System Change

“Wouldn’t it have been easier if we had brought your wyvern along?” Derek asked as he sat down on the little boat that was nothing more than a dingy that Alanah had pulled out to rest on.

“Easier? Probably,” Alanah said. “But it wouldn’t have been nearly as quick. With our skills and stats, I’m sure we are traveling twice as fast as that wyvern would have been able to. It would have needed breaks to rest too, and I do not have a boat that size.”

“I see…” Derek said. “Speaking of the wyvern, have you decided what you’re going to do with it? Are you going to bond with it?”

“I’m not,” Alanah replied. “The last thing I need with me if I’m going to another system that could quite possibly allow for higher levels is a giant beast that would be easy to spot and kill by… well… a lot of things. If the level cap is higher there, then there could be level 400 gnats for all I know. Bonding with the beast would make me very vulnerable, and I can’t have that. I’d be a sitting duck if it was killed—and that is if the soul sickness didn’t kill me to begin with.”

“Oh…” Derek said. “I guess you’re right. What do you plan to do with it, then?”

“It can either go free or Lyra can take it back in,” Alanah said. “I will annul the contract before I go, and it will be a free beast. From there, you can do what you want—give it to whomever you want.”

“I see…” Derek said. “I’ll have to think about it.” Having an extra wyvern back would be nice, but Derek honestly wasn’t sure who would be able to contract with the beast other than Alanah. There really weren’t many people on the same level as Edgar and Avery—and even fewer that Derek would feel comfortable giving a wyvern to. His first thought was Thomas, but he quickly dismissed that idea, as he wasn’t sure that the kid would end up with a legendary class. Clare maybe? He shook his head. No… it would take way too long for her to be able to do it, and that’s IF she’s able to get a powerful enough class.

Maybe Walter? He thought, then shook his head. I have a feeling that he’ll eventually end up with a legendary class, but he doesn’t have the offensive power even if he did… oh well… I’ll give it some thought later.

“Are you disappointed?” Alanah asked.

“You went out of your way to capture a wyvern for me, yet I refused,” Alanah said.

“Well, technically, it was Avery who wanted it for you,” Derek said. “I just happily agreed. And it’s not like you don’t have one hell of a reason for refusing. I’m just worried about who to give it to.”

“Like I said,” Alanah replied. “You could just release it out into the wild if you can’t find anyone for it. I’m sure it would be more than happy if you did that. And according to Lyra, it seems that all the dragonkin are calming down and growing smarter as time goes by. Something about being out of the dungeon.”

“Yeah,” Derek said with a nod. “She mentioned that they all basically had the minds of baby dragonkin instead of fully grown ones.”

“I’m afraid that the longer they are out and not contracted, the harder it’s going to be for others to contract with them,” Alanah replied. “The lesser dragonkin may not become too hard, but the wyverns may be another story.”

“I’m not worried about that,” Derek answered back. “Brandi won’t have any trouble at all once she gets to a high enough level. As for the other one… it’s just extra for now.”

“You really believe in that girl, don’t you?” Alanah asked.

“More than you know,” Derek replied. “And it’s well deserved. She’ll be making me some of the best gear ever crafted soon enough. Just wait.”

“I don’t doubt,” Alanah said with a slight chuckle.

“So…” Derek said, changing the subject. “What about the other continent? Are we even still going the right way? Were we ever going the right way?”

“Yes, Derek… we are still going the correct way,” Alanah replied with a slight sigh as she took out the land finder from her storage ring to show him. He couldn’t blame her. He’d asked the same question more than once. “See, it has completely changed directions from the other continent. That means that we are over halfway there.”

“You just… didn’t make it sound like it was going to take so long,” Derek replied as he looked at the needle pointing straight ahead of them. “Or that it was going to be so… uneventful. I expected a bunch of legendary sea creatures jumping out of the water to try to eat us and terrible waves hundreds of feet tall. Not… this.”

“It’s not my fault that the last time I crossed was over a century ago and I wasn’t as strong as I am now—I definitely didn’t have anyone as strong as you with me when I crossed, and those that were with me didn’t fare so well. You can see how these things would make a pretty big difference, yeah?” Alanah replied. “And there have been those giant waves. There was that hurricane just yesterday.”

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“Yeah… but… it just felt like a little wind and some rain…” Derek muttered. “Rayna’s wind is much worse than those winds from last night.”

“Of course it is,” Alanah said. “Not only is the wind she produces concentrated on a target, but she has grown quite capable with her skills. And the storm we encountered was just a wild, natural storm. It didn’t have any mana or system behind it—of course, it’s going to be weaker than a burst of Rayna’s wind. But that’s not to say that it wouldn’t have been able to sink a vessel full of people trying to cross the sea. It was more than capable of that.”

“Right…” Derek sighed. Speaking of Rayna… he thought. Maybe her son or daughter can have the wyvern. It would be a pretty good birthday present…

“And besides,” Alanah continued, bringing Derek back from his thoughts. “If you want to fight some legendary sea creature, you can just hop out of the boat and take your chances underwater,” Alanah said and pointed down at the sea below. “There are plenty of strong beasts under there—they obviously haven’t attacked because we move too fast and don’t sit still long enough.”

“You know…” Derek said. “I think I’m good. Not sure I want to try fighting underwater right now. But later… maybe.”

“Great,” Alanah said. “Well, I’m pretty much all charged up. Are you ready to go again?”

“I’ve been ready,” Derek said with a smile. “You’re the one who needs all these breaks.”

“Not all of us focused so much on our Meditation skills. Mine isn’t quite at the same level as yours.”

“It’s fine,” Derek said. “It’s not like you take an entire day to recharge or anything.” After that, both of them jumped into the air as Alanah put her boat away. She held the land-finding compass out in front of her, then they took off again.

The two had already been traveling over the sea for the better part of a week. Derek was getting antsy again. He hadn’t had a decent fight in quite a while, and the only skills that were really getting any attention during this time were Void Steps, Enhanced Movement Speed, Mental Resistance, and Powerstride. And soon, he knew that his Void Steps skill would soon reach level 20 and there would be one less skill to raise on their journey. Occasionally, he threw in a use of Void Shift just to feel like he was making more progress.

On the bright side, Derek thought. I won’t have to worry about crossing this damn sea ever again. At least not from these two continents. Traveling is a one and done type thing when you have Void Travel… With his feet planted firmly on a void ripple, Derek tensed the muscles in his legs, then activated Powerstride using a full one-third of his mana pool in the process.

He wasn’t worried about him and Alanah becoming separated—they already had on a couple of occasions. When he found himself alone for too long, he would just tear some space open and Void Travel back to her. He also traveled back to his shop a couple of times—giving Silvi some freshly caught fish. It probably wasn’t the smartest thing to do, using what little experience points he had left to kill some level 200+ fish, but he couldn’t help himself on those occasions.

Still, his level was already above a lot of the fish and other sea creatures, so, with the diminishing returns given for killing beasts that were a lower level than him, it wasn’t like he was gaining too much experience points in the process. Besides… that tuna-like fish was delicious once Silvi finished smoking it. Derek had to keep himself from drooling at the thought as he continued on.

Like this, the duo continued their traveling both together and separately, since Derek could find Alanah at will with his skills. Their journey continued for a few days longer before one of them finally caught sight of something other than water and fish.

“Is that it?” Derek asked out loud to nobody as he finally saw land off in the distance. “It has to be…” With that, he quickly used Void Travel, opening a space in the sky, then closing it behind himself. After that, he looked for Alanah’s aura, only to see that it wasn’t too far away. Great… I didn’t stray too far away this time. Derek quickly moved to Alanah’s aura and opened an exit from the void.

“That was fast,” Alanah said as Derek stepped out of the void. She had stopped just like always when she felt the dreadful aura coming from when he used his skill. “You get tired or something? I guess that whale didn’t put up much of a fight.” The last time that the two separated, it was because Derek had caught sight of a massive whale jumping out of the water, and he had gone to ‘investigate.’

“No,” Derek said, canceling his skill and closing the space behind him in the process. “I’m pretty much an expert on whale anatomy these days.” He recalled the time spent inside the toxic whale during the raid. “I gave it a couple of slaps, then let it go. Didn’t seem like it was going to put up much of a fight.”

“Oh,” Alanah replied. “Then why are you back so soon? You’re usually gone much longer.”

“Why?” Derek repeated. “Because it looks like I got a bit ahead of you and I ran into what looked like land in the distance. So, I decided to come back so we can enter this new land together.”

“Really?” Alanah let out a sigh of relief when Derek nodded, then she took off again, in the direction that her compass was pointing. “Finally. I was beginning to think that the land-finding compass was broken. I really thought we would make better time with as fast as we can both travel.”

“Hah!” Derek pointed at the siren as he followed beside her. “So I wasn’t the only one who didn’t trust that thing… though… I guess it does work, after all.”

“Looks like it.” Alanah pointed out in front of her to the barely visible outline of land in the distance.

“You know,” Derek said. “I don’t think I’ll want to do any more sea crossing for a few years… or decades…”

“Or centuries…” Alanah said. “And I don’t blame you. At least on the ship I took when I first crossed… well, the ship we had for a good portion of the trip, that is…” Alanah continued. “On it, there were a few people to speak to, and a place to sleep if needed. So it didn’t seem as dull.”

“Yeah…” Derek said. “Flying forward in one direction for days on end is something that I now know I’ll never look forward to doing again.”

Alanah nodded, but didn’t say anything else. Instead, the duo focused on the land in front of them and put everything they had into getting there quickly. Before long, the edge of the continent was very visible, then finally…

“We’re finally here!” Derek fell to his knees and scooped up a handful of sand, letting the grains fall from between his fingers.

“Yes…” Alanah replied as she looked out ahead of them—a myriad of emotions flashing on her face. “We are here.”