System Change

Chapter 441: Antsy

Derek’s day-to-day life fell into another lull with Marrick gone and Shae grounded—this time, possibly for forever. So, when Thomas came around, he jumped at the chance to help the boy out. Besides, training with the boy gave him something fun and entertaining to do—something to keep him occupied. He looked forward to every time the boy got a day off.

After sparring for a while, Derek even took Thomas out to ‘fight’ monsters and beasts. It wasn’t just any kind of fighting, though. Derek put Thomas up against beasts that the young teen could not possibly hold a candle to. It wasn’t a punishment or anything like it, as the boy happily agreed to the idea, and was very excited about it. Derek was there for safety, and Thomas didn’t have to worry about killing the monsters and increasing his level because he couldn’t actually kill the monsters.

Well, he wasn’t supposed to have been able to kill them, but he somehow managed to down one of them. It was a Razorback Swine. Thomas seemed abnormally good when fighting against pig-type enemies. However, when Derek saw that the pig was about to bleed out, he hit it with a quick Spatial Rend to finish it off so Thomas wouldn’t get the full experience points. The boy did, however, end up with quite the amount of skill level ups during their day hunting.

None of this would have been possible for Thomas and Derek—well, it would have, but it wouldn’t have been ‘okay’—if not for the academy removing all the restrictions it had during the war, and even loosening up their former ones for the current students who missed a lot during that time.

The biggest reason that Derek chose this method of helping to train the boy—other than the experience of fighting something that was more powerful than himself, but not impossible to beat—was because the boy’s second team dungeon was coming up soon. With the kingdoms’ teleporters all linked and very lax, dozens of new dungeons in the level range of the students became available, and it became easier to book dungeon runs for the classes.

Thomas and his class would have a very hectic schedule of dungeon diving soon. They were about to make up for all the dungeon time they had missed in the previous year.

“Remember,” Derek said as he walked the student to the teleportation building, causing Thomas to look up at him. “Don’t just accept anyone who wants you on their team. Choose your teammates wisely.” Derek knew that it wasn’t something that needed to be said to the boy again, but he chose to say it anyway.

“I know,” Thomas replied. “I’ve already talked with Syd and Eric, and we are going to form a team. If we can find a decent healer who can work well with us, we may try to run some of the harder dungeons in our level range. I think we can do it, but if we can’t, we will at least have the escape scrolls provided by the academy to those at the top who want to test themselves. Though using such a rare scroll comes with its own set of consequences.”

“Mhm...” Derek agreed, then looked around the area before swiftly handing Thomas two escape scrolls that he’d managed to get his hands on over the last few weeks. “Just in case. I hope you don’t have to use them.”

“Thank you!” Thomas said with wide eyes.

“Can’t have you dying on me because of something like picking the wrong dungeon, now can I?” Derek said with a chuckle.

“No, I guess not,” Thomas replied, then sighed. “It’s a shame that these scrolls are so rare,” he said as he put them away into his storage ring. “There wouldn’t be as many dungeon casualties if they could be provided to everyone.”

“There wouldn’t, but at the same time, some students would probably misuse the scrolls and take them for granted if they were given out so easily.” Derek said and smiled warmly at the kid. Even after his experiences, Thomas was still a kindhearted boy. “But I don’t care about everyone else. You take care of yourself first, then you can worry about others later. Remember what I said to you when we first met? One of the most important things about living in a world like this?”

“Be an asshole?” Thomas said with a grin.

“That’s right,” Derek replied. “Be an asshole, get strong, then be a hero. You can’t save anyone or anything if you’re already dead.” It’s good to see that my sage wisdom has been taken so seriously by the boy. He’s going to go far.

“I’ll remember,” Thomas said. “Me first, then whoever I can help after.”

Finally, Derek walked upstairs to see all the work being done there. Gone were all the bedrooms on his side of the floor. Derek had made sure that it was the first area that they worked with, as he didn’t actually need any sleep, so it didn’t matter to him if he no longer had a bedroom for a while.

Luckily, it took them no time to create the sitting room, and Derek had already decorated it with all the extra chairs except for his own. There was an open space in the corner of the room specifically for him, which he walked over to and placed his chair. Derek popped the footrest up and leaned back to relax.

“You’re getting antsy,” Malorie’s voice sounded out as she walked through the door into the sitting room. She didn’t bother keeping her chair stored, so she walked over and sat in it.

“What do you mean?” Derek asked.

“You’re constantly up and about looking for something to do,” she answered. “This is the longest you’ve stayed put since we met you, as far as I know.”

“Maybe,” Derek said. He couldn’t disagree with the woman. He had such a nice place in a nice city, but the longer he was there, the more anxious he became. He still had experience—or essence—to get and skill levels to earn. Even back on Earth after the system came, he went out hunting and fighting by himself very often and only stayed in his cabin to rest or to heal from a particularly hard fight... or a beating from Jace.

“No maybe,” Malorie said. “You are, and we can all see it. It’s the same reason we told you to go on the raid. You were already running out of things to do in the city back then. You should go hunt, explore. Don’t forget about that skill you have. You’re what? Less than a minute away from your home, no matter where you are in the kingdom?”

“Something like that,” Derek said.

“I’m pretty sure you don’t enjoy watching Brandi crafter her items near as much as you make it seem you do,” Malorie said. “And I know Thomas appreciates the one-on-one time with you—probably more than either of us know—but, so what if you miss training with him occasionally? I think he needs time to visit instead of just coming from the academy straight to training with you. He definitely enjoys his time with you massively, but his grandparents also enjoy their time with them.”

“Ah,” Derek said. “I guess that’s true. I have been pushing him a lot lately and hovering around Brandi, now that I think about it. They are both growing fast.”

“Yes, they are,” Malorie said. “And that’s all thanks to you.”

“I guess,” Derek said.

“So, why don’t you go do something? Reward yourself. Have a little fun,” Malorie said.

“I will,” Derek replied. “I’ve made the plans, at least, but Alanah and Avery have gone dark.” Derek had made plans to go adventuring with Alanah and to hunt Void Beasts with Avery, and he was ready, but he hadn’t heard from either of them since they got back. He didn’t want to be gone if one of them came looking for him.

“That is my fault,” a seductive voice that he would recognize anywhere sounded from outside the door. “I really like what you’ve done to the place,” Alanah said as she strolled inside with Stella on her hip. “I think... we need to have a chat.”