System Change

When Derek arrived at the Village Chief’s house, Rayna was already at the door waiting for him. “Come on in.” Rayna said, then she turned to lead him inside.

Entering the meeting room, Derek looked around to see some familiar faces. Richard was there, along with Leon and his wife, Sana. Delilah was not there, but Derek figured that she was spending every second she could with Thomas. Surprisingly, Bart had made his way from the inn to the meeting room too.

Derek looked over the small group of people. “This is surprising.” He said. “I was only expecting Rayna, to what do I owe this honor?” He jested.

Sana stood and spoke first. “I heard that you were leaving and possibly not coming back. I know I thanked you before, but I needed to thank you again for saving Leon and all the other survivors.” She bowed at that.

“There’s no need for that.” Derek said. Quickly raising her back up. “I was there, it was well within my power to help, and there were no downsides in doing so. Also…” He looked at Richard. “I’m not trying to make light of your tragedy, but it was a good learning experience for the kid. He was naïve and still is to a certain extent. What happened to the village opened his eyes to some more of the dangers in this world.”

Leon laughed. “Here I was going to thank you too. After that speech, I don’t feel the need to anymore.” He walked over and stuck his hand out. Derek shook it. “I’ve had my reservations about you, especially with the… monster thing. But, from everything else I’ve learned about you, which still isn’t a lot by the way, you seem to be a decent man.”

This ‘meeting’ was uncomfortable for Derek, to say the least. He was caught off guard by the people, then even more by the gratitude they were showing. He typically avoided situations like this, but he decided to power through.

“You’re not too bad yourself.” Derek answered. “But, you need to do what you can to help Rayna and Richard run this village after I leave. It won’t be long before the city, and others, catch wind of the storage rings rewarded from the new dungeon, and with this village being the closest to the dungeon, I’m sure it will become quite lively. Though, I don’t believe there will be very many people coming back from the dungeon.” He smirked.

Derek was really the only person who had experienced the dangers of the undying dungeon. Sure, the other four had been there, but they did not see the amount of ghouls and could not understand the dangers of the acid and poisons that they could inflict. Derek did not think that the skeletons would prove too much of a challenge to adventurers at or around level 100, but once the second wave began, he suspected they would realize that they had bitten off more than they could chew.

Eventually, word would get around about how hard the dungeon actually was. Who knows? Maybe someone would even come out alive. For all Derek knew, there could be a scroll that would allow a person to leave a dungeon instance without completing it. But when word does get around, especially to the Gracefall house, Derek needs to have built up a certain reputation.

It won’t take long for everyone to figure out how unlikely it was that Wallace actually completed the dungeon, even if he died in the process. And when that secret is out, Derek, and this little village, will become the first suspects. Hell, Derek was not even sure of how much of everything Bronson bought in to.

After thanking Derek, Leon and Sana both chose to leave. They said their goodbyes and wished him safe on all his travels. With that, the room was left with Rayna, Richard, Derek, and Bart.

“Well, hell. I just wanted to see ya off. Not often that I run into someone who can keep the ale down and maintain a conversation at the same time. I’ll let yous three have at it. Yer always welcome at the inn.” Bart got up and patted Derek on his shoulder. “Take care, ya hear?”

Derek chuckled. “Will do. And be careful of whoever you sell that piss to. Wouldn’t want you dying over some noble choking to death.”

Bart just snorted and left the three of them behind.

“And then there were three.” Derek said.

“I don’t exactly know what you and the others did while you were gone, but seeing their strength and knowing about how Wallace Gracefall saved the forest, I have some ideas. Hell, the boy is stronger than me now, I couldn’t discipline him even if I wanted to.” Richard complained.

Derek smiled at that.

Richard then became serious. “He’s been talking about going with you all night. I don’t think me or Delilah got a lick of sleep because of it. I know we’ve let him wander around with you, and he’s all the better for it, but we always knew he would be back, and soon. Now he’s saying that you’re both leaving, and he doesn’t know when he’ll be back, if ever…” Richard’s serious tone broke and he began showing emotion.

“Just promise me that you won’t let anything bad happen to him. Take care of our boy.” Richard said. “And when you see Delilah before you leave, do your best to reassure her. She’s going to be more broken up than anyone else.”

“I can’t promise you that nothing bad is going to happen to the boy. Hell, I can pretty much assure you that he will go through a lot. What I can promise you, is that I will do my best to keep the boy alive. That’s not to say that I won’t let him get hurt, because I will. I may even be the one to hurt him. But I will keep him alive.” Derek replied. He was not going to lie to the man.

With that, Richard stood and walked by Derek, before turning around and saying one last thing. “And if you do ever decide to come back, see if you can’t bring me a new map.” He left the room.

Derek laughed out loud. “He’s still worried about that map.” He shook his head and looked at Rayna. “Should I tell him that Bronson retrieved it and plans to give it back to him before we leave? Or should I just let Bronson keep it?”

She giggled. “That would just be cruel. Taking his grandson and his beloved map.” She shook her head. “Nope, you have to make sure he gets it back before you leave.”

Rayna then looked down at Silvi, who had been surprisingly patient throughout the meeting. “I guess that this is your companion that Thomas told Richard about.” She bent down to pet the void bunny, but Silvi disappeared and reappeared on the table behind Rayna and snorted. Rayna’s eyes went wide in surprise.

“Yup, this is Silvi. She doesn’t speak, but she’s every bit as intelligent as a normal person. Not to mention that she could probably destroy everything and everyone in this village, and that’s including Bronson.” Derek said.

“That strong? Is it because of your special… condition?” She asked.

“You can say that. When you bond with a companion, it seems as if they get a percentage of your stats based on your class rarity. 75% for my legendary class. Though, Bronson said that if your bonded companion dies, it damages your soul, and I don’t really know what that means, and I didn’t ask.” Derek explained.

Rayna did not bat an eyelash at his casual mention of his legendary rarity class. “So, a legendary class gives a whole 75%?” Rayna mumbled, thinking about something. “So, you’re saying that this little bunny has three quarters of your strength?” The absurdness of that idea finally hit her. “Holy shit!” She exclaimed.

‘I the best. So strong. Almost strongest.’ Silvi communicated to Derek.

‘Yeah, ALMOST the strongest. And don’t you forget it.’ He said.

Rayna snapped out of her daydream. “I’ve heard a little bit about broken bonds. The ‘soul damage’ is actually worse than it sounds.” She narrowed her eyes at Derek. “For most people at least. It probably won’t be too bad on you. When your soul is damaged, your body can’t output all of its strength, and you lose XP based on how bad the damage is.”

“Okay. So you just need to earn the XP back?” Derek asked.

She shook her head. “It’s not that easy. The problem is that your level will stay the same. Say your soul damage reduces your overall strength to half. The problem with that is that when you are a certain level higher than your target, you will no longer get any XP. So, your strength is reduced to half, but you still have to fight enemies that are around your level to get XP. In your case, I don’t think it would be a problem, but for a normal adventurer, it’s devastating.”

She was right, it would not be a problem for Derek. If his stats were reduced to half, he would still be stronger than basic monsters at his level. It may take some time to get the XP back, especially with a legendary class, but he would eventually get everything back.

“Anyway, the reason I came here, besides saying goodbye.” Derek broke the silence. “I hadn’t thought that Bart would come before me, so you may already know. I’m pretty sure I scared the shit out of Bronson last night and gave him a pretty clear warning. I don’t think anybody, at least from the Gracefall side, will cause you any trouble. But, err on the side of caution.”

Rayna nodded her head. “Bart did say that you pulled some neat tricks last night.”

Derek chuckled at that. If only they knew. He spoke again. “Also, keep an eye on Brandi. She’s a bit too excited about her class. Try to keep her contained. Only a few people know about her class, and it needs to stay that way. I would rather not come back to find that she has been kidnapped to work as a slave for some noble house that would soon cease to exist. I plan on making nice with some people, intimidating others, and possibly worse, just to have a place for her to practice her craft without worry.”

After that, Rayna hugged Derek without warning. “Thank you for saving everyone, thank you for saving me. And thank you for everything else you’ve done. If the village starts running smoothly after everyone finds out about the dungeon, or if the King decides it’s best to send an overseer to take over because of the valuable dungeon, I may go with you when you come to get Brandi… If you’ll have me.”

Derek smiled. “Of course. You would be most welcome.” He hugged her back. There was not anything between the two. In fact, Rayna reminded Derek more of a sister than anything else. She was just about the only person who would scold him and did not constantly look up to him in reverence. “Now I have to go. I heard Bronson arrive a couple minutes ago. He’s waiting patiently outside.” With that, Derek turned and walked out of the house.

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