System Change

King Darius wasn’t amused by Derek’s use of his Throne Room to teleport out of Stonehelm, but Braxton really seemed to get a kick out of it. It seemed like anything one brother could do to irritate the other was exactly the option that particular brother chose. Derek found it to be a pretty nice relationship between siblings. He also found himself liking Darius more than some… most… all the other kings he’d met—at least based on first impressions.

Darius was definitely rough around the edges, especially when it came to noble bloodlines, but it also seemed easier for the man to come around to accepting things—when it came to his family. He seemed very stoic and royal when there were people around, but when it was just Derek and Braxton, the man was more like a drinking buddy than a king.

Of course, the same may have been true for the other kings if Derek would have had the same notoriety back then when he first visited them. Currently, his strength and actions weren’t rumors anymore—anyone who mattered had basically seen them up close and personal or knew and trusted someone who had. Derek would bet that if he visited a royal family from the other continent, things would probably go the same way there as they had before his ‘fame’ spread.

But, all in all, the king of the dwarves did seem easier to get along with than the other kings.

Braxton had also hitched a ride with Derek, as the man had to go visit Roman to collect on the brew for the blacksmiths. They had all but completed everyone’s armor, so it was time for payment. Derek opened the door connecting his travel room to Brandi’s smithing basement and stepped out.

“How was it?” Brandi asked as Derek walked out of the room behind Braxton. Braxton turned and looked at Derek before continuing up the stairs—leaving Derek to talk to the girl. “Wasn’t Mr. Shaemus awesome? He knows so much!”

“He was definitely something,” Derek said. He’d already been told that the smith had met Brandi when he and Tyron had come to pick up materials from Malorie. The smith had even said that had Brandi been a dwarf, he would have wanted to take her as his apprentice. “Other than awesome, what did you think of him?”

“I liked him!” Brandi said. “He helped me out a little while he was here, and if his class wasn’t dwarven specific, he would have even tried to get me to become his apprentice. I would have said no, obviously, but I was happy he said that. He said I could visit their smithing academy if I was ever in Stonehelm, so that could be fun.”

“Why would you have said no?” Derek asked. “He’s probably the top armorsmith in the world.”

“Well…” Brandi frowned. “I like doing things myself. I mean, I like talking about things and getting ideas, but I prefer learning by trial and error. And… while I’ll definitely make armors, I want to focus on weapons and tools more. If I do that, then I can make better tools for me to use, so I can create better weapons and armor… and tools.”“Oh,” Derek said. “So… you’re going to make a better hammer… so you can make a better hammer… to make a better hammer?”

“Something like that,” Brandi said. “I’m sure there’s a limit, though. If that was actually possible, surely more and more people would do it.”

“Who knows?” Derek said with a laugh. He felt like she may have been around him a bit too much. The girl was already thinking of ways to exploit the system. Still, he was proud that her mind worked like that. Her future would have limitless possibilities.

“Who knows…” Brandi repeated. “Anyway, did the attuning go well?”

“I think,” Derek said. “It took half a day, but we got it done. Now I’m just waiting for them to finish the gear.”

“Great!” Brandi said. “I can’t wait to see it!” The girl did look ecstatic. “Everyone’s been coming by and letting me look at all the cool stuff Mr. Shaemus and Mr. Tyron have been making them. Even the scary shadow assassin lady stopped by.”

“That’s nice of them,” Derek said. “I didn’t know that.”

“Yeah! It’s all really neat,” Brandi replied. “I can’t wait until I get to that level. I have to work hard.”

“You’re going to get to that level, and then some. One day, Shaemus is going to wish he was as good a blacksmith as you are,” Derek said.

“I’d be happy being as good as him,” Brandi said.

“No, you wouldn’t,” Derek said. “You can’t fool me.”

Brandi paused for a moment, then said, “No… I wouldn’t. I’m going to be the best.”

“That’s right,” Derek said with a chuckle. “Now… you keep grinding. I have some more downtime while I wait for the armor. I’m going to go see if I can prepare a little more for what is coming.”

“Kay!” Brandi replied. “I’m going to keep working. Tell Mom I’ll be up for dinner tonight.”

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“Okay,” Derek laughed. “I’ll do that.”

After Derek left Malorie’s office, he went to his sitting room to think. He’d tried gaining extra levels only to barely gain a single percentage point into his next, so that was off the table when it came to getting stronger. He already had Harbinger and would soon have a new set of armor, so that was already done. Really, he could only think of two more ways to try to improve himself.

The first way was one he really didn’t like to think about—especially after meeting Asher. Everyone else was given Void Beast meals created by Silvi and the recipe that Dave had given Silvi, and they were doing their best to keep their bodies saturated with the meals so as not to miss any stat points. Of course, the recipe that Silvi had also included one for the meals with ingredients that weren’t available on the planet, so they would have to wait until they went to the Origin System to try those.

So, Derek flicked his wrist, and the most potent Void Beast meal he had in his storage device appeared in his hand. The meal looked very bland, but it smelled heavenly and caused his mouth to water. Still, Derek frowned when he looked at it. He actually had a hypothesis that the meals wouldn’t do much of anything for him either because of his evolution, level, the fact that he was a void user himself, or even a combination of all three.

“Still,” he said. “Got to try it.” Derek took out a fork and began eating. When he was finished, he pulled up his temporary status sheet to see if he’d gotten any stats.

…

Status: Temporary

Name: Derek Hunt

Age: ???

Level: 251 (Ascend for Better Essence Growth)

Essence: 1%

Affinity: Void (Ascend to Learn More)

Class: Mythical Void Monarch

Race: Void Human

Health: 45,000

Mana: 42,375

Stamina: 45,000

Strength: 1,674

Dexterity: 1,650

Endurance: 1,800

Vitality: 1,800

Intelligence: 1,700

Wisdom: 1,695

Stat Points Remaining: 216

Skills: Ascend for Better Understanding

Titles: Multiple Titles Awaiting Ascension

…

After looking at the status screen, Derek did a double take. He knew for certain that he’d only had 1,650 strength and 1,695 intelligence. Huh…he thought. That’s a weird increase. Twenty-nine total points. It’s not much, but it’s something…Derek furrowed his brows as he thought about it. I certainly don’t feel like I’m saturated on the stuff, though, and it should have given more than that if it was giving me all.

Derek thought back to when Stella explained everything about the meals to him. It should have given me endurance, too… but it didn’t. I wonder what’s going on with it…Derek looked again and noticed that he actually had a notification from the Origin System waiting for him. He quickly viewed it.

…

Congratulations!

For pushing your stats to the absolute limits that can be obtained through system or other means in your current system tier, you have unlocked a new Title!

User cannot currently receive Titles. Would you like to ascend?

…

Derek laughed, told the system ‘no,’ then dismissed everything. So… it’s the max that can be provided from my current system tier? That has to mean the Davenresh System, then… definitely not the Origin System. And… other means have to mean things like Void Beast meals and the like… hold on…Derek took one of the potions that Roman made out—one that increased stats permanently—and drank it down. When he saw that nothing changed, he winced at the waste. Those potions were rare even with all the Void Beasts because of the other materials that they used.

Huh…Derek thought. Let’s see…He started counting his stat points to see if he could figure anything out. 10,535… that’s an odd number…he thought about it, then something clicked for him. I was completely part of the Origin System for my last level, which was 35 stat points. So… that means that 9,000 is the soft cap, which I knew, but there’s kind of a hard cap at 10,500, and if you evolve… or maybe get a mythical class, you can see past the question marks. Now I can’t help but wonder what stats Alanah had when she got to her new system._

She’s definitely the person on the entire planet with the most stats gained from Void Beasts. Did she stop eating them once she hit 1,500? I hope not. Though… I know she stopped trying to bait the beasts out with her Portal skill as much. If my body wasn’t evolved, would I feel like I was bursting with essence right now? I wonder what, if any, the drawbacks could be for obtaining stat points through Void Beasts… or maybe even other creatures…

It was nice for Derek to know, though, and it meant that he didn’t miss out on any possible stat gains. Just how big of a boost did Dave give me, allowing me to keep my old stats when I started over? I had, like… close to 2,000 points, right? There is absolutely no way to reach that through leveling alone… even if you could start with a mythic class, which Dave basically said you couldn’t. Derek shuddered at the thought of the amount of Void Beast meals and potions he would have had to consume to get to that point.

He also felt bad for Avery, who didn’t even have a legendary class until well after he hit level 250. Though, he did get those extra points for the Achievement. And he had Alanah raising him up with Void Beast meals… maybe I shouldn’t feel bad. The food was delicious… even if it feels… not good to me.

Oh, well…Derek shrugged. Earning the new Title—even if it was waiting to be unlocked with the others—at least let him know that he was as prepared as he could be, at least stat-wise. Derek let out a deep breath, then said, “Now for the hard part.”

During his previous bit of downtime, he’d asked Malorie to try to look for resistance skills while he was out. She had found some, but the ones that weren’t basic were very rare to come by. Still, Derek flicked his wrist, and a few scrolls appeared. He considered himself lucky that she was able to find—and buy—the ones that she did. In his lap, he held scrolls for Water Resistance, Wind Resistance, Earth Resistance, Ice Resistance, and… surprisingly… Holy Resistance.

Also, surprisingly, Holy Resistance was the cheapest one for her to get. Apparently, people considered it to be a burden instead of a boon because it not only increased resistance to holy magic attacks but also increased resistance to holy healing spells—which was one of the most common types. However, Derek couldn’t remember the last time he’d been healed by holy magic, so, on the off chance that someone had some strong holy-attuned attacks, he figured that he might as well use it. He counted on himself for his regeneration, after all.

So Derek picked the scrolls up one by one and used them. He tried to look at his status sheet, but cursed when he realized that he wasn’t able to see his current skills. Still, he knew they were there, so for the next week or so… or maybe even until the other system came… he would work on raising his new resistances.