System Change

Derek stood beside the crimson man, looking down on him as he watched the fire wielder recover. Slowly but surely, the man recovered enough to sit up on his own, then even managed to stand upright. Coming back from a Dying State was not pleasant, and Derek couldn’t help but wonder how many times the man before him had done so. Derek himself had to do so on more than one occasion back before getting trapped in the void. Fortunately, since landing in Cydaria, he hadn’t been forced to such straits again.

“So,” Derek said as he watched Kelvin take a deep breath in, then out. Kelvin opened his eyes and shifted them from the ground to Derek. “Are you ready for round two?” Derek asked with a smile.

“No,” Kelvin said. “I don’t think I am.”

“Are you sure?” Derek asked semi-mockingly. “My companion over there hasn’t had a chance to fight yet, and it looks like she’s itching for it. And you don’t have to worry about dying, she’s very gentle. Instead of forcing you into a dying state, she’ll just cut off all four…” Derek looked down at the man’s shin and shrugged. Spatial collapse really did a number on the man. “All three of your remaining limbs.”

Kelvin shifted his gaze to Silvi, who was still just floating around the battlefield. When she saw that his focus was on her, she quickly summoned a couple of cleavers from her Void Creation skill and had them slice through the air a few times. Inwardly, Derek gave Silvi a mental high-five.

The crimson warrior let out an audible gulp, then said, “I think I’ll pass on that, too.”

“Suit yourself,” Derek said. “You should do something about that missing foot, though.”

Kelvin looked down and shrugged. “It’s not the first time I’ve lost a foot… just the first time in a long time.” The man quickly examined his surroundings, then he hobbled over to his separated booted foot. He sat down beside it, picked it up, then butted it up against the bleeding stub at the end of his leg. With them basically connected, he pulled a potion out of his storage bracelet and drank.

Derek watched in fascination as his foot reattached to his leg. He’d thought that since a lot of the meat and bones had been completely destroyed by Spatial Collapse, the man would end up with one leg shorter than the other or something. Attaching a foot that wasn’t a clean cut wasn’t something Derek had seen before. However, the foot attached, and extra flesh and bone replaced what was missing.

I wonder what he’d think if he knew that I don’t even have to bother with any of that, Derek thought. A quick meditation, and I have a perfectly good foot once again.Kelvin stood once again, this time on both feet, and crept his way back to Derek. When he reached him, the man said, “You’re a monster.”

“I try,” Derek said with another shrug.

“I don’t…” The man stopped and sighed. “Your strength really is unbelievable. I can’t even wrap my head around the fact that just a few short years ago, you were living on this planet, taking the newly initiated tutorial. What rank were you back then? Seventh?”

“Something like that,” Derek answered.

“I… would like to hear your story,” Kelvin said.

“Nope,” Derek replied. “Don’t you remember? I was just visiting an old acquaintance, and you decided I needed to die. I don’t think I’m going to be giving you any more information about myself.”

“Fair enough,” Kelvin said. “But, like I said, I did not want to fight. It was a command from a superior.”

“But you listened, and you lost,” Derek said.

“I did,” Kelvin replied. “And now I can go back and say that I tried and failed. Darvin will not punish me for that. However, if I had not tried at all…”

“You’re lucky I was in a good mood today,” Derek snorted.

“It seems that was the case,” Kelvin replied with a sigh. “Now, I do think it would be best if you went on your way now, before Darvin sends any strike teams to assist me.”

“I’m not worried about any strike teams,” Derek said.

“I’m sure you’re not,” Kelvin said. “However, I am worried about them.”

“Well…” Derek said. “I was about to leave anyway.” He waited a few seconds in silence, then said, “But remember what I said before. No harm will come to Silvi or the others.”

“You have my word,” Kelvin said. “Actually…” The man looked into the sky, then placed his fist on his chest. “I swear on my honor and on the system that I will cause no harm to this man’s friends due to their connection with him. I will also do what I can to prevent any actions being taken against them for such a reason.”

Derek watched as the man swore an oath to the system. He didn’t swear it to Derek, but to the system itself. However, even if he had sworn the oath to Derek, he doubted he would have gotten a confirmation or anything. He preferred it that way, anyway. If what he suspected was correct, an oath directly to the system was something that he wouldn’t be able to take back—it wouldn’t go away if Derek died.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

“And, just so you know,” Derek said, “they don’t know anything more about me than you do… well… other than the fact that my companion over there and I occasionally hunt dragonkin—which you definitely guessed from the fact that you knew what my armor was made from. Anything important about me… I did not tell. I’m not stupid.”

Of course, the only things he deemed important about himself at the moment were the fact that he had another system and that the two systems would soon come to blows—however that may happen.

“Of course,” Kelvin said. “However, I cannot promise that they won’t be questioned.”

“I figured as much,” Derek said. “Just make sure that you’re there. I’d hate to see that oath broken without a chance for you to stop it.”

“Darvin is honorable,” Kelvin said.

“So, you say,” Derek replied.

“But I will be there, nonetheless,” Kelvin said.

“Good,” Derek said. “Now, are you ready to see the only thing they learned about me that is of any significance?”

Kelvin widened his eyes and looked deeply at Derek. Finally, he nodded without saying anything.

Derek chuckled, then turned around. “Are you ready, Silvi?” he asked.

“One second!” Silvi chimed back. The next instant, a pot appeared, and Silvi put all her stuff inside it. Derek also went ahead and put anything he needed to inside too. “Ready!” Silvi said.

Derek glanced at Kelvin and gave the man a sly grin, then reached out and tore the space in front of him open. He turned his head to see Kelvin’s hand on his sword and his eyes wide. “If I ever meet you again, we will be enemies, and I won’t be nice,” Derek chuckled, then stepped inside. He knew they would be meeting again. Though, the battlefield would be different and probably much more important.

Silvi jumped up onto Derek’s shoulder and brought the pot inside with her. She turned and looked back at the crimson-skinned man. A course of void lightning ran through her horn before she let it dissipate and turned back around. A couple of seconds later, Derek closed the opening.

Kelvin stared at the space where the two monsters left from. Yes, it was two monsters, not just one. He didn’t fight the small creature that floated around them while they fought—if he could even call it a fight—but he had a gut feeling that the small beast was just as strong as the human, or at least very close to it.

Now, he’d been shown another ridiculous power. The man had opened up the void and stepped inside… purposefully. That wasn’t something that anyone does—it just doesn’t work like that. Kelvin also managed to get a good look inside the space and saw that it was much more unstable than any void space he’d ever seen in his life—and he’d slain his fair share of Void Beasts during his time.

He had no clue what he was going to report to Darvin. However, he wasn’t lying when he told Derek Hunt that Darvin was honorable. If he weren’t, Darvin would have already dismissed him from the council due to his constant—but very warranted—complaining about Jace Whitaker.

“The rest of the day’s going to be even longer…” Kelvin sighed, then began his trek back to the city.

When he returned to the city known as Charlotte, Kelvin decided he’d stop in and give Derek’s friend a visit before he left. He soon found himself outside the woman’s bar and opened the door. He didn’t bother knocking, he just strode inside.

“K-Kelvin…” he was greeted by the woman known as Silvi as soon as he entered.

“I thought I would let you know that your friend has left,” Kelvin said. “He is not dead, but he will not be coming back.”

“Oh…” the woman said, but didn’t seem surprised.

Kelvin frowned. “You’re not surprised?” he went ahead and asked her.

“Well…” she muttered. “He stopped back by a few minutes ago,” she finally said. “To let me know that he was leaving and that we don’t…” She looked around at what appeared to be her team members. “We don’t have to worry about any repercussions.”

“Oh,” Kelvin said. “It seems I came here for nothing. He is not mistaken. Your friendship with that man will not be the cause of any harm to you or your party. You have my word on that,” he said dully. “Now, if you would please excuse me.” Kelvin turned and left the bar, continuing on his way back to Darvin. He didn’t actually move quickly, and he refused to answer the notifications that kept popping up on his bracelet. Darvin was being incredibly impatient, but the man could wait while Kelvin spent some time regaining his wits.

Kelvin stepped into the middle of the teleporter and took a deep breath. Finally, he pushed a button and disappeared. Moments later, he found himself back in the council’s meeting room—where Darvin spent the majority of his time when he wasn’t in his office.

“You’re back,” Darvin said. “I presume that you took care of the problems? I am still amazed that it was all caused by a human whom we lost to the void years ago.”

“About that…” Kelvin said as he strode forward, pulled out a chair, and then fell into it. “That man kicked my ass,” he finally said after staring at the System Watcher for some time.

“He… kicked your ass?” Darvin asked. “He is not dead?”

“Not dead?” Kelvin snorted. “That man is more alive than any of us. In the end, he allowed me to drink a Resurrection Potion and pull myself out of my dying state. He also let me reattach my foot that somehow decided it wanted to explode off my body during the fight. So no, he’s not dead, and I’m lucky to be alive. If that man comes back, you can go fight him.”

Darvin blinked multiple times as he looked at Kelvin. Finally, he said, “You are being serious?”

“More so than I’ve ever been,” Kelvin said. “If you want to win against that man… then you’d need Trischa, along with multiple other council members, and anyone else strong you can find. Hell, I don’t even know if it’s possible without an army of everyone’s strongest fighters. The man actually let me grab him… my fire couldn’t even make it through the muscle on his arm. And his strength… his stats are out of this world. He beat me so effortlessly that I wasn’t even able to gauge his ability.”

Darvin, who had been floating around before, took his seat at the head of the table and sat in silence. The man just stared into space for what seemed like minutes before he finally sighed. “Tell me what else you know about him.”

“There’s not much to know,” Kelvin said with a shrug. “He has a crazy ability that apparently lets him travel through the void. It’s like he gained powers specifically from his time in there. Which, if you believe his words, makes total sense since he believes he was inside the void for centuries or longer. I imagine that is the same reason that he lost his connection to the system and appears as a creature not from the system instead of a user. At least, that’s the only theory that I can come up with.”

“I… see,” Darvin scratched at his chin in thought. “He is certainly an anomaly…” At those words, he frowned. “However… he came back, and though the system balked for a moment, it continued hunting.”

“So, what you’re saying is…”

“It seems that my theory was correct,” Darvin replied. “It is not after Derek Hunt… at least, not any longer. It truly is hunting another system. And I believe… that Derek Hunt is now a part of that system.”

Kelvin stared at the ceiling and let out a long breath. He closed his eyes and shook his head. Then, under his breath, he said, “You have got to be fucking kidding me.”