System Change

Chapter 456: Making Gains

For the next while, Derek, Alanah, and her Deathsworn continuously ran the dungeon—instantly restarting it as soon as they came out due to having the correct number of participants. If Derek had to pick one thing about the dungeon that he wasn’t a fan of, it would be the fact that each wave had a time limit. Sure, it was a minor thing, but he knew that if the waves ended as soon as all the enemies fell, they would have been able to farm many more cores than they were.

Of course, the problem was really not a problem at all, as it forced Derek to focus more on his skill levels. However, with the assistance of the Deathsworn, even if they were able to run through the dungeon with no time limits, he suspected that it would be just fine.

Speaking of the Deathsworn, while Derek was working on his own skills, Alanah was experimenting with her Deathsworn. Early on, she had decided to test out as many ways as she could think of to deactivate the golem cores before they exploded, and after some time, she had quite a bit of success. A couple of times, she substituted the Deathsworn that were waiting outside for the ones that went in with her.

Through this, she found different combinations of attacks and elements that could stop the explosion of the cores. With those experiments came meticulous note taking, which was something that Derek hadn’t really seen her do. When he asked her about it, she said that it would be easier to write the strategies down now, and just have one of her Deathsworn deliver those notes to the Cydarian Royal Family once they were through with the dungeon—that way, Alanah wouldn’t have to waste any of her precious time on the matter.

This was all well and good for Derek. Because of the timer, Alanah was able to do all of this without wasting said time. She was really packing everything into the short time she had left before ascending.

Eventually, Derek lost track of how many times they completed the dungeon. However, it had to have been a lot because for the first time in a long time, one of his Achievements leveled up. He hadn’t even been sure that they would be able to after the interference of the Origin System, so when his Repetitive Dungeoneer Achievement turned into Major Repetitive Dungeoneer, he couldn’t help but smile.

The upgrade to the Achievement had given him an extra 5% bonus to obtaining reward when completing a dungeon he’d already completed before—taking the total up to an impressive 15%. Currently, he was receiving the reward for completing the dungeon again, one out of every six or seven times. Of course, he wasn’t getting the skill increase potion every time—instead, his loot was a mix of different potions. Still, every time he received a useful potion, he was happy.

Alanah, on the other hand, already had Greater Repetitive Dungeoneer. With her age and experience, it only made sense that it was one of her highest tiered Achievements.

Unfortunately, that Achievement increasing in rarity brought with it more questions. Dave had told him that he had received the ‘The Bigger They Are’ Achievement because it was a ‘universal’ Achievement. Now he wondered if the Repetitive Dungeoneer Achievement was considered a universal Achievement or if he was able to increase its level solely because it was one that he had already unlocked. Then again, it could easily be both.

“I think I’m through fighting golems for now,” Derek said to Alanah once they appeared outside of the dungeon again. “You’ve pretty much done all the experiments that you can think of already, so we’re just wasting your time right now when we could be doing something to help you.”

“I don’t mind,” Alanah replied before bringing a chair out to sit in. “The stronger you are, the better. I’m pretty much capped out on what I can do for myself—other than consuming Void Beasts. Really, I just need some time getting back into the swing of things again after not truly adventuring for quite the long time.”

“I understand,” Derek replied as he sat beside her in his own chair. The Deathsworn all stood around them—there wasn’t a point in wasting fine seating on them. “But there is plenty you want or need to do before you leave, and I can always come back here if I need to work on leveling my skills more or farming cores.”

“Speaking of cores,” Alanah said, then tossed Derek a couple of storage rings. “I have so many, and really don’t have a need for them.”

“Maybe,” Derek said as he checked out the contents in the rings. “But if the system lets you take all these things with you, then you may be missing out on something. What if they don’t know about the cores where you’re going? They could fetch a great price—kind of like my coffee.”

“Oh, I know,” Alanah replied, then held her hand out. It contained even more rings. “But I have plenty, just in case.”

“I see,” Derek said, then flicked his wrist and stored the rings he was holding inside his storage bracelet.

“I also have other things that I plan to try to take along that could help me get started somewhere else,” Alanah explained. “However, I’m sure my items and their rarity will be low if I end up in a place with more powerful people and beasts. There is almost no way that I won’t. It will be like starting over again—the thrill of fighting for your life. The excitement of surviving a battle that you shouldn’t have—of growing stronger than you ever dreamed possible.”

“You certainly make it sound exciting,” Derek laughed.

“As I said, my growth has basically been stagnant for years now. Of course it’s exciting,” she replied. “Anyway, how have you progressed over the last week or so?” she asked.

“Hmm...” Derek rubbed his chin in thought as he pulled up his new and improved status sheet and took a quick glance.

Status

Personal Information

Name:

Age:

Level:

Experience:

Class:

Race:

Derek Hunt

30

242

762,866,481,050/7,900,000,000,000

Void Monarch (Mythical)

Human (Void)

Health:

Mana:

Stamina:

Shared Skills from Companion: Active Void Shift Lv. 10, Void Lightning Bolt Lv. 10

Shared Skills to Companion: Void Sense Lv. 10, Void Travel Lv. N/A

Skills Available to Share:

Absolute Nullify Lv. 10, Channel Void Lv. 10, Time Prison Lv. 10, Void Call Lv. 4, Void Sense Lv. 10, Void Shift Lv. 10, Void Steps Lv. 10, Void Storage Lv. N/A, Void Travel Lv. N/A

Achievements

Greater Giant Slayer, Jack of All, Lesser Dungeon Explorer, Lesser Dungeon Traveler, Lesser Enigma, Lesser Enforcer of Oaths, Major Repetitive Dungeoneer, Minor Slayer of the Unknown, Solo Diver, Magical Glass Cannon, Meat Shield, Lesser Explorer, Offensive Powerhouse, The Bigger They Are

“I...” He started. “Well... let’s just say that golems have been kind to me.” Derek chuckled as he moved his eyes back to the top and began going over all his gains in detail.

First off, he’d gained 13 whole levels in the dungeon. Or... I ‘only’ gained 13 levels, he thought. If it was before the Deathsworn had come along, he would have been level 250 long ago. However, splitting every kill he made with five other people drastically slowed his base level, and he couldn’t be more happy with it.

There were still good things that came with his 13 new levels, and that was the over 450 new stat points that he received on top of those that he had yet to spend. He was currently sitting on a massive 526 stat points, and he knew exactly what he was going to do with them. Once he was ready, he would increase his dexterity to 1500 points, then toss the remaining points into strength.

Strength was good and all, but he had to admit that he preferred the lighter feeling and easier movement that came along with increased dexterity. It was the same for intelligence and wisdom. He preferred the clear-headedness that came along with wisdom over the thick and strong magic density that increased with intelligence.

After going over his stat points, he moved down to the real meat and potatoes... his skills.

First of all, Absolute Nullify had hit level 20 towards the end of the dungeon running. He now had one of the strongest defensive skills he’d seen maxed out, and, after hearing Alanah talk about the excitement of new adventures, he couldn’t wait to test it out in a situation where he actually needed it. Until then, he had it as a defensive ace in the hole.

His Bare Fist Specialty had also leveled some, and he now had another choice to make. His previous increased durability from his first choice had jumped from 5% to 10%, and he was left with another upgrade option.

Choose Upgrade

Power, Swiftness, or Density

Huh... there’s a new upgrade for it. I wonder what density will do. He thought about it for a bit and decided that the most likely case would be that density would make his fists heavier and more durable, but would most likely decrease the speed at which he could swing them. Overall, he preferred density to power as his void element didn’t have much need for the power in the punch, but he preferred swiftness even more. The faster I can hit, the more damage I will be able to do with my void. So, looking at the list, Derek chose to increase his bare fist’s swiftness.

Swiftness Selected

The speed and quickness that you can use your bare fists have increased by 10 percent. Continue to level the skill to select more upgrades.

Instantly after selecting the upgrade, Derek felt the skin on his hands grow taught—so much so that he thought that there was a possibility that a bone or two was actually going to break, even with his durability. Soon, though, the tightness disappeared and his hands felt lighter. Derek balled them into fists and threw a few punches into the air. It was hard to notice the increase, but it was definitely there. And it looks like the upgrades start out all at the same increase—I just have to unlock them before I get them.

“Are you okay?” Alanah asked as she looked at him with raised eyebrows.

“Fine,” he replied with a little embarrassment. “Just checking out some upgrades.”

“Oh,” Alanah replied. “Go on ahead,” she said, and he nodded.

Pleased with his new punching ability, Derek continued his way down the list and snorted when he saw that Chain Lightning was maxed. It was such a cool skill that just happened to be almost entirely useless for him with his void affinity. Still, he had it, so why not level it? His Cleaning skill had also jumped a little because of all the dust he had to continuously clean off of himself, and his Cure Toxin skill had done the same when he fought against poisonous and toxic golems.

Whew... Derek thought as his eyes found his Fire Resistance skill. That was the easiest it’s ever been to level any skill to max. It had reached level 20 all in a single dungeon—ran many, many times.

Greater Meditation had also gained a level, and he was more happy for it than almost anything else. It had been a pain ever since he got it. Sometimes he wished he received all those upgrade points that Brandi got so he could just level it easily. But I can’t even get those from this system anymore it seems. With a shrug, Derek moved to Identify and was saddened that it hadn’t changed to an upgraded form. There’s still a chance, though, he thought. Maybe it just has to work its way through level twenty before turning into a level one Greater Identify or something.

His Mental Resistance gained four levels thanks to Alanah’s assistance. He had told her about it, and she had occasionally been sending commands to him while in her siren form for him to resist so he could speed up the leveling process. It wouldn’t be long until that skill was at twenty.

Derek’s greatest gains this time around came from Multi-Strike. It had finally hit level twenty and with it, his attack damage had increased greatly. His Polearm Specialty hadn’t moved because he hadn’t used Harbinger during the raids. He would be risking damaging the cores if he used it, but after seeing the upgrade for his fists, he wanted to lean on his glaive a bit more in the future to gain those levels.

After viewing all of that, he looked over his newest skills—Powerstride, Spatial Collapse, Spatial Redirection, Spatial Rend, and Whirlwind Slash had all gained some levels. Unlike Chain Lightning, every level that those skills gained actually increased his combat ability.

Finally, the two skills that he was focusing on the most during the dungeon runs had made great gains. Void Shift—another one of the harder to level skills—had increased three whole levels, and Void Steps was only a single level away from level twenty.

Happy with his gains, Derek closed his status sheet and let out a content sigh.

“Well?” Alanah asked.

“What?” he asked back before remembering. “Oh, you wanted to know how much progress I made...” Derek then told her about all of his gains. “Now all I have to really focus on is my shifting ability and my calling ability and I will be set,” he said. Naturally, Void Steps would hit twenty just because of how common it was for him to use it.

“That’s astounding,” Alanah replied. “Your increased stats at level one that you had have certainly made it easier for you to grow powerful.”

“Indeed, they have,” he replied with a nod.

Alanah looked around the area—scanning their surroundings and her Deathsworn—then said, “Are you sure you don’t want to stay here longer?”

“I’m sure,” Derek said. “Just give me a couple minutes to distribute some stat points, then we can go. Speaking of... where to next?”