System Change: Chapter 6

After focusing on his skill points, a new window appeared in front of Derek.

No class yet, so not having Class Skills makes sense, Derek pondered. Damn, that’s a lot of General Skills. Derek skimmed through the dozens, if not hundreds, of skills available for purchase. Most of the crafting skills fall under General Skills, at least the basic ones. I never was one for crafting, but it may not hurt to pick up the Blacksmithing skill later on for armor repair…

After viewing the skills, he went back to the Identify skill and selected it.

Not yet. Derek dismissed the skill window after reading it. That’s pretty much the same skill I had with the other system. Now, let’s find Meditation.

Derek let his eyes scroll back down the list until he found the Meditation skill.

Same ol’ Meditation. Before learning the skill, he did one final sweep of the skills available. None seemed to be as useful as Meditation. Well, no time like the present. He pulled the skill window back up and focused on learning it. After receiving a prompt asking if he was sure, he agreed.

Derek closed his eyes. A small amount of energy flowed within him, leading towards his mind. Once the energy settled in, he knew the skill. It felt and acted like the same skill he knew before. I already have so much experience with this skill.

He blinked his eyes and went over the new notification that appeared in the corner of his vision.

Derek closed the notification and activated his new skill.

Suddenly, a pain shot through his head, almost like the previous pain, only weaker. A new window forced its way into his vision.

Once the pain went away, Derek opened his new notification.

What? Derek was both confused and excited. So, I didn’t actually lose any of my skills. They’re just lying dormant until I get a new skill that matches. Immediately, he agreed to the upgrade.

Wow! So that means that I have maxed out the regular Meditation skill, and the basic recovery rate will no longer increase. However, eventually, I will be able to have such a recovery rate applied while moving and even fighting. I only have to level the skill. I knew it was my favorite skill for a reason.

Derek closed his eyes once again and used Meditation. He easily slipped into the state and could feel it working. He also felt that if he wanted to, he could move his focus away from meditating and still receive some benefits.

He opened his eyes slowly and stood up. He could feel the power of the skill weaken, but it was still noticeably there. Derek flexed his arms and moved from side to side. The wider the range of motions he performed and the faster he moved, the less the skill was able to increase his recovery rate.

Derek stopped moving. While standing still, but still observing his surroundings, the recovery rate was almost as good as it was when losing himself completely. Derek was elated. The new skill would allow him to meditate while keeping his guard up. It was perfect.

Thomas was eyeing Derek with an odd look. “Are you okay?” the boy asked.

Derek rubbed the back of his neck and smiled. “Ah, yeah, just getting a little exercise, you know. Stretching and stuff… we’ve been sitting around for a bit, so I needed to move around.” He wondered how strange his antics must have looked to the boy, so he made an excuse and sat back down.

He reached out to the fire and checked on the roasting wolf. “Still needs a bit before it’s ready to eat.” He told Thomas, changing the subject. While talking, Derek still wondered about all his dormant skills and the possible ways for him to unlock them. I didn’t see a Glaive Mastery skill, but there was a Heavy Weapons Mastery and Weapons Mastery skill.

I did have a Heavy Weapon skill before, so that may merge with the Heavy Weapons Mastery skill from this system. Unfortunately, he only had one skill point remaining, and he didn’t want to waste it by buying a useless skill. I guess the next most useful skill is Identify. That skill will help me and help keep others from learning things about me.

Plus, my Heavy Weapon skill was only level 5. It was such a hard skill to level. Derek glanced at the roasting wolf. If that beast is any indication, I don’t currently need combat skills, but I do need information. Derek made his choice and spent his last skill point on Identify.

The same sensation fell over Derek as before. It was like remembering something that he had only just forgotten. It was already there but needed a little kick start. He looked at the boy, then used the skill. Sure enough, pain radiated through his head before another window popped up, uninvited, in his vision.

It’s the same level as it was before. I wasn’t able to use it while trapped in the darkness, so it never had a chance to level up, unlike Meditation, which I used constantly for years or even decades at a time. Derek summoned his glaive from his storage bracelet and used his new skill on it.

Damn right! I paid a pretty penny for my glaive. He rubbed the bladed end of the glaive while smiling.

Thomas, on the other hand, was staring at the glaive in shock. He had seen Derek summon the dagger from his storage bracelet before, so he knew it wasn’t the storage bracelet he was interested in, it was the glaive.

Derek had to admit, his glaive was one amazing weapon, both physically and aesthetically. The entire glaive was made of black steel, giving it a demonic look. Intricate patterns were carved into the steel at both the neck and the base of the staff. The blade was long—longer than almost any other glaive or polearm he’d seen. It was as if there was a scimitar stuck on the end of a staff. The butt of the glaive had two short black ribbons fluttering the wind.

Derek noticed Thomas staring at the weapon in awe, his chin nearly touching the ground. “What do you think, kid? You like my glaive? We’ve been through a lot together, and it’s never let me down.”

“I’ve never seen a weapon like that. It’s amazing,” Thomas answered. Then he frowned. “How do you keep pulling things out of the air? Do you have a storage ring? Those are super expensive… I’ve never seen one before.”

Ah, so he noticed it. He just didn’t say anything, Derek thought. “This is a glaive. It was one of my favorite weapon types growing up. When I got the chance, I had a blacksmith make one for me. It’s custom-made. I even helped design it,” he explained. Then he pointed to his bracelet. “I don’t have a storage ring. I have a storage bracelet. It has a separate space inside that allows me to store things.”

“I’ve never heard of a bracelet that can act like a storage ring. I only know that Pa said that owning a storage ring shows wealth, and there are few other than nobles who have them,” Thomas said, shying away from Derek once again.

Seeing the boy acting strange again, Derek checked on the wolf. “It’s done enough to eat now.” He put his glaive back into storage and withdrew a dagger. He let the blade heat over the fire for a short time to sanitize it before cutting some of the meat off and putting it on a plate that he summoned from his bracelet.

He handed the plate to Thomas. “Eat.”

Thomas looked at Derek’s wrist, then his face, then the plate, then back again, his frown deepening at every glance he took.

“Spit it out, kid,” Derek commanded.

“Uh… Derek… uh… Sir, are you a noble?” the boy finally asked.

Derek gave Thomas an incredulous look, then burst out laughing. “Kid, what about me says noble? Is it my well-trimmed beard, or my flawlessly styled hair?” After laughing, he stared seriously at the boy. “Call me Sir again and you’ll take the wolf’s place,” he threatened.

Thomas audibly gulped. His eyes went wide as they shot toward the wolf hanging over the fire. “No… I… uhh…”

“Stop. I was kidding. Learn to take a joke.” Derek grinned.

Thomas took a deep breath in and quieted before picking up a piece of meat and chewing on it, lost in thought. Finally, he spoke, “It’s just… you have a storage item, which only nobles are supposed to have. And, you have custom-made weapons and armor. It all points to you being a noble.”

“Is that all?” Derek asked. “I worked my ass off to get these. You wouldn’t believe the number of close shaves with death I’ve encountered. I’m not a noble, and I’m not going to kill you like I killed the wolf. It’s good to be cautious, but you don’t have to worry.”

Thomas looked down again, staring deeply at the plate of meat on his lap.

“Kid, eat. Your food’s getting cold. Stop thinking about stupid things. You’re giving yourself anxiety over things you can’t control and worrying over nothing.” Derek was in a good mood after finding someone to talk to after his time in the darkness. It had almost broken him. Well, truth be told, it did break him. But, he had made it out alive and was slowly piecing himself back together.

He had been broken before and managed to come back. What’s one more time? He only wondered what the new version of himself would look like once he was fixed.

As the sun set, the duo filled their bellies. The boy ate almost the whole wolf by himself. Afterward, Derek tried getting more information, but the boy was in no state to answer. It was all he could do to stay awake.

“Kid, get some sleep. We’ve got a long day ahead of us tomorrow.”