System Change

Chapter 45: Like Clockwork

After watching the two close the cabin door, Derek and Rayna got to business. Soon they fell into a pattern. Derek would aggro a pack of wolves, Rayna would take one out alone, they would share XP on two, and the remaining two wolves would be left to Malorie and Thomas.

It was not long before the area was completely bereft of wolves. They had decimated seven packs already. The wolves ranged from level 44 to 49. Luckily, Derek only shared half the experience for 14 wolves, earning him just over 3,200 XP and a level.

Rayna, on the other hand, was making leaps and bounds. As she only had a rare class, the experience points that she needed to level was a quarter less than what Derek needed. She had killed 7 beasts by herself, along with sharing 14 kills with Derek. She had leveled up twice and was on the verge of leveling again. She was currently at level 33.

As for Thomas and Malorie, Thomas was at level 22 and Malorie was level 23. They were both closing in on their next class decision.

Derek surveyed the area, he could see a pile of wolves laying at the outside of the cabin. As they were moving fast, Malorie was unable to Dismantle fast enough to keep up with the supply.

“What now?” Rayna asked.

“There are only a few bears and some critters left. Do you think you can take the bears by yourself?” He asked her. The bears had a much higher defense than the wolves did. He was not sure that her Wind Blade would be able to severely injure them as it did the wolves.

“I can give it a try. If not, we can just go in and share the experience on them. The others won’t be able to get anything from the bears, but you can always capture the smaller monsters for them to kill.” Rayna gave her idea.

“Sounds good to me. Let’s go.” Derek said, and the two headed out towards the closest bear. When the duo made it close enough to the bear to be able to hit it with Rayna’s skill, they stopped.

“I’m going to start from a distance and see if I can cut it down before it gets to me. If it gets too close, I’m in your hands.” She flashed Derek a bright smile. He just shook his head and laughed.

Rayna took a stance and a blue-green glow appeared on her sword. She slashed. The blue-green crescent flew towards her foe, hitting it on the back of the neck. It drew blood. Rayna scoffed. “Not deep enough.” She brought her sword back to its original position with a motion, sending another blade of wind at the now angry bear.

Derek watched, entranced, as the beautiful woman used her arm like a whip, sending a crescent of wind at the bear with every motion. Blade after blade flew at the bear. There was almost no downtime between Wind Blades. The creature never stood a chance. Before it was even halfway to them, it collapsed on the ground.

Rayna was breathing heavily. “14. It took 14 Wind Blades to take it down.” She said.

Derek almost felt sorry for the bear. Not only was it hit with blade after blade, the accuracy Rayna exhibited was astounding. The majority of the blades had hit the bear in previously injured places. One blade may not have dealt severe injuries to the monster, but three blades all placed at the exact same spot sure as hell did.

“How’s your mana?” He asked.

“I still have more than half. I can kill one more before I need to meditate.” She responded.

They went after the next bear. It only took 12 Wind Blades to kill it. After the battle, or slaughter, Rayna meditated while Derek kept watch.

Soon, all eight remaining bears were dead, and Rayna was a level 35. She was actually able to kill one of the bears in seven strikes.

With the bears dead, Derek hunted down and caught the few remaining smaller beasts. He brought them back for Thomas and Malorie to kill. It turned out to be more than enough XP for the both of them to level to 25, leaving one monster left in the zone. Derek hoped that the mass killing of enemies over double their levels would lead to some good class options.

He held the squirrel-like creature and went into the cabin with the rest of the group. Derek watched Thomas as the boy closed his eyes. He saw a frantic look appear on the boy’s face. “What is it?” He asked.

“T-the growth spear class is gone.” Thomas said, defeated.

Derek let out a sigh. “That’s okay. Sort your possible classes by rarity and see what you get.”

The other three watched Thomas with bated breaths. Malorie was adamant about waiting for the boy’s selection before she began with hers.

Soon, a sigh of relief came out of the boy’s mouth.

“What is it?” Derek asked.

I have another spear class. I don’t have any growth type classes this time, but the new spear class is a rare class. It’s called ‘Soul Spear,’ and focuses on piercing damage.

Derek nodded his head. “That’s good. Not a bad class.”

Thomas nodded and closed his eyes. Soon, a light flashed over the boy and he opened his eyes again. He sighed. “I’m going to miss Stealth.” Soon, he smiled. “I get three Strength, two Vitality, and ten free stat points per level. I also got ten skill points and access to three skills.” Thomas then frowned. “But the skills are really expensive. For all three, it costs eight skill points. Oh well, that still leaves me two free skill points for general skills.”

“Are your skills good? Better than your other class?” Brandi spoke up and asked the question on everyone’s minds.

Thomas smiled. “Yes. They are. I have Soul Spear, it’s the same as my class name, it lets me send a projection of my spear forward in a thrust that deals extra piercing damage. I think it’s like an extension of my spear. I also got Flurry and Spear Specialist. The first lets me release a flurry of attacks for a mana price, and the other is a passive skill that increases my spear mastery.”

Derek nodded. “Definitely not a bad class.” He remembered his first class, which only had an uncommon rating. In fact, his class from the other system was not that great at all. All of his power came from the Titles he had received and their rewards.

Derek turned to Malorie. “Your turn.”

“Okay.” She closed her eyes. Her face went through a variety of emotions as she was looking through her possible classes. Soon, her facial expression stayed on what looked like confusion.

Seeing her confusion, Derek spoke. “What is it?”

“I don’t have any rare or better classes, but I have an uncommon growth type class. Only, I’m not sure about it.” She answered. “It’s called ‘Ohm’s Fury.’ It’s a staff type class, but it doesn’t have many descriptions. 12 free stat points to use, but only one class skill. I mean, it’s a growth type class, so I should pick it, right?” She looked at Derek.

“I mean, I would. If you like using the staff and aren’t afraid of losing your current skills. Who knows what it could upgrade into.” He replied.

Mal let out a breath. “You’re right. I actually don’t have any class skills, only general skills. I wasn’t hunting or anything, so I never saw the point.” She closed her eyes again.

Soon, a blinding green light fell over the woman. When Derek was able to see again, he saw a fire-like green glow fading into Malorie’s body. “Woah, that was cool for an uncommon class.” he chuckled.

“T-this skill…” Malorie muttered.

“What?” Derek asked.

“It’s called Ohm’s Might. It… It’s amazing… I think. It doubles my Strength and Endurance stats for two minutes, but leaves me exhausted and out of mana after use.”

“Almost like a berserker skill.” Derek said. “Still, it’s a great trump card. And, you can use it in combination with Meditation during training and level both of them at the same time.”

Soon, Malorie frowned again. “It costs eight skill points. The class only gave me seven. If it weren’t for the extra skill point from the Minor Giant Slayer award I got earlier, I wouldn’t even be able to buy it.” She sighed. “Here goes nothing.” She closed her eyes and learned the skill.

“So. How does it level? Does it say? Increase duration?” Derek asked, he was very intrigued at the woman’s class.

“Actually, it says it increases duration and buff as it levels.” She said, surprised.

“Damn. Who knows, you may be able to get a tenfold increase by the time you level it all the way. Congratulations.” He said. “I don’t need to tell you how to distribute your stat points, right?” He asked.

“No. Seems pretty obvious. Strength, Endurance, Vitality, and a little Dexterity, in that order. Luckily, I haven’t been spending the points for these levels.”

Derek nodded. “Sounds good.” He looked back at Rayna. “You ready for round two?”

“I was waiting on you.” She said.

The two walked out. Before closing the door, Derek held the squirrel-like creature up. “Thomas, you mind giving this guy a farewell?”

A spear was thrust from inside. It went through the little creature’s heart. It was an instant kill. “Thanks.” Derek tossed the monster inside the cabin and closed the door.

Soon, pillars of light started popping up everywhere. One after another, beasts began to spawn. This time, there were no little creatures, and after using Identify on some of the monsters, Derek realized that everyone of them were level 50. No more, no less.

The most common creature was still the wolf, but they were nearly twice as big as the ones before, and were in packs of seven instead of five. They looked like Direwolves. There were also huge boar with rhino-like horns growing from their heads.

“Unicorn pigs?” Derek asked, flabbergasted. I wonder if the bacon tastes like skittles.

A few hawks were also flying around. There were only three that he could count, and he did not see any in the few trees around. Derek walked over to a small boulder and bashed it. It broke into smaller pieces. He threw the stones at the flying creatures. He did not want Rayna to get hurt because of a flying monster swooping down.

He hit two, but missed the third. I’m going to have to pump a few points into Dexterity. Kill notification popped up for the two that he hit. The third hawk changed its flight trajectory and flew towards him. Perfect. Seeing the last hawk coming his way, he picked up another stone and threw. The final kill notification popped, along with a level up alert. He checked his new status.

Status

Name

Derek Hunt

Age

29

Level

32

Experience

620/4450

Class

Champion of the Void (Epic)

Race

Human (Modified)

Health

5250

Mana

2150

Stamina

5150

Defense

51 (Armor + 0)

Attack

49 (Weapon + 0)

Stats

Strength

360

Dexterity

260

Endurance

515

Vitality

525

Intelligence

220

Wisdom

215

Stat Points Remaining

438

Skills

Channel Void

Level 5

Channel the Void through your body, into attacks or defenses.

Cure Toxin

Level 1

Removes poisons and toxins.

Dismantle

Level 11

Increase ability to dismantle deceased organic life forms.

Greater Meditation

Level 2

Enter meditative state to increase recovery.

Heavy Weapons Mastery

Level 18

Increase damage with heavy weapons.

Identify

Level 12

Appraise objects or entities.

Magic Resistance

Level 6

Increase natural magic resistance by 1.5% per level.

Rejuvenation

Level 8

Restores 40% HP over 30 seconds.

Void Call

Level 1

Call out to the Void.

Void Sense

Level 1

Sense the void.

Void Shift

Level 1

Become one with and move within the void.

Skill Points Remaining

7

Skill Upgrade Points Remaining

4

Awards

Greater Giant Slayer, Jack of All, Lesser Dungeon Explorer, Lesser Slayer of the Unknown, Meat Shield, Lesser Explorer

Not bad. He looked at Rayna. “Wolves first. Get ready.”