System Change

Derek waited as Rudy reluctantly packed away his stuff and stood up to follow behind him. He could see that while the contract writer may have been excited about receiving a gift or two, he was still more interested in working on his business. Derek didn’t care, as he all but dragged him upstairs into the dining room.

When they arrived at the dining room, Derek heard the familiar clattering and clanging of pots and pans coming from the kitchen in the room over. Either Silvi or Malorie, or perhaps both, were already up and preparing breakfast.

He soon found that it was only Silvi, as Malorie came into the dining room from the door opposite the kitchen. Soon, everyone was awake and had gathered in the dining room with him and Rudy. Well, everyone aside from the chef bunny and Brandi. The girl was sure to still be mindlessly working on something in the basement.

Malorie soon sighed, then disappeared out the door. She reappeared a few minutes later, dragging a bedraggled Brandi along behind her. Derek smiled awkwardly when he saw the state the girl was in. Oils and greases dirtied her still short hair, while stains from coal were smeared on her clothing and face. Still, although she looked like an orphan from the slums, a fire rampaged in her eyes, and Derek could see a slight annoyance on her face from being dragged away from her work.

‘We’re waiting for you,’ Derek sent to Silvi, who was still in the kitchen.

All he got back was a sigh and some rumblings about being busy. But soon enough, the door to the kitchen swung open and the purple silver ball of fur soon stood next to Derek on the table.

“Alright, thanks for joining me this morning. I know everyone’s busy…” he looked pointedly at Rudy, Brandi, then at Silvi. “So I’ll try to make this quick.”

“First things first,” Derek said. “The auction was a huge success. I’m not sure of the number, but the amount of gold we received will be enough for rent and any material or staff related problems for the foreseeable future.”

Derek waited for any comments, but everyone only sat and listened intently.

“That means that neither Brandi nor Silvi will have to worry about materials or ingredients for your respective crafts,” he explained, finally getting small reactions from the two. “Just get with Malorie, and she will see to it that you have whatever you need.” With that, both Silvi and Brandi’s gazes locked onto Malorie. They looked like predators stalking their prey.

Malorie fidgeted a bit under the intense gazes of her daughter and the murder bunny, but stared back. “Which means that both of you will have to do a better job listening to me,” she said.

“Indeed,” Derek agreed. “Malorie can giveth, and Malorie can taketh away.” He chuckled. Derek then looked over at Jacks. “You can talk with her about your salary as well. A promise is a promise, and now that things are settled down, you can work out your contract and schedule.”

Jacks nodded and Rudy perked up at that. Any mention of contracts was enough to get his blood pumping.

“Now to the fun part,” Derek said as he placed the storage ring containing all the skill scrolls in front of him on the table.

“What’s that?” Thomas asked.

Instead of answering, Derek smiled and began divvying out the skill scrolls around the table. First, everyone received a Telepathy skill scroll, along with Basic Repair and Cleaning. Then he started handing out the personal scrolls that he picked out.

Silvi received an Advanced Telekinesis scroll and Advanced Mage Hand, which would help her around the kitchen. Thomas was given a few decent spear skill scrolls to help him with his training. The vast majority of scrolls ended up piled in front of Malorie.

She received Item Appraisal and Advanced Lie Detection along with Insight and Evaluation. Item Appraisal was the perfect skill for her to use as a shop manager. Combining it with Insight would allow her to set appropriate prices for anything Brandi made based on her experiences. The more data Malorie gathered through Evaluation, the better her Insight and Item Appraisal would work.

Those three skills, according to Stella, would work great in tandem with each other. As each skill increased, the ability of the other. Advanced Lie Detection was pretty self-explanatory. It would allow Malorie to recognize behavioral patterns such as increased heart rate, sweating, eye movements, and other such things to distinguish between lies and truth.

Other than the basic skill scrolls, Rayna, Jacks, Rudy, and Brandi didn’t receive anything. Still, they were more than happy with what they did get… except for Brandi, as she was still in a working state. She was either thinking about materials to beg Malorie for, or whatever she was working on downstairs.

Malorie was flustered as she stared at the small pile of skill scrolls laying before her. “Are you sure about all this?” she asked.

“Of course. Stella helped me pick them all out. They should go a long way in helping you find a more suitable class at your next upgrade. Everyone else has pretty much found their paths already. Thomas, even though it took some beating it into him, has found that he is most suited to the spear.” Derek nodded at the boy.

Thomas blushed and slightly nodded.

“Rayna has blossomed into a hell of a magic swordswoman focusing on wind, while Jacks chose his path long ago.” Derek continued. “I don’t have anything to say about Brandi or Rudy. They are both waiting for this to be over just so they can get back to work. Even Silvi has her cooking. Though, it is a shame that we can’t change her class to something to support her wants. I will continue to look for other scrolls and skills that would help with her cooking.

“So, with all that said, you, Malorie, are the one in most need of some upgrades.” Derek finished his explanations. Nobody had anything to say to that. Everything he said was true. Jacks and Rayna were leveling and training together, both improving with flying colors. Thomas was working hard in preparation for the Academy. Brandi, Silvi, and Rudy all had their own crafts they were well suited to.

“I see,” Malorie nodded. Her eyes were a little watery, but she held back her tears. “I won’t let you down.” She reached forward and stored all the scrolls inside her storage ring. She knew that she would have plenty of time to learn the skills later.

Derek smiled, then began his next round of gifts. First, he focused on Brandi. He took out one of the best Void Beast meals he had received, the same type that caused a commotion during the auction, and slid it over in front of her. Then, he took a small vial of the Vitality Elixir, and a Potion of Physical Permanence out from his storage and pushed them to her as well.

“Eat the meal first, then the potions.” He instructed. “We should be able to stagger your stats out a bit with them, so you don’t have to withstand multiple breakthroughs all at once. Just getting a single stat past 1,000 hurts enough. It’s best that you don’t break through multiple thresholds in a single level.”

With the way her class worked, dividing her stat points equally with each level she gained, she would eventually hit multiple thresholds all at once. This way, her stats would be separated enough to avoid that… unless she gained multiple levels at once, but there was nothing Derek could do about that.

Everyone at the table eyed the items. Especially Rudy and Malorie, because they were present at the auction and actually knew the value of what Derek had just handed out to the little crafter. He wasn’t finished, though.

Everyone received one of the better Void Beast meals. He wasn’t lacking in them. He also gave Rayna and Jacks a Potion of Physical Permanence each, and gave Thomas a vial of Vitality Elixir along with a potion. The elixir was the item that he had the least amount of, so he was more stingy with it. Vitality was his favorite stat, after all.

Neither Rudy nor Malorie needed the extra stats, as they weren’t combat classes, so he made do with just giving each of them a good Void Beast meal. Derek wasn’t sure about how things would work with Silvi, so he decided to hold back on her meals and potions. He wanted to wait until he increased his stats as high as possible before he used the items himself, and he would do the same with Silvi, as her stats increased based on his own.

Silvi stared at him with squinted eyes because she didn’t get one of the meals, but he only shrugged and smiled. ‘They may be wasted if we use them on us right now. Don’t worry, you will eventually get some. For now, you can just have Mal get you whatever you want to cook with.’ He sent to the angry bunny to try to placate her.

She didn’t seem happy, but also didn’t refuse his bribe.

“Are you sure about this?” Jacks was the one to break the silence this time. “I have an idea of what this is worth. Is it really okay to just give it out like this?”

“It’s more of an investment than anything,” Derek said. “The more you all improve, the less I have to worry about you. It’s a win-win situation. Who better to use them on than my own companions and friends?”

Nobody knew what to say to that.

“Speaking of which… since I have you all here.” Derek started. “You don’t have to worry about your oaths and contracts to me anymore. I trust you to keep the secrets, but you don’t need the oaths hanging over your heads.”

Once he made that announcement, he could feel the oaths between him and the ones in the room dissipating. It was an odd sensation, like someone snipping a small thread that was connecting them together. He also received multiple notifications stating that his oaths had been fulfilled.

Derek waited for everyone to calm down before talking once more. “Now, there is one last thing I would like to have your advice on.”