reactivating one of the teleporters in one of our outposts for us. That way, it won’t be hours before we get back,” the young prince explained.

“Sounds good to me,” Derek said. “What about Blitz, though?”

“He knows his way back to the capital. He very much enjoys it there,” Edgar patted a part of Blitz’s neck as he continued. “Blitz is too big for any regular teleporter—especially the one in the capital. He’ll have plenty of fun on his way back. He knows what he should and shouldn’t do. Besides…” Edgar let out a deep sigh. “He’s very good with children—he likes to spin tales of his grand adventures.”

“Oh, yeah…” Derek laughed. “Blitz the Magnificent, right?”

“Yeah…” Edgar rolled his eyes. “Blitz the… Magnificent. Anyway, he won’t cause too much nuisance on his way back to the capital, and it won’t hurt him to get some relaxing fresh air instead of rushing to one battle after another.”

“Yeah,” Derek replied. “It sounds like the boy needs a break.” Everything that Edgar said made total sense to Derek. I may not have actually been that Blitz was dumb, but he may actually just be immature—like a child. He couldn’t help but wonder about how age affected dragonkin. Is there even an age for them since they were basically spawned in a dungeon to fight?

Just more things to think about, Derek thought. Silvi was six years old when we bonded. Now she’s seven, probably almost eight. But she was a beast who lived on the… overworld instead of inside a dungeon. He shrugged. It was hard to tell how mature Silvi actually was. He mostly just chalked her attitude up to just not caring about things she wasn’t excited about. She could be very smart about things, but she was very selective about those things.

As for what maturity level she was at… He’d maybe put her at mid-teen. She was a bit rebellious sometimes—especially after spending too much time with other chefs. Maturity levels are hard to judge in a world with a system. Though, this system unlocks at 13 years old… for humans, at least. I guess the system choosing that age to allow people to shoot fireballs out of their hands is kind of a sign.

Derek glanced up to the back of Blitz’s head where Silvi was still sitting motionlessly and shook his head. I guess I don’t have any room to talk. I may have overdone it with the trash talking earlier… He knew that he wasn’t exactly the most mature person around—especially when fighting sapient creatures. Trash talking just seemed to throw everyone off their game so much that it was a hard habit to stop.

Maybe he could have been less immature when meeting all the nobles and royalty. However, during the early days of the system on Earth, he was able to see firsthand how the majority of those that were powerful enough to establish settlements treated others. So, his expectations when meeting ‘rulers’ or ‘nobles’ was low to begin with, then the first noble he met when he arrived at Cydaria still failed to meet those low expectations.

Still, he was able to find some people who really were good examples of nobles. Well… I guess Alanah and Stella aren’t nobles… But Walter had been decent, even if he may have been too lax on his son, and so far, Natalie Savannah had lived up to her name and title well. Finally, Derek glanced at Edgar. And he should be the one to become king.

“What?” Edgar said. “Do I have something on my face?”

“No,” Derek chuckled. “I was just thinking about how good of a king you’re going to make.”

“You should stop with such slanderous accusations,” Edgar mocked betrayal. “Some people might take offense at such words.”

“Very well, Your Majesty,” Derek bowed.

“Stop that!”

Derek continued to tease Edgar a bit before stopping and waiting for Blitz to get them where they were going.

Close to an hour later, Blitz landed outside an outpost not unlike the one close to the raid dungeon. The wyvern was much too large and too big of a distraction to land inside. Plus, though they should have been informed that Edgar was on his way, there was always the ‘dragon surprise’ that could cause widespread panic when seen swooping down at you.

Everyone got off of Blitz’s back. Derek carried Alanah—this time with just her arm over his shoulder and his over hers. They were at one of the military encampments and Derek wouldn’t disgrace her by picking her up in a princess carry—even if she was still unconscious. Silvi waited for Derek to get everything settled, then hopped on his head, as her normal resting place on his shoulder was already taken.

The wyvern lowered his head to place it beside Edgar. The young prince placed his palm on the wyvern’s cheek and said, “Meet us at the capital. You can take your time—hunt, eat, have a little fun.”

“He could also go help Lyra if he wants,” Derek said, and he could have sworn he saw the large lightning wyvern shudder at the thought. “She’s out controlling the other dragonkin. I’m sure it wouldn’t hurt to have an extra dragon around.”

“Blitz said that he’s tired and thinks he needs a rest for a while, and that it’s definitely not because he’s scared of the mind controlling dragon.” Edgar laughed. “And he’s also not scared of… what? Okay… okay… I won’t say anything.”

Edgar removed his palm from the wyvern’s cheek and Blitz brought his two massive wings down before shooting into the sky. The dust and even some of the surrounding grass blew away with the strength of the gust caused by his wings. The wyvern must have been in a hurry to take a break. Derek watched as the draconic figure grew smaller and smaller in his eyes, until it eventually moved far enough away to disappear altogether.

With Blitz gone and everyone on the ground, Edgar led Derek, Silvi, and the unconscious Alanah to the entrance of the outpost. As Derek suspected, the outpost was very ready to receive them. They didn’t even have to wait at the gate before it opened to let them in. A man in medium plate armor ran and met them as they entered the outpost.

“Prince Edgar!” The man hurriedly bowed before looking at the odd figures that were Derek, Alanah, and Silvi. Still, he bowed at them as well. “Mr. Hunt!”

“At ease,” Edgar said.

“Yes, sir!” The man saluted before standing straight-backed, extremely tense.

Edgar sighed. “I take it you know why we’re here?”

“I do, sir,” the man nodded. “I was instructed to lead you to the teleporter once you arrived. We got a temporary one working about half an hour ago. If you’ll follow me.”

“Good,” Edgar said, and everyone followed behind the soldier stationed at the outpost.

Soon, they were in the middle of the outpost in an open area. What looked like a makeshift version of all the other teleporters that Derek had seen waited for them at the very center. The teleportation circle was about half the size of all the other ones he’d seen. Yeah, there was no way that Blitz would have been able to use this thing.

“This teleporter is good for a single use to the capital. It’s only connected there, and the capital has shut down access to any other teleporters at the moment, so there won’t be any interference. We are ready to activate it at any time, all you need to do is step inside the circle.” The soldier motioned his hand toward the circle.

“Sounds good,” Edgar said. “Are you ready to go?” he asked Derek.

“Any time,” Derek replied.

Finally, Edgar was the first to step over the outer edge of the circle and make his way to the middle. Once he was settled, Derek followed him with Alanah and Silvi, and soon they were all ready.

“Are you ready, Sir?” the soldier asked.

“Go ahead,” Edgar said.

The soldier then called two other people to him, and they all stood around the teleportation circle. Each took a knee and placed their hands on a certain part. I bet Brandi would find all of this interesting—especially with her runesmithing skills.

From the outer edge, the circle began shining the bright blue that indicated pure mana. The light traced the outer edge, then moved inward. Soon, the entire circle and all the runes inside were shining.

“Be safe!” Derek heard the soldier call out before the blue light engulfed them all and they were gone.

The time it took for them to teleport from where they were to the capital took a little longer than any of the other ones he’d ever used. Usually, the teleportation was instant. This time, Derek was able to feel a little time pass while they were between places. It was an odd feeling, but still not as odd as being stuck inside the void with no way out.

Luckily, the time between teleportation circles only lasted a handful of seconds before they appeared on the one inside the capital’s teleportation building. The arrival was actually a little jarring—like the feeling one would get when a roller-coaster begins its descent. I thought I was over things like that, Derek thought with a smile.

Sometimes, it was nice to know that the system didn’t completely take away some of the old sensations he used to feel. I guess it’s kind of like Tyron with heights… or is it because he’s not connected with the ground? Derek shrugged and focused on his surroundings.

“Umph.” Derek heard a grunt as he looked around the building. His eyes soon locked onto Alanah, who was in the process of slowly opening her own. “What was that?”

“We’re in the capital,” Derek said. “Just used a temporary teleportation circle to get here.”

Soon, Alanah regained her bearing and removed her arm from Derek’s. She stumbled a little and Derek caught her, but quickly got her balance, leading to Derek letting go, and she soon carried herself like usual. “Thanks for taking care of me while I was out,” she said.

“No problem,” Derek replied. “It was only a couple of hours, and most of that time was spent on Blitz’s back.”

“I guess they didn’t have enough mana to make the teleport smooth?” Alanah asked to nobody. “I haven’t used a teleporter like that in quite some time.”

“No,” Edgar said. “There were only three of them using their own mana for it. Just a bit more than enough to make using the temporary teleport circle safe.”

“That’s fine.” Alanah nodded. “At least it woke me up. A couple of hours isn’t bad. I haven’t exerted myself that much since the fight in Savannah. And it took much longer for me to regain my consciousness after that. It seems I’m getting more and more proficient in using that ungodly form.”

“I was going to ask you about that,” Derek said.

“Later,” Alanah replied. “I need to talk to you, anyway. Once this idiotic war is over, we’ll talk.”

“Sounds good,” Derek said.

“Let’s go,” Edgar said. “To the palace. Time to figure out the best way to end this.”