System Change

“Yeah, I know most everything else,” Alanah replied. “And your story and explanations answer the other questions I would have had about your power. It also explains your void class, since you spent an ungodly amount of time inside a portal, and it explains why you were insistent that I try to grow closer to my class. And just to confirm… You have a Mythical Class, don’t you?”

“Sure do,” Derek confirmed her suspicions.

“Thought so,” Alanah replied. “If nothing else, it is nice to know that such a class rarity exists. For the longest time, I thought Mythical rarity was nothing more than… well… a myth. But many believe legendary rarity to be a myth, as well. And I know from experience that legendary classes exist.”

“That’s completely understandable,” Derek said. “It seems that only unique people end up with high rarity classes. You can’t just go with the flow and expect to increase your class rarity—it takes willpower and unique situations. The best example for this would be the Cydarian Royal family.”

“Yes, you are correct,” Alanah said. “Edwin, Edward, Eloise, and even the two youngest—Eliot and Everett—will most likely never gain a class beyond epic ranked. But Edgar, and his personality that causes him to constantly push himself forward, has gone beyond that, and that is proof of your statement… if you ask me.”

“Exactly,” Derek said. Though I’ve never met these two ‘younger brothers,’ he thought. He had heard Edward speak of his younger brothers, but Derek had never heard their names before. According to what Alanah said, though, the two youngest took more after Edward and Eloise than they did Edgar, which was a shame. Just one of them pushing themselves like Edgar would take a lot of weight off of Edward and Edgar. “I doubt it’s easy for someone growing up in such luxuries to make themselves better.”

“Mhm.” Alanah nodded in agreement. “It is a problem that many noble houses end up having after a few generations.”

“You fight to get to the top,” Derek said. “Then, once you get there, you let up to bask in your accomplishments and your family ends up falling behind again.” He sighed. “It seems like you just can’t relax too long when you live with systems…”

“That seems to be the case,” Alanah replied.

After that, the two sat around and made small talk for a good while longer. Soon enough, though, Alanah’s eyes went distant again, and she said, “Oh… looks like it’s time.”

“Time?” Derek asked as he looked around to try to see what the siren was talking about? “Time for what?”

“You’ll see very soon,” Alanah replied with a smile, and sure enough, a few minutes later, Derek certainly did see what she was talking about.

“These are?” Derek looked around hesitantly at seven figures that all showed up one at a time. Each one of them was wearing a dark cloak, which he was unable to see under.

“These… are some of my Deathsworn,” Alanah answered. “I thought that, to eliminate the waiting period for this dungeon, that I could bring in some reinforcements. Also… they should be able to help with your problem of leveling too fast.”

“I see…” Derek said. “Then each of these people…”

“Are the worst of the worst. Some of the most vile people I’ve come across in my long life. Each one would be on the same level as Gerald Torith, if not worse,” Alanah finished.

“Hmm…” Derek rubbed his chin in thought. He hadn’t thought much about Alanah’s control power, but seeing the Deathsworn… he couldn’t help himself from having questions. “What is going to happen to these guys once you leave?” he asked the main question on his mind.

“I do not believe I will be able to take them with me,” Alanah said. “And it is possible that they would eventually break out of their trances if I am no longer around to reinforce them. If that happens, then they will create problems for the kingdom. Therefore, it is only right that I eliminate them before my ascension to another system. There is no way of getting around it.”

“I see,” Derek said. “That makes sense. Each one feels rather strong—not strong like myself or you, but like… Edward maybe. Maybe a little stronger, actually. Like someone with an epic class, but who hasn’t quite gotten all their skills up.”

“That is about their skill level,” Alanah replied. “Some are a little more powerful, some a little less. But yes, it would certainly be a problem leaving them here. They have suffered inside their own heads for long enough. They have had their torture for many of the heinous deeds they have done. I shall finally end their suffering. It is a skill that I do not like, but one that was vital for my survival when I was younger and less experienced.”

“I can understand that,” Derek said. “It is one particularly nasty skill.” He also had a skill that was quite nasty. That skill was his Time Prison—unless it was used on someone like Ogre, who very much enjoyed, or Bones, who had already gone through suffering and was very resistant to being cut off from everyone and everything. It was one of the reasons that he didn’t just go around stuffing all his enemies in prison. That and the fact that he couldn’t use it and still move around with Void Travel without harming those inside.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

“It is,” Alanah replied. “And it is one that I hope I will not have to use ever again, but at the same time, it is there if I need it, and I have enough experience that I will not hesitate to use it. I will not hesitate to use any skill if it means survival and growth. I will never torment for the sake of torment, but if I find myself in certain situations, I will not hold back.”

“Nor should you,” Derek said. “You don’t live long in worlds like ours if you are full of hesitation.”

“Mhm…” Alanah nodded once again. “It’s good you understand.”

“Of course,” Derek said. “Now, what exactly are we going to do? Should we get back to the dungeon?”

“Yes, let’s do that,” Alanah replied.

From there, both Alanah and Derek stood and stored their chairs away. Then they walked closer to the dungeon orb. “Looks like you brought too many,” Derek said when he remembered that the maximum number of participants for the dungeon was six people.

“The others have no problem waiting outside,” Alanah said with a laugh. “I had seven of them that were particularly close, and I know that there are some dungeons that I plan on running that require eight people, so I just had them all come here. Besides, we’re even less likely to be slowed walking around with such a strong group than we are with just our new badges.”

“That’s true,” Derek said. “I know that if I was an average or even above average adventurer and saw a group like this walking my way, I may just find something very interesting on the other side of the street or in a nearby alley.”

“Exactly,” Alanah chuckled. “Are you ready?” she asked as she put her hand on the dungeon orb.

“More than,” Derek said. “Let’s go kill some golems.”

Instantly, Derek received the dungeon notifications. From there, he looked at the participants list.

Participants Ready: 2/6

Alanah Swan: Ready

Derek Hunt: Ready

Roger Simms: Not Ready

Chandler Laurent: Not Ready

Gianna Grant: Not Ready

Francis Galloway: Not Ready

“That’s an interesting set of names,” Derek said. “I don’t recognize any of the surnames there. I thought you would have some very bad nobles from Cydaria in your little group.”

“There have been times in which I almost did,” Alanah replied. “But, as you know and can see…” all the Deathsworn around the two of them removed their hoods and Derek noticed something most of them had in common. “It’s not a skill I like to use often.”

Out of the seven Deathsworn, two were elves, one was what looked like a halfling, and the other four were human. Of them, the four humans were quite old. They were either as old as, if not older than, Walter—and coming up on Edwin’s age even. Derek was pretty sure that the two elves were just as old, but not yet showing their age. The halfling woman seemed a bit younger, but still past middle-age. She didn’t appear quite as old as Walter, but Derek didn’t know what kind of skills or stats she had invested in.

Wait… how does that even work? Does Alanah just tell them to read their status sheet, then tell them what to invest into? Derek shrugged at the thought. It doesn’t really matter, anyway.

“Most of my Deathsworn have come from the other continent. If or when we go there, I’m sure you’ll recognize a few of the surnames you see on the list of participants. There are plenty of noble houses that may still harbor a grudge against the beastly Dawn Siren. In fact, the seven here are the strongest of my Deathsworn—all level 250 with epic classes. And I suspect that a couple of them would have upgraded to legendary at their final class upgrade if not for being controlled by me,” Alanah explained.

“I see,” Derek said. “So, what you’re saying is that if we go over to your home continent and don’t hide, there will be a lot of fun to be had?” he chuckled.

“If that is what you would call it… yes,” Alanah answered with a smile. “Especially if the Laurent family learns of my appearance. They are one of the royal families, after all, and they wouldn’t take kindly to one of their princes—perhaps their most genius prince—being under control of one such as I.”

“No… I bet they would not,” Derek said with a laugh.

“Okay, are you ready?” Alanah asked one last time. Seeing that Derek nodded toward her, she continued, “Great. Here we go.”

With that, the list of participants showed all six people with a ‘ready’ status. As soon as the last one switched to ready, the entrance timer counted down from three, and they soon found themselves inside the golem dungeon without having to wait any extra length of time for not having the required amount of participants.

As the blinding light disappeared from around them, Derek checked his surroundings. All the Deathsworn had raised their hoods back and were standing silently beside Alanah. “Okay,” Alanah said. “We’re going to do it all different this time.”

“What’s the plan?” Derek asked.

“All six of us are going to stick together, and we’re going to go around taking out golems one by one. That way, each of us can get a hit on each golem that you’re fighting, and you will end up with a sixth of the experience that you would have gotten by fighting alone,” Alanah explained.

“Sounds good,” Derek said. “Anything else?”

“Yes,” Alanah replied. “My Deathsworn, Gianna, is a particularly strong elven light mage that focused on battle skills instead of healing. She was cast out of her family because of her cruel ways—using light to bind and torture people. Her family was a very renown healer family with—mostly—kind hearts. So kind that they exiled her instead of killing her outright.”

“Oh,” Derek said with raised eyebrows.

“Yeah…” Alanah said. “I was in a party with her at one point and found her with one of our other party members… it wasn’t pretty. From there, she became one of my strongest Deathsworn. She is also one that I have no doubt would have received a legendary class. Instead, I turned her focus a bit toward healing and combat arts instead of specifically combat. That way, I always had a healer with me if needed.”

“I see,” Derek said. Alanah didn’t explain what the woman was doing with her party member, but it couldn’t have been good—especially after explaining her cruelty. “So, what’s the plan?”

“I want to see if she can inject some of her light into a core and burn it from the inside out—shutting it down instead of destroying it. I believe that it’s quite possible,” Alanah explained.

“Sounds good,” Derek said. Then, the countdown to wave one began. “Let’s go.”