System Change

The trial orb glowed brightly before spitting the seven people who went in out. Well, the seven people and the massive creature that was Lyra. Derek did an extra count to make sure that everyone who went in made it out alive, and was relieved to find that they were all there. Actually, none of them, except for maybe Walter, looked any the worse for wear.

Victor was wearing a constipated look, but Derek couldn’t know if that was because he was annoyed at the trial, pissed off about his cousin’s death, or if that was just his normal ‘because it’s Tuesday’ look. Honestly, it was probably the latter.

“What took so long?” Derek asked from behind them. “I’m pretty sure Edgar sent you in because he thought you would make it quick.”

Avery rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment. “Well… it turns out that giant amphithere aren’t great in tower trials—especially when one of the floors turns out to be very small. That was the fifth floor. We ended up having to leave Lyra there while we finished the rest of the tower.” Avery looked a little annoyed at that.

Derek shook his head. Of all the things he would have thought of, being too big to climb the tower wasn’t the one he expected. But he shrugged and walked over to the sixth and final trial orb and placed his hand on it. Soon, he pulled up the information about the trial.

Dungeon Trial

Trial Type

Elimination/Survival

10

Trial Difficulty

Epic

Please Select Participants

0/10

“Hey, where’s Edgar?” Avery asked as he walked over to Derek.

“We’ll talk about that later. Don’t worry about it,” Derek replied as he manually selected the members he was choosing to enter the trial with him.

Soon, the next message popped up.

You have been selected for a Dungeon Trial.

Trial Type

Elimination/Survival

Participants

10

Trial Difficulty

Epic

Participants Selected

Derek Hunt: Level ???

Avery Swan: Level 250

Jasper Ross: Level 250

Shae Holmes: Level 250

Cain Ibarra: Level 250

Victor Greenland: Level 250

Tyron Blacksteel: Level ???

Vanessa Hodges: Level 250

Tara Perez: Level 250

Walter Searidge: Level 250

Confirm Entry: Yes/No

Derek quickly confirmed his own entry, then looked out at everyone. “Hurry up. We ain’t got all day.”

There was a reason he picked who he did—well, a reason other than only blatant favoritism. He truly believed the team would be able to take care of anything. First, he picked everyone who had a companion, which would add even more support. Because of that, he included Jasper in his list.

Most of the others spoke for themselves. Tara was the best support member in the party. Victor just happened to be there, and Derek knew he was at least a really strong earth mage, and Walter… well, Walter was pure favoritism. He wanted the old man to have the reward for another trial, even though he just finished one. Elena probably would have been the better choice for a second healer, and he didn’t have any problems with her, but she had run three trials already. Walter only had two.

Derek actually looked forward to seeing Shae battle after the man reached level 250. It had been a while—not since their spar back in Savannah. How well would Thomas’s trainer fight now?

“I said hurry up,” Derek called out again. Everyone quickly went along with him—who wouldn’t want the extra rewards from a trial? Victor frowned, and was the last person to not ready up, but those same thoughts soon must have crossed his mind as well, because it didn’t take long until he confirmed his entry.

With no more words, the glowing white light of the trial orb passed over them all, and they soon vanished. When Derek opened his eyes, he found himself standing in the middle of an open plain. There were a few small hills, but it was mostly flat for as far as his eyes could see.

“So, what was all that about?” Avery stepped beside him and asked.

“Edgar left with an escape scroll to go help protect Savannah. He left me in charge. I decided it was best to move quickly and stop wasting time,” Derek replied.

“Are you going to explain how she’s here?” Avery asked, his eyes looking at Derek’s shoulder, where Silvi was currently sitting.

Derek shrugged. “New skill. Silvi wanted to know if it was okay to eat the elf she killed, so she came to ask. Then, she saw the dragonkin and decided she wanted to gather some more ingredients. Pretty basic stuff.”

“Yeah… basic…” Avery shrugged and walked back over to Lyra.

‘Winged noodle!’ Silvi’s childlike voice rang out in Derek’s mind in glee. ‘I bet that tastes good!’

‘No eating Lyra,’ Derek said. ‘She’s Avery’s bonded companion.’

‘That’s no fun.’

‘Who knows? You may find something good in this dungeon. The last one that had survival as one of the conditions brought a ton of dragonkin. We may get lucky again.’ Derek explained. Then, the trial notification appeared.

Trial #6

Eliminate all the beasts or survive for ten days.

Beasts Remaining: 2,500

Time Remaining: 9 Days 23 Hours 45 Seconds

Huh… isn’t this basically the same trial that I did before? Only with beasts and no champions? Well… I guess it is only epic ranked, so I shouldn’t be expecting too much. Though, 2,500 beasts sure does seem like a lot.

Before Derek could think of anything else, a blinding flash emanated from all around him and his team. Far off in the distance of each direction, masses of monsters began spawning in.

“Is that a… Griffin?” Derek heard Avery mutter to himself. Derek’s own eyes followed where Avery was looking, and he got a good look at what the man was talking about.

In the lead of a group of large feline-like monsters with yellow coats that seemed to be crackling in electricity, there was a massive griffin with feathers that looked like they were constantly shifting color—from blue to white as the clouds passed overhead, like its color was mimicking the sky.

The beast didn’t have anything on Lyra, but it was quite a spectacle seeing such a mythical beast in the flesh, especially since Derek would have thought it to have been legendary ranked, and not epic. But Derek was more focused on the Thunder Lynx being led by the griffin.

There had to be about five hundred of them. The massive amount of lighting they were generating cause Derek’s hairs to stand, literally.

Derek did a quick one-eighty to get a sense of what they were dealing with, and to use Identify on everything he could. The griffin was called a Zephyr Griffin. On the opposite side of the griffin, there was a large group of Astral Vipers being led by a Nether Wyrm.

It seemed that Silvi would get her wish and be able to use her Cook What You Kill skill on her very own noodle. She would be a very happy bunny. In fact, he could hear her heart loudly pounding next to his ear. She was just waiting for the start of the battle.

It seemed that each army had a mini-champion. There were the Zephyr Griffin, Nether Wyrm, Terra Stag, Crystal Basilisk, and Frost Warg leading armies of Thunder Lynx, Astral Vipers, Vortex Drifters, floating octopus-like creatures, Blaze Skitters, six legged insect-like creatures covered in flames, and Tide Trudgers, frog-like creatures carrying heavy shells on their backs and controlling the water in the air.

If Derek had to pick which army he liked the least, it would be the insect one—they just gave him the creeps. However, if he had to pick which army he’d have the easiest time against, he would probably also choose the insect one. They were creepy, but small. And he had no doubt that the embers on the wouldn’t be able to even leave a mark on his new armor.

“Avery, you and Lyra take to the sky and take out that griffin and the lynx that it’s leading. Tyron, you and Rocky take a run at those frog things. They look like they have to stay on the ground, so you should be good. Victor, you and Walter go after those insects. I know you have some offensive water abilities. They should come in handy against those flames. Vanessa, you’re on seafood duty, the octopi are yours. Cain, Shae… the two of you go and see what you can do about those snakes.

“Jasper, you and Tara stay here in the middle with your bonded drake to support you. If things get bad, shoot me a telepathic message and I’ll come with my prison. I don’t want to use it unless I have to. Silvi and I are going to go after the leaders first, then we’ll go help whoever needs it. Everyone got it?” Derek finished his commands.

“Who’s Silvi?” Victor Greenland asked with doubt in his voice.

Derek pointed to the bunny resting on his shoulder. “This is Silvi, my bonded companion. You don’t have to worry about her.”

Victor snorted. “A fucking bunny. Pathetic…”

A hint of anger roared to life in Derek’s eyes, but he only looked at the elf with a menacing grin. “Silvi, go get your noodle.”

In an instant, Silvi disappeared from Derek’s shoulder and reappeared far in the distance beside the Nether Wyrm and the Astral Vipers. From where Derek was standing, she was nothing more than a small dot. Derek squinted his eyes and tried to watch, but all he saw was a couple flashes of purple, then the Nether Wyrm disappeared. In the next instant, Silvi appeared above Derek, then landed on his shoulder.

She faced Victor with a smug look on her face. Derek looked at the elf, who seemed to be frowning. “Well, what do you think?”

“About what? She can disappear for a second? Big deal.” At that time, Avery tapped Victor on his shoulder and the turn to face him. “What?”

Avery pointed to where the wyrm was. “You see over there? Where all those snakes are?” he asked.

“What of it?”

“Do you see anything missing?” Avery asked with a slight smile.

Victor squinted. “The wyrm, where did it go?”

At that moment, Silvi disappeared again, but this time appeared just out of the way of everyone. Then, the now dead Nether Wyrm appeared on the ground below her and she landed on it before looking at Victor and cutely tilting her head.

“Yeah, so she really is kind of a big deal.” Avery patted Victor on his back, then jumped onto Lyra. “We’re off,” he said. “Don’t die.” Then, with a single thrust of her wings, Lyra and Avery shot into the air and made a beeline straight for the Zephyr Griffen and its army.

“Yeah. I’m kind of a big deal,” Silvi’s feminine, childlike voice rang out from her communication crystal on her collar. “And now I have a noodle.”

“So, like I said. Silvi and I will take care of the leaders, then jump in and help where we can. Any objections? No? Good. Let’s get to it!”

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