System Change: Chapter 15

Derek was excited to see that he would get something new from slaying the Void Beast and that it was not all for nothing. I hope it’s a passive increase. I really miss the titles from the other system. That system was so nice. I wouldn’t mind something else cool, though. A new skill or something wouldn’t be bad. Or a new weapon… Derek looked at his glaive. Seeing the chip on the blade saddened him. No, not a new weapon. This one is just fine.

He viewed his new achievement.

Something seemed off about the achievement. That’s a much better explanation from the system than I’m used to receiving. He wondered if the system had a vested interest in those creatures. If it did, it would make sense why it had finally properly explained something.

The rewards aren’t bad, either. Skill points are always needed… same with stat points. He rolled his eyes at the level-up reward. It would have been better to receive that later when levels were hard to obtain. As of right now, he could sneeze and gain a new level.

He was most intrigued by the skill upgrade points. Neither the boy nor Leon had said anything about them. He focused on the points and read the description. It was self-explanatory.

He had the compulsion to stick all three points into Heavy Weapons Mastery right then and there. Eventually, he calmed down and thought about it. That would be dumb. I should save these for higher-level skills like Greater Meditation. I’m sure Heavy Weapons Mastery won’t take too long to level if I focus on battling with my glaive. Derek put the new skill upgrade points out of his head and moved to the next notification.

Yup… no sense in spending points on it. He moved to the next message.

Two levels in one fight… not bad. He didn’t completely understand what the skill did. He had his suspicions, but no matter what, he knew it was powerful. Derek pulled the skill information up, wanting to see how the levels upgraded it.

There was no change in the description, but the mana the skill used lessened. It could have been better, but I can’t complain. It’s already a powerful skill, so the longer I can use it, the better.

Derek wanted to get a better idea of what the skill actually did. He looked down at the slain creature. Reaching down, he rolled the Void Beast’s corpse over onto its back. He looked at the faint mark drawn down the creature’s chest, the one left by his final blow. Didn’t even puncture the skin, he thought.

Derek took a dagger from his bracelet and tried to slice the chest open. He couldn’t get the dagger to cut. Holy shit! The skin is still as strong as it was before. Derek had thought that the creature may have been enforcing its skin with a skill. He’d seen it before.

Most creatures with great defense had some kind of passive skill supporting their endurance. But once the monster died, that passive skill would disappear, making the creature much easier to dismantle.

I wish I would have picked up the Dismantle skill a long time ago. He’d always gotten by using his strength and dexterity to carve materials from the beasts. The process wasn’t pretty, and the materials didn’t come out as good as they would have if he’d used the Dismantle skill, but they still sold for a good amount. He never really needed the skill.

Now, he was second-guessing himself. If he had the Dismantle skill leveled even a little, he could probably carve the beast. The skill gave the user buffs when it came to dismantling a corpse. It also helped the user correctly remove the vital materials.

It was such a basic skill that cost little, yet he never picked it up. I’m such a dumbass. I could have bought the skill from the system shop at any time, yet I refused to buy it because it didn’t seem necessary. He shook his head. Well… I’m not making that mistake again.

Derek pulled the list of General Skills up and looked until he found the skill.

He immediately learned the skill.

Damn… now I’m running low on skill points again. He took his dagger and tried to slice the beast’s chest open again. Still, he was unable to get through. He wasn’t disappointed, though. It can’t be helped. I can’t expect a level 1 Dismantle skill to help that much.

Derek gave up on his impromptu autopsy and stored his weapons. He then reached over to the Void Beast and stored its body before looking back to where the village was. Before I leave, I’m going to gather as many beast corpses as I can so I can level the skill.

With his new plan in mind, he viewed his remaining notifications.

“Go screw yourself.” He moved on to the next notification.

That must be the reward for the achievement. He dismissed the window and viewed the last notification.

You’ve got to be kidding me. Stingy-ass system. No XP? None? What’s this 0/600 shit? Don’t tell me that the Automatic Level-Up reward just filled up the amount of experience I needed to get to the next level. He was livid. He continued cursing the system for a while before he calmed down. Whatever… I shouldn’t expect anything less from this scam of a system.

He viewed his status.

Not bad. Derek enjoyed comparing his stats to his level. Pretty good for a lowly level 11.

Derek walked back toward the abandoned village. When he reached the back gate, he went inside. Whistling as he strolled through the area, he stored corpse after corpse in his storage bracelet. Bunny… bunny… wolf… wolf… bear… no, too big. He ended up storing 23 corpses in his bracelet. When he finished, he focused on his bracelet and frowned. Looks like it’s getting pretty full.

He walked out of the front gate, his gaze moving in the direction of the refugees. I still have a kid to find and take home.