System Change

“Calm down, Silvi,” Derek said with a chuckle. “You just joined at the end of the dungeon when we were about to leave, that’s all. We’re going to do the dungeon multiple times—you’ll be able to get yourself a bunch of poultry.”

“I thought I would make it,” Silvi’s voice chimed out through her communication crystal. “Even took the cake out a little early. It’s very moist now, but still good.”

“You still have plenty of poultry to gather, Miss Silvi,” Alanah said from the side. Then, with a flick of her wrist, a few ingredients appeared in her hand—around her, her two Deathsworn did the same and ingredients appeared from them, too. “Plus, we have decided that you will get whatever ingredient rewards we receive from completing this dungeon.” She tossed the ingredients to the now not sulking bunny, and Silvi caught them before they even got close to the ground. The same happened with Alanah’s Deathsworn.

“Well then, what are we standing around for?” Silvi asked in excitement. “Go, go!”

“Very well,” Alanah chuckled before placing her hand on the dungeon orb again. Soon after, the group was taken out of the dungeon and back to the open world.

When the blinding light disappeared, Derek saw that all the other Deathsworn had arrived while they were completing the dungeon. Alanah made to reach out to touch the orb again, but Derek interjected.

“One second,” he said, then turned to his companion. “Silvi, do you see our level on your stat sheet?” he asked.

“Yes,” Silvi replied. “What about it?”

“I want you to be very careful when choosing which beasts to kill,” he began to explain. “We don’t have many levels until we get to 250. So, since it’s unfair to you for me to only level my skills quickly, I want you to do so too. So, you can kill until you get to level 245, okay?”

“It’s not unfair,” Silvi countered. “I have cooking skills. They level with cooking, but I don’t gain experience with cooking like the mani… Brandi does with crafting. It’s perfect! Can use most cooking skills in battle, too. Like Chop!”“Well, you still have to level your Cook What You Kill and your resistance skills in battle, so it’s all the same,” Derek said.

“So, I have three levels to earn?” Silvi asked for clarification.

“Yup,” Derek replied.

“Kay!” Silvi hopped up to sit on Derek’s shoulder. She was very excited. “I’m going to find and kill the biggest, most juiciest birds in the dungeon. Then I’m going to use those birds and bake, fry, roast, braise, poach, grill, smoke, and whatever other cooking technique I can think of to do with them. They will be delicious!”

“I hope you are kind enough to share with us,” Alanah said to the bunny.

“Of course!” Silvi replied. “I am a kind bunny! Even fought those people without killing them, remember? All I had to do was chop and explode small parts of them.”

“Yeah…” Derek muttered. “Very kind…” honestly, he couldn’t say much about what she did. Those people may have suffered quite a bit, but, in the end, each one of them made it out whole because she ‘only’ exploded them a little.

“Mhm.” Silvi nodded in agreement. “I wonder what ingredients we will be rewarded that will pair well with the juicy birds. Can’t wait! Let’s goooo! Hurry!”

“Very well,” Alanah replied, then stuck her hand on the dungeon orb. Soon after, they were standing in the safe zone again.

Derek did notice that the previous two Deathsworn were replaced with different ones. Is it because they have a 100% chance to get the reward at the end of the dungeon? He wondered. That has to be it.

“Okay, Silvi,” Alanah began. “I’m going to hit all the beasts with one of my skills. The Deathsworn beside you is going to stun them all with a blast of light, and the one standing beside Derek is going to buff you. That way, you will have to split any experience you earn four ways—even though we cannot actually earn experience anymore. Do you understand?”

“That means I will be able to gather more juicy birds?” Silvi asked with a sparkle in her eyes.

“Exactly!” Alanah replied with a nod.

“Thank you!” Silvi replied with genuine gratitude. “I knew the beautiful, delicious restaurant owner lady was kind! You have to be kind when you can make so much good food for everyone to enjoy!”

Alanah covered her mouth and chuckled a bit. Derek even thought he may have seen a slight blush fall over her face. “I do not believe anyone has ever called me kind with such sincerity before,” she replied. “Okay,” the siren continued. “Are you ready to go gather your juicy chicken?”

Instantly, a pot lid appeared, floating in the air before them. Silvi hopped off of Derek’s shoulder and onto it, then zoomed around the safe room a couple of times. “Ready!” her voice chimed.

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“Let’s do it!” Alanah opened the door and stepped out. As soon as she did, the dozens of bird-like beasts spawned.

Silvi flew high into the sky and over the crowd of beasts. She adeptly dodged an incoming eagle-like beast and continued on with it chasing her.

‘Alanah is about to use a skill that causes beasts to go mad,’ Derek sent to his companion via their bond. ‘I don’t think it will affect you very much because you are no longer a senseless beast, but just be prepared,’ he warned.

‘Okay!’ Silvi replied. ‘Have the Mental Resistance skill I need to level. Will be good for me.’

‘Just be careful,’ Derek sent back. After that, he watched the beasts. Soon enough, Alanah drew her rapier, transformed, then used the skill. His eyes stayed on Silvi the whole time. His heart almost dropped as the bunny stalled in the air, and her pot lid flickered a few times. He let out a sigh of relief once it stabilized, and she continued on. His own ears were ringing, so he could only imagine what her’s would be doing. ‘Probably the same? Maybe…’

‘Woah!’ Silvi’s voice chimed in Derek’s head once the skill was finished. ‘That was weird. I wanted to go kill all the birds for a second,’ she said. ‘Woah! Look! My Mental Resistance is at level 7 already.’

Derek did quickly pull up Silvi’s status sheet to see, and sure enough, her skill had grown tremendously with the use of one skill from Alanah. ‘Good!’ Derek replied. ‘It’s a skill you definitely need to level up as soon as possible.’ Then, he added, ‘Have you found your targets?’

‘Yes,’ Silvi replied. ‘Don’t want any of those skinny birds. Or the big muscled ones. There are a few with the perfect combination of meat and fat. Will be juicy and delicious—I can already tell.’

‘Great!’ Derek said. ‘Do you have any of those skill experience potions?’ he asked.

‘A couple,’ Silvi said.

‘Take one,’ Derek replied. ‘If you run out, I still have some left. I ended up not using them all when I was leveling my own skills earlier.’

‘Okay!’ Silvi said. Then Derek saw a potion float out in front of her while she was circling around the group of avian beasts. It tilted, then the liquid poured out of the vial and into Silvi’s mouth. ‘Yuck! Need to add more flavor. Anything you eat or drink should be tasty. Hate potions.’

Derek inwardly shrugged, but didn’t reply. Silvi was right, though. None of the potions really tasted very good. Some were better than others, but for the most part, they didn’t have much of a taste at all. He wondered if potions that tasted good would sell better than regular potions. I really don’t think that person who is bleeding out in battle cares whether the potion tastes like ass or candy—as long as it keeps them alive.

“Here we go!” From the side, Alanah yelled out—actually, she yelled so loud that Derek was sure that Silvi heard her from up high. Almost as soon as her yell ended, a blinding flash fell over the gathering of birds.

Derek hadn’t been paying attention, but at some point, the elven Deathsworn with light magic had appeared in the center of the beasts, just above them. The light explosion made Derek wince and look away—his eyes felt like they were on fire with just the brief instant he saw the light. He quickly regained his sight and looked up at Silvi. She was a little wobbly, but otherwise looked fine. Even more so when she sent him a message.

‘Magic Resistance went up! These are some nice people. Should go do dungeon with you more often,’ Silvi said. ‘I need to get a mobile kitchen. Like that big guy with the worm and his maniac crafting station.’

Are all blacksmiths considered maniacs now? Derek couldn’t help but wonder as he saw the second Deathsworn jump into the air and make his way toward Silvi. ‘I’ll look into it,’ Derek send to his companion. ‘I’m sure it can all be done with the proper runes… for a price. And money is no problem…’ he said. ‘Tell you what. When you get back, tell Malorie to look into getting a full kitchen setup that you can keep on you person at all times. Or, we could set up a big kitchen in my Time Prison.’

‘Have her go to Geoffrey and see what he can do. Or, you can. He may be even more receptive if it’s you that asks. You can even take him a nice meal or cake or something. If he can’t do it, I’m sure he knows someone who can. And if you don’t want to, I will the next time I pop in to give Brandi more materials,’ Derek finished. ‘Sound good?’

‘Great! Can level skill and cook at same time!’ she sent back. ‘Will still cook in home kitchen some. Someone needs to protect mani… Brandi and beautiful delicious cookie stealing lady.’

‘If you want,’ Derek said. ‘I’m sure there isn’t much need for protection now that all the war is over.’

‘Mhm,’ Silvi sent back, but didn’t say anything else. Soon after, the Deathsworn made it close enough to Silvi, and held out his hand. Instantly, a yellow light fell over Derek’s companion—the man had hit her with what looked like a stamina or speed buff.

‘Looks like you’re up,’ Derek sent. He didn’t need to tell his friend twice. Silvi rocketed off on her pot lid and swooped down toward one of the fatter chicken-like birds. As soon as she got close, a spiral of purple void formed on her horn and gathered at the tip. The next second, a Void Lightning Bolt shot out and collided with the chicken’s head. The chicken twitched for a moment, then looked around almost in confusion.

Then, the chicken-like beast began spasming as Derek received the kill notification from Silvi’s kill. Surprisingly—or not—the chicken-like beast ran around for a moment after the notification until it finally fell. Derek didn’t see much more, as Silvi swooped in and stored the beast in her storage ring as soon as she could. She obviously didn’t want anything to happen to her kills.

That was the reason that she had so meticulously used Void Lightning Bolt on the bird. That skill of hers—which was much more powerful when she used it than when Derek did because of the level 10 cap on shared skills—was the best skill she could use to kill without causing much physical damage to anything. This was especially true if it was used on the brain. And the brain was the perfect part for Silvi to hit because it didn’t have any ‘tasty, juicy meat.’

Once the first avian beast was slaughtered, more began dropping from Void Lightning Bolts until, eventually, Silvi circled back and floated between Derek and Alanah. “All done!” Silvi said from her crystal. “You can kill rest. Don’t want them. Meat would be too tough or unflavorful. Will get more next time.”

With that, Alanah stepped forward and disappeared instead of just waiting for her controlling skill to finish the beasts off. It was probably because she wanted to end the fight sooner so Silvi could get back and do it all again before her skill potion wore off. Derek had to agree with Silvi on one thing. Alanah… she was definitely kind… kind, and scary.