System Change

Derek took a few steps backward to give Brandi more room to work with, and Jacks and Malorie did the same. Derek was actually excited to see what kind of progress Brandi had made in her smithing, and what better way to show it than watching her test out a pair of rocket boots?

“Okay everyone. Here I go,” Brandi said as she let out a big exhale. “In three… two… one…”

Derek watched the young smith’s feet closely as she counted down to launch. Right after she said ‘one’, he saw the core in the heel of the boot glow red, then watched as it sent mana into the runes at an almost imperceptible rate. He was barely able to make it out as the rune on the front lit up brighter than all the others. That doesn’t seem right he had just enough time to think before the explosion happened.

In utter fascination, Derek watched as the toes of Brandi’s boots exploded out with fire. The result of the explosion? Brandi’s head crashing into the ground as he feet were exploded out from under her.

“Brandi!” Malorie called out as she ran for her daughter, who was in the process of pushing herself up from the ground.

“Whoo—” she started to speak, but was unable to complete the words as her mouth was full of dirt. After spitting a few times and then wiping away most of the remaining dirt, she continued. “Whoops!” she said as she heaved herself back up to her feet. “They may be a little harder to control than I initially thought.”

“Are you all right?” Malorie finally reached her daughter and began examining her for injuries. “Stay still!” Mal half-shouted as Brandi tried her best to pull away from her protective mother.

“Mom… stooooop,” Brandi pleaded. “I’m fine. See?” Malorie finally backed a step away and Brandi did a little spin to show that she was uninjured.

“Don’t do stuff like that!” Malorie huffed. “You should have listened to Derek and let somebody else test those things. They are dangerous! Take them off, now!”

“Nooo!” Brandi whined.

“Haha,” Derek chuckled out loud. Sometimes he could forget that Brandi was only a young teenager, and seeing this reaction between mother and daughter was truly priceless. Wait… she’s 14 now, isn’t she? He thought. Looks like I missed a bunch of birthdays while I was gone—I wasn’t even thinking about that.

“What are you laughing at?” Malorie turned her attention to Derek. “You’re just as much to blame as she is. You shouldn’t encourage her so much. See what happens?”

Again, Derek couldn’t help himself and burst out laughing. After a few moments of uncontrollable laughter, he got a hold of himself and said something that should never be said to an angry mother. “Calm down…” he caught it just as it came out of his mouth.

“Calm down? You want me to calm down? My daughter almost died and you want me to be calm?” Her face was red in anger.

“Just look at her,” Derek said once she finished berating him. He was still having trouble holding back his laughter. “She has enough stats in her endurance that she doesn’t even have a scratch, can’t you see?” Of course, Brandi had received a small injury. In fact, it looked like with the way she landed and the force of the pulse from the rocket boots, she had even dislocated her pinky.

But, while Malorie was rushing over to her in worry, Derek had seen the girl pop it back in place without even a wince before her mother arrived. He also had the feeling that Brandi was using a Greater Meditation skill that may have been higher level than his own. Just how many mishaps has this girl had in the basement?

“Well…” Malorie finally showed signs of calming down.

“Yeah mom,” Brandi said. “And my vitality is good enough that even if I had lost some health points, I would have already been regenerated by now.”

“And don’t forget that I’m here,” Derek said. “If she was actually in any danger, I would have…” For the first time in a long time, Derek slipped into Void Shift to demonstrate his power. He’d actually missed doing it. He stopped the skill when he was standing directly behind Brandi and continued speaking without even a delay. “Stopped it.”

“That’s always terrifying,” Jacks finally spoke up for the first time since the ‘accident.’

Derek just turned to the former Captain and mouth, ‘I know.’

“Well… fine,” Malorie finally acquiesced. “But she shouldn’t be the one testing those things.”

Derek moved to beside Brandi and bent down, examining the runes again. “I don’t know much about them, but by the look of those runes, I figured it wasn’t going to be as easy as you were thinking. There’s just too many of them.”

“I’ll get the hang of it,” Brand said.

“Here, how about this?” Derek began. “Why don’t I take you into the air, then you can practice with them while I make sure you don’t fall or hurt yourself? How does that sound?”

Brandi looked a little defiant, but when her eyes met Malorie’s, she sighed. “Fine. We can do that.”

“Great,” Derek said. “Are you ready to go, or do you still need some time?”

“I’m ready,” she replied.

“Alright.” Derek grabbed Brandi’s shoulders, then leaped into the air before using Void Steps to stay afloat. “How is this?” he asked.

“This is good,” she said.

“Good… you’re good to go, then.”

With the go ahead, Brand went completely still. Soon, an explosion rang out from the boot, and Derek decided he didn’t want to accidentally destroy another pair of clothing, so with a twitch of his hand, his armor—which was still in need of repair from before—appeared on his body. I’m going to have to get some regular clothes made of some high-quality material. Well… even if she did destroy some, she’s the one that makes it anyway, he thought.

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No longer having to worry about his clothing, Derek paid attention to everything Brandi was doing with her new boots. As the runes caused explosions, Derek let the momentum generated by them guide the way he was holding Brandi—if she caused an explosion on the right side of the right boot, he allowed the force to turn Brandi’s body to lessen any possible damage from the force that may occur.

“I think… I’m… getting it…” Brandi muttered as she continued on. Soon, the explosions lessened until, finally, they stopped. “Okay…” Brandi breathed out a long breath. “It’s not actually that complicated. I just needed to figure out how best to direct my own mana and the feel of where everything was located.”

“So… do you want to try again without the training wheels?” Derek asked. “Without me holding you, and just making sure you don’t explode yourself directly into the ground?”

Brandi turned her head and looked at Derek behind her. She frowned, looked toward the ground at where Malorie and Jacks were currently standing, then back at Derek, and nodded firmly. “Yes, but can you take us higher?”

“So I have more time to catch you if you fall?” Derek asked with a laugh.

“No,” Brandi said. “You could catch me easily from anywhere with that skill Jacks said was scary. I just want it to be harder for mom to make out what’s happening while I try to get the hang of it.”

“Fine, but we’ll say it’s because I wanted to have more time to catch you if something happened,” Derek said.

“Okay,” she replied.

Am I a bad influence? He mentally asked himself as he kicked off a void ripple and launched them even higher into the air. “Is this good?” he asked.

“A little higher,” Brandi said after looking down again, and Derek jumped.

“What about now?” he asked.

“This is fine,” she said.

“Okay,” Derek said. “As soon as the first explosion happens, I’ll let go and you’re on your own.”

Brandi nodded, then she started. Soon, Derek felt the explosion, and he released the girl’s shoulders. Derek let himself fall a short distance, then kicked back to get a better angle to watch. From there, he was able to see everything.

The young smith was unstable for the first few bursts. But after a couple minutes, she got used to using the boots with the ‘training wheels.’ Derek smiled as he saw her face go from one of complete and utter concentration to pure joy as the boots became easier and easier for her to use. Finally, she looked down and their eyes met.

Brandi stopped using the boots and went into a free fall until she was level with Derek, then used the explosions to right herself and maintain her altitude. “This is awesome!” she shouted to him.

“It seems fun,” Derek said with a chuckle. She seemed like him when he was first learning to use his Void Steps. He had gone stupid with the testing and ended up running out of juice while high in the air. That was the moment that he learned that his body would not have a problem crashing into the ground at terminal velocity on this planet. The only problem he’d ended up with was having to dig himself out of the mud.

“I’m going back down to reassure Mal now,” he told the girl, and she nodded, but didn’t make to follow. Derek canceled his Void Steps skill and fell—reactivating it just before he hit the ground. The girl had him thinking about trying for a more successful superhero landing than the first time he’d done it, but there were people around and he didn’t want to embarrass himself if it didn’t go well again.

“She’s a quick learner,” Derek said as he made his way to Jacks and Malorie.

“She is my daughter, after all,” Malorie snorted—still not completely over her worry as she clutched her fist every time the girl looked like she was trying something dangerous.

“Those boots look like they work almost identically to my own skill,” Jacks said as he continued to watch the girl bounce around in the sky.

“They look that way, but they a most likely a lot more limited than your skill,” Derek replied.

“Still…” Jacks said. “People would pay a fortune for a pair of boots like that.”

“I bet,” Derek agreed. “It would be nice if we could find a good team at the right level to go out and farm more of those cores. I brought a ton back for her to use as material, but it’s a finite amount.”

“That’s unfortunate,” Jacks said. “But you were the only person to be able to bring them back for a reason. Those golems aren’t easy to beat to begin with, but having to beat them in a special way would make it impossible for some, if not most, teams.”

“I know,” Derek said. “Maybe I can talk to Edgar and Edward about it and they can put a team together for it. They would readily do it if it meant equipping the kingdom’s army with a way for everyone to battle or even train against people in the air.”

“Derek!” Malorie shouted, causing Derek to turn his attention back up to Brandi, who was flailing about—her boots only sputtering. “What’s wrong?”

“Looks like her boots are out of mana,” he replied calmly. “Or she may just be tired.”

“Well… do something!”

“It’s fine,” he said. “I’ll catch her before she hits the ground. This is good experience for her.”

Malorie frowned, but said nothing more. It turned out that Derek was absolutely correct and Brandi was able to use the small sputterings from the boots to slowly guide herself to the ground.

“Whew…” Brandi wiped at the sweat from her forehead when she reached them. “I’m going to have to make them more efficient—which I think I can do.”

“But other than that?” Derek asked.

“Other than that.” Brandi grinned widely. “They are a great success!”

“Congratulations on the working pair of rocket boots, boost boots, or whatever you plan to call them,” Derek replied.

“Thank you! They are awesome!” Brandi said.

“Now, how about testing out that new skill?” Derek asked.

“Can I?” the young smith’s eyes went wide.

“Of course,” Derek replied. “It’s one of the reasons I brought you so far out here.”

“New skill?” Malorie questioned. “What new skill?” Jacks’s interest was also piqued, as he raised an eyebrow in question.

“You’ll see,” Derek said, then turned to Brandi. “Okay, I’m going to go over there, then you try to use both skills at the same time on me.”

“On you?” Brandi asked, concern in her voice. “I don’t think I want…”

“It will be fine,” Derek replied, brushing off her concerns. “I’m much stronger than you think, and I’m sure you already think I’m pretty strong.”

“O-okay…” Brandi finally said.

After that, Derek moved away from the group—far enough so the skill would only reach him. That was… if it was anything like Tyron’s skill. “Okay!” Derek shouted. “I’m ready.”

“Here I go!” Brandi shouted back.

Soon, a shadow appeared above them and it seemed like transparent metals were all pulled into a single spot. Not long after, the metals formed into the shape of a massive anvil directly above Derek’s head. It looked to be around the size of a school bus. Derek gulped at it. Maybe she shouldn’t try using it with Multi-Strike.

The Anvil had an illusory bluish purple spectral glow to it. Then, without warning, the anvil fell. Derek raised his arms to guard himself as the skill hit him. The anvil crashed into him and lightly jarred his body—his least favorite type of damage to take was always blunt damage, and that’s exactly what the anvil was. Fortunately, he hadn’t underestimated his own body one bit.

Just after he felt the first impact, he was hit with another—confirming in his mind that Brandi was actually able to combine her two new skills together. Derek smiled as the anvil—or anvils—bared down on him. He held the skill above him with his arms crossed until they finally faded out of existence.

“Derek!” he heard Brandi’s voice sound out and draw closer.

He turned to look at her, then realized that he couldn’t actually see her because he just happened to be standing in the center of a bus sized crater. Jacks reached the edge of the crater first, as he was the fastest, then Derek saw Brandi’s and Malorie’s faces appear—tears coming out of the young girl’s eyes and worry in her mother’s.

Derek quickly shifted into the void, then appeared right beside her. He placed his hand on her hair and ruffled it up a bit. “Didn’t I tell you that I would be fine?”

“I don’t know how…” Jacks was the first to replied. “That skill…”

“It’s a pretty good skill, right?” Derek asked with a smile as Brandi calmed down.

“You’re really fine?” the girl asked. “Really?”

“There’s not a scratch on me,” Derek said, then spun around like Brandi had for her mother before. “Didn’t even cause a dent in my armor.”

“Whew…” Brandi let out a big sigh. “So, the skill is good?” she finally asked.

“That’s what I said,” Derek replied. “It takes a little too much time to activate, but the damage it will cause once you’re higher level will be devastating. I don’t think I’d want to be hit by it once you reach level 200.”

“I wouldn’t want to be hit by it now,” Jacks replied with a laugh. “And I thought one monster was bad enough…”