System Change: Chapter 3

“Oomph!”

Derek landed hard and tumbled end over end down a vast hill until finally coming to an abrupt stop when his face smashed into an immovable boulder.

After moving his body upright, he surveyed his surroundings, noticing the deathly pale aura emanating from the land. Even the air blown in from the wind was stale Derek noticed as he took a deep breath. “It’s beautiful,” he said aloud as a tear rolled down his cheek.

Standing up and brushing his armor off in the process, Derek checked his system once again. Since he was finally out of the darkness and void, there was a chance the system would work.

Stat… ERROR… Please… Err…

“Ah!” Derek clutched his head in pain. It felt as if something had exploded in his brain. A massive headache threatened to overtake his consciousness. He focused on remaining awake as the pain slowly receded.

What is this? I haven’t had so much as a sniffle since the damn system took over Earth. Now I feel like I’m having an aneurysm. Why now? Derek groaned inwardly. His absurdly high Endurance and Vitality stats should have been enough to keep that from happening. I’ll just have to deal with it. If I can survive being stabbed in the heart, a little aneurysm shouldn’t cause me too many problems… hopefully.

Derek rubbed the back of his head. I do not miss headaches and migraines… He shook his head. What I would give for some painkillers right now. His body’s Endurance had kept pain to a minimum since the system took over. It had been years since he experienced pain like this for such a length of time.

The pain continued to lessen, and soon Derek could finally focus on his surroundings again. First things first. He studied the sky, which he had broken out of. Sure enough, there were still signs of what had happened. The sky was slowly healing itself. Soon, there would be no visible signs of anything out of the ordinary.

As the final break in the sky vanished, an unexpected wave of gratitude washed over him. Not gratitude for being trapped or even surviving. No, gratitude to the monster that saved him, that freed him of the endless darkness. More tears pooled in the corners of his eyes until they flowed down his cheek, following the path of his previous tears. Still staring at the ordinary sky, he inaudibly mouthed two words: Thank you.

Finally, Derek moved his attention away from the space above him and scanned his surroundings. His eyes squinted as he noticed problems with the terrain. Though there were trees and every sign pointed that he was in a forest, something seemed wrong. Everything looks… ill.

The temperature was fine, perfect even, and the sun was out, illuminating everything. All things considered, this should have been an ideal place for a forest. However, the trees and greenery were at the cusp of dying, or already dead, but it didn’t look like the cause could be from extreme hot or cold temperatures.

Suddenly, Derek heard a rustling from some nearby shrubbery. He didn’t bother turning around to confront whatever was behind him. Everything indicated that, although he couldn’t access the system, all his stats and skills were still working. If whatever was behind him was fast and strong enough to approach him without allowing him to react, he was already as good as dead, whether he turned around or not.

Derek looked down and traced his hand over the dent in his chest armor. I still have my armor on. That beast could dent it without even trying… if I have to fight something like it… He shook his head.

Finally, the rustling in the bush quieted. Light, cautious footsteps approached him, getting closer and closer. Derek turned his head, slowly so as to not startle whatever, or whomever, was approaching. His gaze finally landed on the figure behind him, and he grinned. People! I missed people…

It was a little boy, or girl, Derek couldn’t tell because of the caked-on dirt and raggedy clothes the child was wearing. Trails had formed where tears had run down the kid’s face. The child’s eyes were bloodshot, and the kid either had brown hair or that was just actual dirt, dying it. Derek considered the hair and went with dirty blond. He chuckled at his own joke.

The chuckle must have scared the child because the child’s eyes widened, and he, if Derek could count on the shriek that came out of the kid’s mouth, turned to escape.

Damn it! Derek cursed to himself. I don’t even know what I look like after all this time. Of course, I’m scary as hell. He pulled on his beard that was long enough to make a rope out of. Not to mention my armor. I had it made to look menacing in the first place.

“Boy! Stop, I’ll help you! And you can help me find out where I am!” he yelled. The boy slowed for a second, just long enough to turn his head and see Derek’s demonic-looking figure again. He then yelped and ran even faster than before.

What the hell? I even said I’d help. Kids these days. Derek shook his head. Too good to trust menacing-looking strangers. He sighed and walked after the boy. It didn’t matter how fast the boy ran. It wasn’t fast enough. At any time, Derek could catch him.

Tripping over a dead tree branch, the boy fell, making his already tattered clothing even dirtier. He reached for his knee and grabbed it with both hands. Derek could hear sobs coming from the boy. Derek was ashamed of himself. The first person I’ve seen in literal ages, and I’ve gone and made him hurt himself. He continued his walk toward the boy. He tried to approach gently, but with the way he looked, he knew it wasn’t possible.

Soon, the boy seemed to realize his mistake. If he wasn’t moving, then the giant, menacing figure was getting closer. The boy turned, only to see Derek now lumbering over his injured body. The boy shrieked, rolled onto his back, and began a feverish crawl backward on his hands and feet.

Derek fought back laughter. I feel like I’m some villain in a b-grade horror film. All I need now is a mask and a machete. Finally, with the thoughts he was having, he couldn’t hold the laughter back any longer. He let out a deep belly laugh.

The boy stared at Derek in shock and horror. A puddle of liquid soon formed underneath the boy, and his eyes rolled back in his head. He went limp.

“Uhh…” Feeling ashamed, Derek didn’t know what to do. Maybe that was a little too much. He looked down again. Damn… he pissed himself. Good job, Derek. The first person you see in… well, in forever, and not only do you scare him, but you also make him soil his clothing and pass out. What if those trousers were the last pair of pants that his grandma sewed him before she passed? Now, you’ve gone and made the kid ruin them. Real nice.

Derek bent down to pick up the boy, careful not to get any bodily fluids on his armor. He lifted the boy by the neck of his tunic with one arm and strolled back to the boulder he had previously smashed into. The two cut a striking image as they moved together through the dying forest. The image was not a good one. It could be described as a crazed demon bringing his prey back to camp to be eaten.

They don’t pay me enough for this shit, Derek complained as he sat the boy against the boulder.

Once he checked and made sure the boy was okay, Derek wandered off to gather wood to build a fire. Who knows how cold it gets here at night? He looked up at the sky. Or if there is even a night, he pondered while looking toward the sun.

Derek wasn’t subtle. Instead of gathering branches and twigs from the ground, he found a decently sized tree that looked dead enough and summoned his glaive out of his bracelet. He launched a Heavy Blow onto the tree. It was overkill, but the blade sliced right through, and the tree fell.

While watching the tree fall, the headache that had almost disappeared came back with a vengeance. It felt like someone had picked up a pair of scissors and jabbed them into his brain, then started snipping. It was worse than the previous pain by far. He couldn’t help but wonder about the cause of his new ailment.

These headaches never happened with the system before, and they didn’t happen while I was stuck in the darkness. No, wait, I did have one headache similar to this one on Earth. The day the system came. I was driving my knife into a fish when I felt it, and it lasted for a few minutes. He thought back to his previous interactions with the system.

The first headache happened when I tried to view my status after arriving on this world. The second happened after I used a system skill to fell the tree. Is the system taboo in this world? Or maybe the system is trying to integrate with this new world. The second option sounds safer. I’ll go with that. But, if that’s the case, what do I do?

Derek returned to his makeshift camp with the tree and dropped it on the ground. Summoning a dagger from his storage bracelet, he went to work shaving off some kindling he could use to start a fire. After obtaining enough shavings, he stored the dagger and summoned his glaive. This time, instead of using any system skills, he chopped the tree with normal strikes.

After chopping the tree into eight separate logs, he then split them in two. Then, he really examined the wood. Yep, it’s pretty much dead. Great for firewood, bad for forest. After arranging the firewood neatly on the ground, he continued toward the shavings, placing them down in a cleared area close to the boulder.

Next, Derek gathered stones from the area, breaking stones that were too big in two. Finally, he had enough to make a pit for the fire. He then formed the firepit and placed the kindling inside before lighting it, slowly placing the firewood onto it until a fire was blazing. Derek arranged some of the remaining firewood into a seat, sat down, and closed his eyes.

Not long after starting the fire, Derek heard a whimpering coming from across from him. He opened his eyes and glanced in the boy’s direction. The boy’s face was tear-stained, and he had a runny nose. Derek spoke as gently as he could. “It’s alright, boy. I’m not gonna hurt you. Sorry for scaring you earlier.”

The crying stopped, and the boy observed Derek, curiously. He was still frowning, but at least he wasn’t running. If anything, he seemed confused. He opened his mouth and spoke.

Unfortunately, the language was foreign, and Derek couldn’t understand it. This is going to… he thought, but a system message cut his thoughts off.

“What!” Derek screamed as everything went black.