System Change

“You challenge me to a duel?” Derek asked with a frown, as if he hadn’t known it was coming. “Who are you? A great-grandnephew or something of Hall Master Sheen?” Derek turned to look at the hall master. With a bit of a wink where Garrett couldn’t see him, he said, “Does that make this kid a big deal?”

With his ever-grinning face, the hall master shrugged. “Maybe to himself. And perhaps to those tag-alongs who probably offer to tie his shoes and wipe his ass for him. Not to me, though. He hasn’t proven anything other than the fact that he may have just a little bit of talent. Talent which is currently being sucked away by all those losers behind him. They don’t even dare get close enough to me to be within hearing range.”

“Gotcha,” Derek said, then turned and looked at the retinue behind the young man, debating whether they should stay there or move closer to the hall master. “It’s always like that when someone shows a little talent. Those who don’t have any just follow those who do around and hope that some of the talent washes off and lands on them, but are too scared to try to reach for anything themselves.”

“Boy!” the hall master laughed. “I couldn’t have said it better myself. Even Young Alex beside you is much better and will go much farther than any of them—even if he isn’t as talented. He may currently be a tag-along of yours, but he puts in his own work. He’s afraid, yet he still stands before me and speaks respectfully, and he knows what he wants to do in the future. It just goes to show that there is a difference in tag-alongs.”

“Not really,” Derek said.

“Huh?” the hall master questioned, and Alex recoiled physically as if he’d been struck.

“There isn’t a difference in tag-alongs,” Derek said. “Alex isn’t a tag-along. He is a friend. In my books, he’s given to me as much as he has taken, and he doesn’t go around worshiping me.” He then looked at the man who had challenged him. “Grandnephew,” he said. “Can you actually call any of those following you around a real friend or even a colleague? Do any of them provide any value to your life?”

“N-nephew...” Garrett paused on the word. His anger flared, then rapidly cooled as he turned and looked at the group of young men and women gathered behind him. “None of them,” he finally said.

“That’s what I thought,” Derek replied. “Now, you apparently know my name, but I didn’t catch yours. Don’t you know it’s rude to scream someone’s name without introducing yourself first? Unless you’d like me to continue calling you nephew—in which case... I’m fine with it.”

“Don’t you dare!” Garrett’s face turned red. “My name is Garrett. Garrett Loomis. And I was a volunteer to go to the training planet to have some fun and experience some proper training...” He glared at the people behind him. “And get away from those losers... but you messed all of that up for me by slaying the World Boss early.”

“And?” Derek shrugged. “You could have had even more fun and gotten even more experience by staying there while the monsters went crazy. I can’t think of anything much more fun than that when you want to build some fighting experience. Yet, you ran home?”

“Did you not, too?” Garrett narrowed his eyes. “Only a fool or someone of a much higher level would stay there during a monster craze like that.”

“I, unfortunately, have a place that I need to get to,” Derek said. “Or yes, I would have, absolutely. My other friend stayed there, and I bet he’s having the time of his life. There’s nothing like fighting night and day nonstop until there’s nothing left to slaughter.”

“Well said!” the hall master chuckled. “That is the best mindset for a warrior to have, young friend.”

“You... you’re serious?” Garrett asked in disbelief. “And... young friend? A friend?”

“We hit it off,” Derek said with a shrug. “Now, Garrett... Garrett Loomis... what about a duel and stuff? I don’t have a lot of time. There is somewhere that I need to be, and I don’t have a lot of time to play childish games.”

“You!” the young man started, but he really couldn’t argue there. For a moment, Derek thought he was going to back off and call the duel off. But he didn’t. “I said, I, Garrett Loomis of House Warp, challenge Derek Hunt to a duel for honor!”

“It’s for honor now?” Derek asked. “Well, if it’s for honor, I certainly can’t turn that down, now can I?”

“That... you accept?”

“Why not?” Derek shrugged.

“G-good! As one should. For honor!” Garrett said. “I’ll meet you in the dueling arena. I’ll be waiting there for your terms and conditions.”

“No need to wait,” Derek said. “I’ll just follow you.” That surprised the young man as well.

If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it’s taken without permission from the author. Report it.

“I think I can take a little longer break from my duties for this,” the hall master said, which surprised Garrett. “Go ahead, Young Loomis.”

“R-right!” Garrett suddenly became a lot more nervous. Then, he turned on one foot and started walking... fast.

“What will your terms be, Derek?” Sheen asked, and Garrett’s ears perked up.

“Your kin doesn’t seem like that bad of a guy—just a bit spoiled,” Derek said. “I’ll give him a chance and won’t do anything to permanently cripple or kill him. We will have a warrior’s duel. No active combat skills or skills that boost damage, speed, or defense. Utility skills such as Greater Meditation, and weapon specialties, since you can’t really turn those off, are good. Weapons are fine.”

“W-what?!” Garrett stopped and stared at Derek. “No skills? Against me? Are you insane?”

“Sometimes,” Derek said with a shrug. “But I don’t hate you, so I’m not going to kill you. None of my skills are practical in a sparring sense. There’s a reason Hall Master Sheen sponsored me, after all. Besides, you may win this way and impress all your little minions.”

Garrett’s eyes fell on Derek, then looked over to the hall master with pleading eyes.

“Boy, I tested Derek myself,” the hall master said. “His skills... are scary. If he were a level 500 Ascendant, I would want to be having this spar instead of you.”

“That... okay... no skills,” Garrett agreed.

‘That was easy enough,’ Derek sent telepathically to the hall master and was surprised by what the man answered back.

‘I am not lying. I did test you, and that draconic void flame that you showed has the potential to be terrifying. I hope to see it in real action one day,’ Sheen sent back. ‘But I would rather this boy from my family not become a cripple. There aren’t a lot of things out there that cause permanent damage, but I have a suspicion that yours may be one of them based on how hard it is to put the fire out.’

‘Oh,’ Derek said. ‘Well... it’s better that way then. No lies.’

‘Yes.’

After that, it took about ten minutes to get to the dueling arena. The retinue of tag-alongs followed the four from a healthy distance—making sure not to get too close to Grinning Sheen. The man had a reputation, after all. Finally, Derek found himself standing on a large patch of dirt and sand, surrounded by a few bleacher-like seats. There really isn’t much to this dueling arena, Derek thought.

“This isn’t the dueling arena,” Garrett suddenly spoke, as if he was reading Derek’s mind as he walked to the center of the space. “The dueling arena is in that building over there.” He pointed at a large, dome-shaped building, then looked back at Derek. “Since we aren’t using skills, there is no need for such a large space. There isn’t a need to manipulate the arena to make it suitable for both of us or for just one of us, since you have chosen this style of combat.”

“I see,” Derek said.

Garrett nodded, then held his hands out. Two shortswords appeared in them a moment later. “These are not my enchanted blades, so you need not worry about that,” he said.

“I wasn’t,” Derek replied as he looked around. He frowned. “Does anyone have a non-enchanted glaive?” he asked. The swords that Garrett was holding may not have been enchanted, but other than Void’s Harbinger, Derek could tell that nothing else he had on him would hold up to even a hit or two against them.

“Oh? A glaive?” the hall master’s smile grew wider as he spoke from off in the distance. “Not a commonly used weapon in our parts. But I just so happen to have one... or five.” Suddenly, a matte blue glaive with a shining silver blade on the end and a spear tip on the butt appeared in his hand. “This glaive is enchanted, but only with a self-repair enchantment that has to be manually triggered. It should work great as a practice weapon.”

The man flicked his wrist, and the glaive instantly appeared lodged in the ground in front of Derek. Derek turned and gave the old man a nod, then hefted the weapon out of the ground. Holy hell, this is heavy, he thought as he slung it over his shoulder. What is this made out of? It took him multiple swings to get used to the weight of the weapon, but it wasn’t too much—in fact, it was just right.

Derek flicked his wrist and suddenly, his shirt, jeans, and boots disappeared into his storage bracelet—leaving him standing there in one of his final pairs of shorts. “Should we do this?” Derek asked with a yawn. “I don’t have all day.”

“What... what are you wearing? Where is your armor?” Garrett questioned.

“It’s a duel. Why would I wear armor? And I don’t want to get my favorite shirt or pants too dirty or ripped up,” Derek said. “Now, are you ready or not?”

“Fine!” Garrett replied—removing his robe before replacing it with a much more mundane-looking one. Then, he looked toward Sheen.

“Oh, I guess that is my cue,” the hall master said, then appeared in the center of the ‘arena.’ “Begin,” he said, then vanished without a trace.

As soon as the hall master disappeared, Garrett was on the move. If they hadn’t agreed to it beforehand and if the hall master wasn’t there watching, Derek might have thought that Garrett was using a movement skill because of how fast he moved.

Before Derek knew it, the young man was in close. Derek swung down with his right arm as soon as he stepped in, but the young man flipped one of his arms up with his sword and tried to parry the glaive. It worked to some extent, but the weight of the glaive and Derek’s strength pushed downward. The sword blade slid along the pole of the glaive as Garrett moved inside Derek’s guard.

Then, the blade in his right hand flashed across Derek’s ribs. Garrett seemed just as surprised as the rest of the crowd when, not only did Derek not defend against the attack or try to move, but the blade actually bit deep into Derek’s abdomen. A rush of blood exploded from Derek and blinded the young man as it splashed across his face.

Derek was already using Greater Meditation, so the fatal-looking wound was nothing to him. He only smiled and reached out with his free left hand as he gripped Garrett’s throat. Derek was able to squeeze and pull the man closer before head-butting him as hard as he could.

“Fu...ow!” Garrett shouted as he slipped out of Derek’s grasp and fled backward—his nose busted from the exchange. “You’re insane!” he shouted at Derek as he looked up.

Derek smiled, then used his free hand to wipe the blood off his abdomen to show the fully healed wound. “Not really,” Derek said. “But you’re kind of fast.”

“You! Did you use a healing skill? You cheated!” Garrett shouted.

“Nope,” Derek said. “It’s my normal regeneration plus the bit that Greater Meditation provides.”

“No! Even with Greater Meditation, that wound was so deep. Unless...” the young man narrowed his eyes. “You... have evolved?”