System Change

Chapter 344: Deal!

Derek made it to the door leading to the basement while Silvi continued to perch on his shoulder. As soon as he opened the door, he could hear the pounding and clanging of a hammer on metal. The sound of the hammering was somewhat nostalgic for Derek, and it brought a smile to his face as he stepped down the stairs one by one. He made sure to close the door behind him so that the sound wasnt able to escape the soundproof basement.

Finally, he made it to the bottom of the stair and looked over to where Brandi was working. Currently, the young smith was hunched over an anvil with a hammer in her hand, intently focusing on her work while pounding away on what looked to be a blade for a sword.

Derek almost laughed when he saw how the girl was dressed. From the bottom up, she was wearing a pair of well-worn boots, then what looked like a full set of dark purple coverallssomething he couldnt remember seeing yet in this world. The coveralls were long-sleeved, and the end of the sleeves were covered by a pair of work gloves. I bet those coveralls were Malories idea, and that they have tons of protection built into them as well.

They really are going all in on the purple void coloring for everything, arent they? First, the two new employees were wearing matching uniforms with the color. Now he was seeing their resident smith wearing the same colors, but in the form of coveralls. Dereks smiled grew wider as he waited for the girl to finish what she was doing. He hoped she would be done soon, because there wasnt a lot of time left before he needed to meet Avery and Tyron.

Brandis hair, for the first time since Thomas got ahold of it with the Mana Clippers, was finally somewhat grown out. It was still pretty short, but it had grown out at least four or five inches since the last time he saw her. Of course, her hair was very bedraggled, messy, and pushed back by the pair of goggles that she wasunlike what Malorie had saidwearing for eye protection.

As for the tools Brandi was using, they werent the same set that Derek was used to seeing. It looks like she finally started making her own sets of tools. Those look to be a much better fit for the current version of her. Obviously, the tools were basically the same as before. Only, they were smaller and fit the young girls form much better. However, her current tools were already well worn, and Derek suspected that it was almost time for her to be making another set soon.

But as he waited, Derek felt the time go by slowly. After a bit over ten minutes passed, he was thinking about leaving Brandi to her work and going to meet Avery at the Crown. However, just before he left, the clanging of Brandis hammer ceases and she raised the blade up in front of her eyes with a pair of tongs.

He watched as the young smith nodded her head, then placed the blade back down on the anvil. Finally, she pushed her goggles back, revealing the rest of her soot covered face. Derek inwardly laughed. It seemed that out of all the professions that she had access to, she preferred the smithing side. Just about every time Derek had visited her while she was in the middle of a craft, she was smithing instead of leatherworking or doing alchemy or something else.

A new weapon? Derek asked as he took a step forward.

Brandi looked over Dereks way, then back to the blade, then, as if something clicked, her head whipped back in Dereks direction and she yelled, Derek! At that, she threw the gloves off her hands and kicked off the groundclosing the distance between the two of them in an instant.

Derek soon found himself wrapped up in a huge hug. He actually felt much more pressure from the girl than he was expecting. I wonder just how high her strength stat is right now. Derek reached down and pat the young girl on the top of the head, just as hed always done. Hey Brandi, he said. Your eyebrows arent anywhere near as non-existent as Mal made them out to be.

Thats not funny! Brandi said in a muffled voice from her hug. Youre back? Brandi asked as she broke the hug and backed away a couple of steps before looking up at him and rubbing her hand over her eyebrows. For good? The dungeon is finished?

Im back, Derek replied. I cant say that Im back for good because I need to go help Edgar and Alanah here in a bit. But Im out of the dungeon, and I dont think Im going to be going to another time altered dungeon any time soon. Well, unless the time is backwards from how it was in the raid, then that wouldnt be so bad. I also think Im done with raid dungeons for the time being.

Thats good, Brandi said as the tears that had begun to build up in her eyes when she first saw Derek finally fell down her cheeks, leaving a couple of tear lines in the soot covering her face. This stupid war needs to be finished. Everyones so worried and depressed.

What about your sales? Derek asked. Isnt the war good for those?

It doesnt matter, Brandi said. Im only one person. I doubt I would be able to keep up with the customers regularly, much less right now with the war going on. There is also a shortage of crafting materials She pouted. Nobody wants to take the chance to gather materials while theres a war.

So thats the real reason, Derek thought. He turned his head and looked at Silvi resting on his shoulder, then looked back at Brandi. Silvi only calls her a maniac because she crafts items and not food. Really, they are mostly the same. I see, Derek said. I did bring back some pretty good materials for you to use, but I dont have them on me right now to give you.

Really? Brandis eyes lit up even brighter. You always bring back the best materials.

I think youre really going to enjoy what I have this time, Derek then summoned Harbinger and held it out. They were used to make this weaponVoids Harbingerand the armor that Im currently wearing.

No, Brandi smiled. Thats the whole core! She seemed very proud.

What? Once again, Derek looked harder at the small blue gem set in the hilt. How did you manage that?

It took a lot of work, and in the end, I wasted a bunch of the water mana cores, but I was finally able to create a set of runes to shrink the core while maintaining a good portion of its mana storing capability, the smith explained.

Oh? 6,500 extra points of mana isnt bad at all. How much of the cores capacity did it retain? Derek asked.

It should be just over forty percent. Most of the mana cores can hold around 15,000 points of mana. Im still slowly working on my runes and increasing the capacity. Hopefully, Ill be able to get one hundred percent one day. But I think thats a long way away.

This is a fantastic product, Brandi. Great job! Derek praised, and he meant it. He had also had the thoughts about using the cores as sort of mana batteries, but he had no clue how to do it. Brandi actually took what he was thinking and made it possible. Theres so much you could do with this. Im looking forward to seeing what else you come up with.

Brandi beamed at Dereks compliment. Thank you! Derek handed her the sword back, and she put it away. Finally, she frowned slightly. How much longer until you leave? she asked with a pout.

Not long, unfortunately, Derek replied. In fact, I should probably head out soon.

Be careful! Brandi said, then embraced Derek once again.

I will I will. Derek pat her on the top of her head again. But I guess I really should get going. Ill be back in no time.

Fine It seemed hard, but Brandi was eventually able to peel herself away from Derek. Just hurry.

Ill try, Derek said, then smiled. By the way. All that material I said you could have

Yeah?

Its with your mom. You can tell her that I said you could go through my storage items and get what you want out of them.

Really?

Really, Derek said. Be careful with them, though. Im not sure youre at a high enough level that you should be working with them yet.

I will! Dont worry!

With that, Derek and Silvi left Brandi standing in the middle of the basement, salivating at the thought of getting her hands on such a great material.

Malories going to kill me