System Change

Derek pushed all the questions about his stats to the back of his mind. It was something he would have to talk to Alanah about later, and there was no sense dwelling on it when he still had things he needed to do.

One of those things, of course, was using Void Call. After going through another breakthrough in his Endurance and Vitality stats, he felt much safer. The last Void Beast he fought was aware, and Derek didn’t know where it was in strength compared to the other ones. Thinking back to the fight, he would put it at the lower Onyx Rank.

He was sure that Shae could have beaten it, but it still would have been a pretty tough fight. Speaking of Shae, after Derek’s bout with the man, Derek had become more careful. Instead of letting his health get down low during his training, he made sure to keep it at a reasonable level.

Thinking back to some of his previous antics, he could only call himself dumb for purposefully letting his HP drop to such levels. It would have only taken one surprise attack to finish him off. If either Bones or Ogre would have had such an attack, it would have been the end.

So, from when he sparred with Shae until now, Derek had made the conscious decision not to be stupid. It’s why he tested each golem and their attacks for as long as he did before settling on a training regimen, and it’s why he didn’t feel comfortable rolling the dice with more Void Beasts until now.

He was still a bit worried about the Void Beasts because of his current offensive ability, but he was much more reassured in his survival with his Endurance and Vitality, and overall defensive ability.

Derek dismissed his stats and prepared to use Void Call. He walked out into the open in the final area of the dungeon. He cracked his neck and closed his eyes before channeling the skill through his body.

He felt the void building as the skill activated. His entire body felt full of the element as it surged up. Then, the purple energy exploded from him and shot toward the sky.

Derek was more conscious of the skill this time, as it was easier for his body to handle the effects now than it was before. The skill was still extremely draining on his mana, as it took over two-thirds of his entire MP. He quickly began Greater Meditation so he would be fresh for when the Void Beast made its appearance.

However, as he watched the purple beam of energy shoot into the sky, he saw it break apart and sputter out instead of casually disappearing. Derek frowned and waited. He waited for ten minutes, then half an hour, but nothing happened. No cracks appeared in the sky, no thundering sounds of a beast beating on the void… nothing.

Derek hesitated, then launched the skill again. Once again, the beam petered out before entering deep into the sky.

What’s going on? Derek thought back to the other times he cast the skill. It had only been at Leon’s decimated village, and the lonely mountain far outside of Torith. The only change from then until now was that he wasn’t in a dungeon when he used the skill.

Is the system actively preventing me from calling into the void while in a dungeon? Why would the system give me a skill I can’t use in a dungeon? It can’t be because it’s the void, because I can still see the ripples and use other void skills. He continued to think before coming to a conclusion. Maybe it’s because dungeons are separate spaces created by the system, and the same force that keeps other from entering while it is in use is also keeping my skill from pulling in other enemies.

He decided to go with that logic. His Void Call was different from skills used by Summoners. They either used their own energy to make a summons, or pulled them out of their specific summoned space. Either way, they were friendly and matched the users’ level.

Void Call, on the other hand, called for a being not able to be controlled. One that was not part of the system. Bringing a Void Beast into a dungeon would basically be like breaking the rules.

That thought left Derek with another question. If I changed the distortion in the Time Dungeon, could I pull a prisoner out while in the dungeon, or would the system block me from doing it? If I capture a dungeon creature and put it in my Time Prison, would it prevent me from finishing the dungeon?

Derek rubbed his temples with his hands. If the system hadn’t made him super healthy, he was sure he’d be experiencing a migraine by now. Well, there’s only one way to find out…

He flicked his wrist, and his map appeared in his hand. Derek unfurled it and began going over the surrounding area. Compared to Torith, the land surround Savannah was crowded with people and villages. It was going to be hard for him to find a place far enough out of the way, away from prying eyes, to use Void Call.

Eventually, he settled on a place east of the Golem Dungeon. The Golem Dungeon wasn’t patrolled much, as it was very unpopular, so if he really wanted, he could risk bringing a Void Beast down there, but there weren’t any other dungeons immediately to the east of the Golem Dungeon, and villages didn’t come out this far away from Savannah, so going a bit east would be his best bet.

There was nothing much in the area east of the Golem Dungeon. There was another dungeon very far east, but it wasn’t considered one of Savannah’s dungeons, as it was closer to a different city. It looked to be a slightly more popular dungeon than the golem one, but was still on the unpopular side. Plus, it was a much lower level.

If Derek moved about a third of the way between the two dungeons, he should be in an area nobody patrolled and rarely visited. Nodding his head, he put the map away and exited the dungeon. As soon as his feet hit the ground, he jumped into the air with Void Step and moved east.

With his speed, which was even higher than before because of his increased stats, he was able to get to his destination in just over an hour. During the time he spent traveling, he received a communication request from Malorie, which surprised him.

She wasn’t in any trouble, but she informed him that Stella had visited and Alanah was in Savannah already. She also let him know that for some reason, the auctions were combined, and they were going to happen at the same time in Savannah in just over a week.

I wonder what changed. It didn’t concern him too much, as he was sure one auction would sell just as good as two. He still planned on using his last few days to train. He would also run the Golem Dungeon a few more times to hit level 170.

Derek settled in the middle of a small forest. It had good cover from prying eyes. He also tossed a ski mask on just in case someone happened to wander close to him.

Derek wasn’t a big fan of fighting in a forest. He preferred open areas, but it would work. He once again used Void Call.

This time, instead of the beam of energy being rejected, it continued into the sky until it slowly disappeared. So it was because of the dungeon. His guess was correct.

Sure enough, not five minutes after using the skill, he saw it. With Void Sense amped up as high as possible, he saw the movement in the void before the pounding began.

The pounding was loud, but not as powerful as the last Void Beast he fought, so he jumped into the air and helped. If anything was going to draw attention, it would be the thundering noise created from escaping Void Beasts.

With his Void Sense, Derek was able to see the cracks in the sky’s structure, making it easier for him to dissect. Covering his hands in the void allowed him to tear the pieces out with ease. Before long, a Void Beast sized hole appeared, along with the menacing glowing red eyes and razor-like claws.

Derek reached in, grabbing the Void Beast’s wrist, and yanked. The beast came tumbling out of the void tunnel and crashed through some tree branches below. Derek canceled Void Steps and fell to the ground beside the beast.

With his Void Sense, Derek could see the energy radiating off the beast. He felt like he could almost reach out and grab it, but he couldn’t. If Void Sense and Void Call level higher, maybe I can use the energy around the beasts like a puppeteer. He shivered at the thought of controlling the beasts.

It wouldn’t be like a real summons, because I would have to focus my attention on controlling it, though. Any slip up and I would lose control… if it works like I think it will. No wonder that last beast was so pissed at me. It could feel I was getting closer to controlling the inherent void inside of it. I probably would have noticed as well if I was using Void Sense at the time.

Derek thought about the possibilities as he watched the Void Beast struggling to its feet. Before giving it a chance to stand, he combined Multi-Strike with Channel Void and hit it in the head with a palm, ending its life then and there. All things considered, the Void Beast would have been about as strong as the one he fought back at Leon’s village.

He figured most Void Beast’s would be at or around that level. Strong enough to reign terror and destruction down on most villages and escape afterwards, but not strong enough to contend with powerful system users. Derek believed the Void Beast legends were mostly because there were so few of them.

Though, he was sure if a sentient one appeared, it could wreak havoc on most cities in Cydaria, especially the smaller ones like Wilmette. Plus, he was sure that there would be beasts that could be considered as strong as Diamond Ranked Adventurer’s as well. The luck was in the draw.

Derek split the space in front of him, opening his Void Storage. He had filled his ring and bracelet up with mana cores, and had actually had to use Void Storage to store the rest of them. He tossed the Void Beast corpse inside and closed the space.

Derek sighed as he stared at the sky, readying for another Void Beast. He would be fighting a lot in the upcoming days.

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