System Change

“We are waiting for nothing,” Derek said. “Silvi is going to join us at some point, but we aren’t going to wait for her. Do you two know the plan?”

“The plan?” Edgar asked.

“Aren’t we just hunting Void Beasts? Isn’t that the plan?” Avery asked.

“Yes, and no,” Derek said. “I hope you two don’t have anything going on anytime soon, because my plan is to do this until my skill grows well, and until we have enough Void Beasts that will let you increase everyone’s stats enough to unlock that first requirement.”

“And… who is everyone?” Edgar asked, and beside him, Derek could tell that Avery was thinking the same thing.

“For starters,” Derek said. “The two of you. Even though you already have the requirement, I’m sure there is still room to grow.” He then looked directly at Avery. “For you, I would say… your three trainees and Stella. And maybe even something extra in case.” Then he looked at Edgar. “For you… your siblings maybe… maybe Vanessa.” Derek smiled and winked.

“Doubtful,” Edgar said. Then he tilted his head and rubbed his chin. “But not impossible.”

“That’s the spirit,” Derek said. “Then I’d say at least enough to raise up another dozen or so people. Rayna and Jacks have their kids, and Jacks has a son of his own. I have some people who may need it… yeah… ten or so more will work. Though, I guess there is no way to tell how much one will actually need to get the most out of it.”

“I can probably estimate,” Avery said. “I’ve been around those meals my entire life and have consumed quite a lot of them.”

“Good,” Derek said with a nod.“You’re doing this because you’re preparing to leave… aren’t you?” Edgar asked.

“Like Alanah,” Avery said.

“Exactly,” Derek said. “If I have to leave anybody behind, I want them well taken care of. And I trust the two of you to do that.”

“I will see that it’s done,” Edgar said. “Even if I advance myself, I will be sure to make the proper plans first.”

“I will do the same,” Avery replied.

“Great!” Derek said. “It’s good to have some people to rely on.” Especially after having nobody to rely on but myself for such a long time, he thought, but didn’t say. “Now, let’s get to it.” Derek took a deep breath in, then released it. Both Avery and Edgar drew their weapons, and they both got that gleam in their eyes showing that they were ready for a good fight. Though Edgar’s wasn’t quite as strong as Avery’s, as the archer’s came with a sort of maniacal grin as well.

Derek felt the void building up in his body, then, when he felt like he was about to explode, he released it into the sky. The beam of pure void energy shot out—straight into the sky. It lasted quite a while before it dissipated.

“It’s a lot more interesting seeing it in person,” Avery said. “It really is so flashy.” Derek was sure that Avery and Alanah had talked about his Void Call on more than one occasion. He was her right-hand man, after all. “And now, we just wait, right?” he asked.

“Yup,” Derek said with a nod. “I think that any Void Beast close enough to feel it will begin to head towards it. After that, I guess they sense the concentration of the void energy or something and break out of the void to search for it… or maybe it is to search for me. There is still a lot I don’t know about the skill.”

“Interesting,” Avery said. “So… how long…” he began, but before he was able to ask his question, they all heard a rhythmic thumping sound coming from above. “That answers that question,” Avery said. He then looked at Edgar. “How are we doing this?”

“We can take turns, and if a strong one appears, both attack. How does that sound?” Edgar asked.

“Fine by me,” Avery replied. “We can split everything up later.”

“Sounds good,” Edgar said. “You can go first.”

Avery nodded, then a silver-gray arrow, made entirely out of his own stamina related energy, appeared on his bow, perfectly nocked. The archer stepped forward and aimed up towards where the drumming noise was coming from. The silver-gray energy continued to gather on the tip of his arrowhead and started spinning.

Eventually, a loud crash sounded out from the sky, and pieces of it began to fall. A dark, clawed hand reached through and grabbed at the cracked sky—pulling it all away until it could fit through the opening. The maw of the massive Void Beast appeared as it hunched over and ducked under the exit to leave the void. Then, it fell forward and crashed onto the ground.

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Derek looked over at Avery and saw that the arrow was no longer on his bow. He then looked at the twitching Void Beast on the ground in front of them with blood beginning to pool around its neck and head area. Avery walked forward and reached down, picking the lifeless beast up off the ground. When Derek saw it, he saw a giant hole in the beast’s neck—its head only hanging on by a thread.

Then, the corpse of the beast vanished as the archer stored it in a storage ring. He walked back to Derek and Edgar and said, “There are no vital areas there. Cut its head off or put an arrow through its neck, and you won’t damage any of the organs or any other materials that can be used for the Void Beast meals. Sure, you lose a little blood, but if you store it quick enough, not that much. Besides, blood is what these creatures have the most of… blood and muscle.”

“Good to know,” Edgar said. “It has been a while since I hunted down a Void Beast.” He then looked over to Derek. “So… do we wait for the space above us to heal? Or can you just use your skill again?” The space above him was already healing at a rapid pace, as always, but it was a good question.

“No, we don’t have to wait for it to heal,” Derek said. “In fact, I think if I use my skill while it’s open, it may even attract beasts faster.” After saying that, Derek filled himself with void energy once again and held it tightly until he felt the pressure, then released the Void Call into the sky—just before the final crack healed. The next beast came even quicker than the first.

A near identical scene played out as before. Though, instead of a nearly invisible arrow because it was moving so fast, it was a flash of blue light, then the corpse of the beast on the ground… headless. Edgar had stored its head in his ring before the body even hit the ground, then stored the body too. Maybe a couple ounces of blood remained on the ground.

“That’s how you do it,” Avery said. “Very good.”

“I try,” Edgar said with a smirk.

Derek realized then that the two of them were beginning to think of this as a competition. I’m not sure if I’d even know if another beast like Asher appears. Will it even have time to speak? Derek shrugged the question off and sent another call into the void. Sometimes, the beast appeared and was slaughtered and stored before its body, or even a drop of blood hit the ground.

This went on for a couple of hours before the dreadful aura of their fourth member coming through the void appeared. Silvi hopped out of the portal, closed it, then re-equipped all her items from her void pot used to keep everything safe.

“Did I make it?” Silvi asked as she landed on Derek’s shoulder. “You’re not done yet, right?”

“Not at all,” Derek replied, which caused the bunny’s eyes to light up in happiness. “In fact, we are just getting started.”

“Yay!” Silvi shouted out from her communication crystal around her neck.

“Actually,” Derek said. “These two were just having a competition. It looks like they are seeing who can kill the beasts faster and without damaging any of the possible ingredients and materials that may come off it. I think they are both tied.”

“No,” both Edgar and Avery said at the same time. Then, they both said, “I am winning.” They looked at each other with narrowed eyes.

“I’ll choose who wins in the end,” Derek said. If he had to pick right now, he’d say that Edgar was winning when it came to clean kills, but Avery was a bit faster. It’d be hard to judge.

“I want to play!” Silvi shouted excitedly. “Such good idea. Not damaging the food.”

“Then you can go next,” Avery said.

Silvi hopped on her floating pot lid, then got ready. Derek shook his head with a smile and sent another Void Call into the air. Honestly, he knew that he’d be able to fight and win against a much stronger beast than Avery and Edgar, but he didn’t think he’d be able to hunt them as efficiently as the two of them were. He just didn’t have the skills to do so. Anything with void took time and there was the possibility of damaging organs, and the rest of his skills were actually quite messy.

I guess I could send a Spatial Collapse into the beast’s throat, but that takes a few seconds—nowhere near as fast as Avery and Edgar, he thought as he waited for the crashing sound of the beast to appear. I wonder how Silvi is going to compete.

With those thoughts running through his head, the next Void Beast came. It ripped open the void, then jumped out. As soon as its feet hit the ground, Silvi disappeared. The next instant… its head explode and Silvi cried out, “No! Too weak!”

Ah… I see… she had no plan, Derek thought with a chuckle. A gore covered Silvi stored the body of the beast in her storage, then pouted as she floated back over to Derek and the others.

“Charge doesn’t work…” she said before using her Cleaning skill to remove the blood and… bits of brain from her fur and cloak.

“You’ll have to think of something else, then,” Derek said.

“I’ll figure it out!” Silvi replied.

Then they watched Avery and Edgar smoothly take out the next pair of beasts.

“So fast… no mess…” Silvi said.

“Well… it’s your turn again,” Derek replied. “Do you have an idea?”

“Yes!”

The next beast broke through and a spark of Void Lightning hit it directly in the head. It fell from the sky and was dead before it hit the ground. The kill was fast—not as fast as Avery or Edgar—but it was fast. It seemed clean, too. But Derek knew that there was a good chance that the beast’s brain was mush.

Silvi checked the body, then stored it and floated over to Derek and the others again. She was still sullen. Derek guessed that it was just as he’d feared, and Silvi confirmed it when she got to them.

“Brain is soup…” she said. “Can still cook… but not as good.”

“It’s a start…” Derek said.

After that, they all settled into a rhythm. Avery and Edgar took out their Void Beasts with killer efficiency, and Silvi experimented with trying to get a quick, clean kill. At one point, she was so angry that she used a small amount of Dragon Flame and completely charred the entire body. After that, she was devastated and gave up on keeping up with the two others in speed.

Finally, she settled on a slower, but more clean and brutal way to dismiss the weaker Void Beasts from their lives. She used her Advanced Mage Hands to wrap around their necks and crushed them. On the bright side, her method lost no blood, so she had technically found a way to kill a beast even cleaner than the other two. It just took a few seconds longer.

She’d also tried some of her other skills like Chop or Mince, but they just didn’t cut like Edgar’s skills did. However, Silvi did have one thing going for her that the other two didn’t… her Cook What You Kill skill leveled—though very slowly, and she wasn’t sure how much it would actually help on ingredients gathered from outside the system’s purview. However, it was something that she would no doubt be happy to figure out.