It had been over a month since Derek left on his quest to upgrade the Giant Slayer achievement. Now, he could tell that he and the bunny were drawing closer and closer to the edge of the forest. During their travels, Silvi was just as aggressive towards any creature as before. However, she had relented and no longer attacked Derek.
Derek had done a remarkable job of not earning any more experience since leveling to 18. In fact, he was so worried about getting more experience that he didn’t support the bunny in her fights as much as usual.
What troubled him most was the level 25 dungeons that he wanted to complete. At level 18, he wasn’t sure if he could enter and complete more than one, maybe two, before out-leveling them. Of course, he didn’t know how many beasts he would have to slay in a dungeon, but he figured it would not be a small amount.
As the pair traveled, the forest slowly became lusher and more vibrant. They had reached the point in the forest where the undying disease had had little impact. Other than the creature struggling under his arm, the levels of the surrounding creatures were now only in the mid to upper 20s. This wasn’t much for the bunny anymore, but she did not seem to care, still attacking any and all other beasts. Derek did not mind this either as he was able to increase his Dismantle skill at a rapid pace.
In fact, Derek had made substantial progress in the last couple of weeks. His Dismantle skill had leveled up to 10, Identify had made it to level 12, and Rejuvenation had leveled again, making it level 6. He could now actually cut into the Void Beast’s corpse with his dagger. He hadn’t dismantled it yet, though, as he wanted to do it in a quiet place with no possibility of being interrupted.
As he approached the edge of the forest, he wondered how Thomas had been while he was gone. Though, thinking about it, his interest in the kid was irrational and unlike him. But, for some reason, he wanted to get back to the village and the villagers, too. He was there for less than a day, but he was strangely excited to be returning.
When he left the village initially, it was with his previous mindset. Sure, he planned on returning to help the kid get a few extra skill points, and maybe run him through a dungeon or two, but as he traveled alone again, that anxious feeling seemed to latch on deeper in the pit of his stomach. At times, the feeling made him uneasy and even almost caused him to panic. He had decided to just ignore it and try not to think about it.
Finding the bunny and traveling with it had lessened the weird feeling he had, but it hadn’t gone away. The reason he was thinking about this now was that the feeling seemed to lessen with every step he took towards his return. For the first time in over a month, he actually picked up his pace.
Thomas had had a very interesting month. After Derek left, leaving him the Mana Clippers, his grandpa had come to find him. For the second time in a single day, he had found himself in the village chief’s residence.
There, he had been asked question after question about Derek. Now, he didn’t actually know much about Derek, but even answering the most basic questions left him feeling slimy. Eventually, he decided to answer with ‘I don’t know,’ or he just shook his head.
During the light interrogation, Rayna and the others had spotted the Mana Clippers in his hands. He flat-out refused to let anyone handle them. Of course, if the others wanted, he knew he wouldn’t be able to keep them. Luckily, dropping Derek’s name was enough to cause everyone to back off.
After leaving the interrogation, he spent his days playing with the magic weapon and counting down the days to his birthday. He had given himself the same haircut that he gave Derek when they first met and had kept cutting his hair every few days. Also, he had talked his grandpa and some other villagers into allowing him to cut their hair.
His greatest accomplishment was talking Brandi into a haircut. She had so much hair, and he could experiment with the clippers over and over before she had run out. He still winced when thinking about the slap he received once Brandi looked at herself in a mirror. He had to admit, he had gotten carried away. That was two weeks ago, at least, now. She had a modicum of hair back, but she was still close to bald.
Right now, Thomas was sitting on a small bench outside of Brandi and her mother’s residence, watching Brandi experiment on a hide. This was a hobby of his. When he was bored, he would always come and watch her work. Even with all the hides that Derek had left, she’d gone through them multiple times, taking previously completed works and deconstructing them, then making something else out of the material.
He had asked her what her Leatherworking level had risen to, but she only answered him with a gleaming smile and shook her head. He knew that if she could ever make it to level 10, there would be some kind of Leatherworking class waiting for her. And once she could get her hands on a crafting class, she could level up based on her work instead of killing monsters.
Thomas had fun messing around with the Mana Clippers, but he couldn’t help but feel envious of the passion she had for her craft. She was so focused on Leatherworking that he had seen her miss meals and completely ignore anything happening around her. Thomas shook his head and sighed.
He had turned 13 two days ago, but Derek had yet to return. On his birthday, his grandpa had brought him a level 11 frog to kill, but he refused. Sure, he wanted to unlock the Great System as soon as possible, but he promised Derek that he would wait until he returned. He knew it disappointed his grandpa, but he held a certain amount of faith in Derek.
A smack to the back of his head pulled him out of his daydream. He turned to look at the culprit and was surprised to see Brandi standing next to him. “Why did you stop crafting?” he asked her.
Brandi frowned at his question and pointed to her crafting area. “I think I’ve done everything I can with the hides Derek gave me. I’ve deconstructed them to death. I don’t think I have a single hide left that would survive another try.” She sighed and continued. “What about you? Why are you moping around here?”
Thomas could see the frustration in her eyes. I don’t know what she’ll do now that she can’t craft anymore. “I’m just wondering when Derek will get back. He told me to wait on him to unlock the Great System, but I don’t know how long that will be. What are your plans now that you’re out of hides?”
Brandi pouted. “I don’t know. I need to level up, but it’s scary out there right now. I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to get a class.” She seemed genuinely worried about that possibility.
“It’ll be fine. If your mom isn’t able to help you, I’m sure Grandpa will. Or Chief Rayna will. She’s nice enough, and it would be much easier if she helped.” He knew that, without her father, she would have to rely on others to help her reach level 10.
“Mhm, I’m sure you’re right.”
At this time, Derek had finally made his way to the edge of the forest. He walked out of the tree line and breathed in a deep breath while looking at the sky. Finally, he thought, then looked at the chipmunk squirming in his arms, then at Silvi. He could tell that she had been angry at him ever since he captured the chipmunk instead of letting her kill it. She can’t come to the village with me. She’ll cause a massacre.
“Silvi!” he yelled at the dumb animal to get its attention, “stay in the forest.” He pointed towards her as she had not left the forest yet. He started walking forward. Good, it seems like she doesn’t want to leave, anyway. He walked farther and noticed that the bunny had still not moved. He nodded and yelled at her. “I’ll come back in a few days. If you’re still here, you can keep following me.” He stared at the bunny and waited. Soon, Silvi turned and hopped back deeper into the forest.
Hmm… Maybe she’s smarter than I thought. Derek surveyed the area. “This way,” he said and started walking. Luckily, he was able to exit the forest close to where he had entered. This was made possible because of all the camps that he had made along the way.
It hadn’t taken long at all for Derek to see the village gates. As he got closer, he noticed the gates were closed tight. I guess that makes sense, especially with everything that’s going on.
He saw some guards looking out from the top of the gate. They had not spotted him yet. He continued walking until one of them saw him. He saw the two discussing something, and one of them climbed down.
“Halt!” the remaining guard yelled. “Who are you? What do you need?” There was no contempt directed at Derek. The guard was just direct. He answered.
“I’m Derek. You may have heard of me. I’m back for a bit. No need to go through the trouble of opening the gate.” Derek spoke, then jumped from where he was standing, landing next to the guard on the gate. The guard jumped in shock and nearly fell. Derek chuckled and patted the guard on the shoulder. “Keep at it,” he said and jumped down into the village.
After surveying the village, Derek took off towards where Brandi had been staying. First, I need to empty my storage.
When he arrived at the residence, it surprised him to find Thomas there. The boy was sitting on a bench with his back turned to Derek. Oh, I wonder who that boy is. It looks like Thomas has a friend. Derek looked at the shorter boy patting Thomas on the back. It seemed that he was trying to comfort him.
Soon, Derek’s face had an odd expression. They seem to be kind of… close. Hmm… I never suspected… The boy with the shaved head put his arm around Thomas and sat beside him. Derek chuckled. Well, whatever, good for him. Finally, he made his appearance known.
“Oi! Thomas. I’m back.” With that, the two boys jumped off the bench and turned around. He saw Thomas’s face as normal, but when the other boy turned around, he realized who it was. Holy shit, Thomas! What did you do to the poor girl? As soon as he recognized Brandi, he knew Thomas must have gone wild with the Mana Clippers.
Pushing down his laughter, he tried to act as casually as possible. “Uh, Thomas… Brandi… How are the two of you?”
Thomas was clearly excited to see him, but the nearly bald Brandi was the first to act. She ran up to Derek and began telling him about the last month. “Guess what? I got my Leatherworking skill all the way up to level 5. That’s almost the highest in the village. I ran out of hide, but I was able to break my crafts down and reuse them over and over. I can’t do that anymore because their durability is gone. Even so, isn’t that great? It is, right? Right?”
Brandi unloaded on Derek. He listened attentively until he could finally get a word in. “Oh? That’s fantastic! You didn’t have a hard time working with the higher-level hides?”
“Oh, that? Well, I did. But after straining and finally completing a craft, my skill leveled, and it became easier for me to work. I don’t have any good knives, so I had to go slow in the beginning until the skill leveled,” she answered with enthusiasm.
“Ah, I should have thought about that.” Derek shook his hand, and one of his many knives appeared in his palm. “It’s not made for Leatherworking, but a level 85 smith made it, and it’s sharp, so it should help you for now.” He handed the common-looking knife to Brandi. “Be careful,” he warned.
Excited, she ran over to one of her finished products and tried cutting it. It sliced through the odd-looking pants like it was nothing. “Oh, wow!” she exclaimed. “This is amazing! It’s so sharp.” She looked back at Derek. “Can I really keep it?”
“Of course, I gave it to you, so it’s yours.” Derek smiled. “Besides, it will probably help you a lot with these.” He shook his hand, and a pile of hides appeared on the bench she was previously sitting on.
“No way!” She ran over to the hides. “I can have them? Really?” After looking at all of them, she asked. “What level are they? More 20s? Maybe 30s?”
Derek shook his head, seeing her running around with the knife. He had told her to be careful, but seeing how excited she was, he didn’t say anything. “There may be a few 20s or 30s.” He paused, seeing the sparkle in her eyes, then dropped the bomb. “But most are around level 50, and there are some 60s and even a level 70 one.”
The sparkle in her eyes turned into a greedy gleam as she sucked in a breath and stared at the hides. Finally, she came back to herself and ran over to Derek, this time giving him a big embrace. He quickly moved the creature in his hand away from the girl. “Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!” she cried out.
Derek felt the knife stab his thigh, but it didn’t break his skin, so he said nothing. Well, some people like wearing jeans with holes in them. Beggars can’t be choosers. Brandi finally broke away, and he spoke, “I’ll tell you what. If you can get your Leatherworking skill above level ten, I’ll help you get a class. Then, once you have a crafting class, I have a special project you can help me with.” He stuck out his hand. “Deal?”
“Deal!” The girl grabbed his hand and vehemently shook it with both of hers.
Finally, Derek looked over at Thomas. “What about you, boy? You’ve been really quiet over there.”
Thomas woke up from his trance. “Ah… Uh… I’m fine,” he said.
Then Brandi chimed in. “He’s not fine! His birthday was days ago, but he’s been sulking because he was waiting on you to get back to unlock the Great System. Also, he’s a maniac.” She pointed to her head. “This is a trim! He said that I had so much hair that I wouldn’t miss a little. By the time he was finished, this is all I had left. And I’m not the only one.”
Derek watched as Thomas’s cheeks turned red, and he looked at the ground in embarrassment. “I said I’m sorry. I got carried away, is all,” Thomas mumbled while staring at his shoes.
“Well, what’s done is done.” Derek got closer to Thomas and bent down to whisper in his ear. “Never mess with a woman and her beauty. You’re lucky you can even walk after pulling that,” he warned.
Thomas nodded his head in understanding. “Don’t worry, never again. It was really scary,” he whispered back.
Derek backed away and gave Thomas a serious look, and the boy’s eyes widened in surprise at the change. “Did you think more about what we talked about before I left?” Derek asked.
“Yes,” Thomas replied with no hesitation. “I’m going to become an adventurer. I have to get strong. I can’t stay in this village forever.”
“Good.” Derek nodded. “Follow me.” He looked at Brandi. “We’ll be back soon. Have fun.” He walked toward the closest village wall. Luckily, it was not too far from where they were.
Once at the wall, Derek picked Thomas up and jumped over. Then he ran.
Five or six miles away from the village, Derek stopped running and put Thomas down. This is as good a spot as any. He backed away to let Thomas reorient himself.
When Thomas was finally stable again, Derek spoke. “Thomas. You’ve made it clear that you plan to leave the safety of your village and grow stronger. I’ve been alone for a very long time, and honestly, it’s getting pretty old.” His hand unconsciously reached towards his chest before he realized it and ceased its movement. “When I leave, would you like to come with me?”
Thomas was in shock. Adventure with Derek? Is he serious? He was very emotional at the moment. What would Grandpa say? What about Grandma? Finally, Thomas reined in his emotions. “You would let me travel with you?”
“I wouldn’t have asked if that weren’t the case.”
“I… I… Of course.” How strong could I get with his help? The possibilities were flowing through Thomas’s mind as he spoke.
“Good. But before that, there are some things that we’ll need to agree on.”
Thomas stared at Derek, waiting for him to speak. Derek nodded his head.
“Traveling with me, you will learn many secrets about me and other things. I need to know that you won’t share these things with anyone without my permission,” Derek said seriously.
“Of course,” Thomas agreed.
“No, I don’t think you understand. The things you may learn will be world-shaking. I don’t want some half-assed answer. Really think about it. You may learn some things that others will kill you for.”
Thomas thought for a bit. What kind of things does he know? It doesn’t matter, he can help me get strong. “I want to go with you.” This time, Thomas said so with resolve.
“Another thing, I will help you, and I will try to save you when needed, but you will need to fight and kill like you’re by yourself. I don’t want you relying on others. The only person you can count on in this world is yourself,” Derek warned.
“I know. I want to get stronger so I won’t have to rely on other people.”
“Good. If I tell you to do something, you do it. Is that understood? No questioning me.”
Thomas did not reply immediately. He was thinking about whether Derek could ask him to do something bad. “Don’t worry. I’m not evil. I’m not necessarily good, but I’m definitely not evil. If I tell you to do something, there is a reason for it,” Derek said.
This comforted him more. “Okay.”
With that, Derek took out a dagger and tossed it on the ground in front of Thomas. “Pick it up. It’s made by the same person who made my glaive.”
Thomas slowly reached down and picked up the blade. When he had the blade in hand, he looked back at Derek. “Now what?”
Derek chuckled. “Now, we unlock your system.” He held out the chipmunk-like creature. “But before that. Derek cast Rejuvenation on the monster. “Got to top it up, so it has full health when you kill it.”
After 30 seconds passed, Derek held the creature up with both hands. It was struggling but not enough to hurt itself. “Kill it.”
Thomas nodded. He didn’t waste any time and drove the dagger into the chest of the creature. It wasn’t easy. Even with the sharp blade, once it pierced the skin, it moved slowly. Pushing with all his might, the dagger finally broke through the creature’s defenses.
Soon, Thomas let go of the blade. He looked up at Derek in stunned silence. “Well, did it work?” Derek asked.
Thomas slowly nodded. “I-it was over level 50. H-how was I able to kill it?”
Derek smiled. “Like I said, that blade was made by the same smith that made my glaive. It’s my sharpest one.” Derek pulled the blade from the chipmunk and proceeded to Dismantle it. “So, how many skill points do you have?”
“I have three,” Thomas replied happily.
“Good, you’re only going to have one soon,” Derek said, confusing Thomas. Derek smiled. “Like I said, do what I say. One point on Meditation and one on Identify.” He waited.
After a couple of minutes, Thomas finally replied, “Okay. It’s done.”
“Hey, don’t feel bad. Meditation is one of the most powerful skills available in the system, and Identify lets you keep your stats private.” Derek was trying to cheer Thomas up.
“Now, do you know what kind of class you want? Tanky with big weapons and armor. Swift and agile. Mage. What are you thinking?” Derek asked.
Thomas was silent for a while. “I want to be fast. To be able to hit things and not be hit back.” This was his answer.
“Oh, alright. Then you should spend your last point in Light Weapons Mastery. This will let you be more proficient with knives, daggers, and even short swords. But make sure that is what you want. You won’t be able to change it. Though you will probably end up with a few extra skill points down the line, it is still better to try not to waste any.”
Thomas nodded his head. “I’m sure that’s what I want. I want to use daggers.”
“Oh, plural? You want to dual wield?” Derek asked.
“Yes.”
“Well, there’s no dual-wielding mastery in General Skills, so you’re going to have to hope for a good class for that. Now, you’re level three. Put 15 points in vitality and in endurance. You need to survive before you can kill. This isn’t a video game. You can min-max, but not at the beginning,” Derek said with confidence.
“Video game? Min-max?” Thomas stared dumbly.
“Uh, don’t mind that,” Derek said. “Once you’re done, we’re heading back to the village.”
Thomas took a deep breath and closed his eyes. Not long after, he let it out. “Woah… Okay, I’m done.”
Derek smiled. “Those first stat points invested are a hell of a thing, huh? An instant increase of over two times is quite the feeling.” Derek remembered the first stat points he invested. He had only gained one level, so it couldn’t have been as dramatic as what Thomas felt, but it was still memorable.
Thomas smiled back at him. “Yeah, it was something. It’s almost like it’s easier to breathe.”
“Yup, that would be the endurance and vitality working on your organs. Your heart is pumping better, and your lungs are filtering better. It’s a pretty neat feeling when it first happens,” Derek explained. “Anyway, we better get back before we give your grandma a heart attack.”
“Ah… Yeah, that would be bad.” Thomas walked up to Derek.
“What are you doing?” Derek asked.
“Aren’t you going to pick me up and take me back?” Thomas seemed confused.
“Haha, no. You have some endurance now, so you need to get used to it. We’re running. Keep up.” With that, Derek took off at a slow jog back toward the village.
