System Change

With all the rewards for the dungeon divvied out, and everyone who was outside going around happily discussing them, Derek was left with only a couple of things left to do. First, he looked around, and was happy to see that there was nothing left that needed to be packed by anyone—they had done a good job of storing everything before the boss fight.

So, with that in mind, before they left the dungeon, he only needed to get everyone out of his Time Prison. He also wanted to see if Bones or Ogre would be allowed to come out now that rewards had been given.

Derek, Silvi, Avery, who seemed eager to leave after bragging about his rewards, and Walter, who had finished stabilizing Cain and left him with Shae before catching back up with Derek and the others, all turned away from the rest and moved back to his Time Prison. If he had tested it before, Derek wouldn’t have been worried about just closing his skill and leaving the dungeon with everyone still inside. In fact, that would have been better because of the number of injured or unconscious people still inside.

He didn’t know what they were going to be getting into when they appeared back at the dungeon entrance in Cydaria, so having them in his Time Prison would keep them safe. Unfortunately, because he hadn’t experimented with putting anyone in while inside a dungeon, then taking them out once they left it, he didn’t want to risk getting them stuck in his prison—the system was fickle.

So he needed to move everyone out, whether they were healed or not. After the short walk, Derek reentered his Time Prison and headed directly toward Elena. When the woman saw him enter, she turned her head toward him and the others and gave them a nod and a smile as they approached.

“Did everyone in here received the rewards?” Derek asked. He hoped that being inside the Time Prison hadn’t cut everyone off from the system and kept them from being rewards.

“We did,” Elena nodded. “They made for quite the power boost in stats and skills. A reward fitting for such a terrible dungeon.”

“Especially if you add the other rewards for the trials,” Avery said.

“Yes,” Elena replied. She then turned her head and nodded solemnly at Tristan Allister. “It seems the Allister boy is making the most use out of his rewards. I believe he spent every Skill Upgrade Point he received leveling his special healing skill—the one that allows him to regrow limbs.”

Derek looked over at the young man. He actually didn’t know how old anybody in the dungeon was except for Silvi and Edgar, who had left, so he didn’t count. Elena calling Tristan the ‘Allister boy’ made him wonder about his age. He also wondered if Tristan spent his skills just to be a better healer and of more use, or if he did it so Cierra wouldn’t have to wait as long to be completely healed this time. Why can’t it be both? Derek shrugged.

Shrugging the thought off, Derek asked Elena, “Is everyone ready to leave the Time Prison so we can go hom—back to Cydaria?” Derek caught himself before he called Cydaria home out loud. He had built his shop and did consider it home, but it was hard for him to say it aloud—especially with the promise he’d just given Silvi. Who knew where they may have to go to get her some good ingredients?

Elena looked over at everyone and frowned. “Almost. I wanted to wait for everyone to wake up naturally before taking them out.”

“I’ll help,” Walter said, then, when Elena agreed, walked off and began going over everyone with his own healing skills. It was odd seeing the different types of healing all in one room. There was light healing, water healing, and there was even healing that used a green aura—Derek guessed that was the wood element or something close.

“In that case, I’ll be waiting outside for you. Do your best to get them ready as soon as possible. It may be best to force them conscious if you can do it without hurting them,” Derek said. “Every second counts. It always did, but now, the delay is on us. Who knows what’s going on outside right now?”

“Give us ten minutes, max. If we can’t slowly bring them to, I have a way to forcefully wake them. It’s just really disorienting, especially if you’re waking from being in a previous Dying State,” Elena replied.

“Good enough,” Derek nodded, then went over to bones cell while Avery exited the Time Prison.

“Bones,” Derek said when he opened the door. “Hop up and follow me. I need to see if you can leave my skill now that rewards have been given. By the way, you didn’t happen to receive any rewards, did you?”

Bones stood up and walked out of the cell, leaving Ogre sitting alone. “I did not, but it seems that the rewards were quite well received. Even in the state some of the people in here are in, they couldn’t hold back their excitement.”

“Yeah, they were okay, I guess,” Derek replied. After a short while, Derek passed through the threshold of the Time Prison, then turned around to look back at Bones. “Well? Can you come out?”

“Let’s see,” Bones said. He then took a step forward and frowned slightly. Then, he moved his hand forward, and it stuck on an invisible barrier. It was the same one that kept him or his skills from leaving the Time Prison before. “It seems that Ogre and myself must remain inside here until you leave the dungeon, after all.”

“That’s unfortunate,” Derek said. “But very informative. Thank you. You can go back to your cell. Everyone should clear out of there within the next few minutes. We’ll be back before you know it.”

“Then I’ll take my leave,” Bones said.

Derek snorted. “You’re already acting like a butler.”

“No time like the present, sir.” Bones bowed and turned. “If there’s nothing else.”

“Go ahead.” Derek dismissed the man with a chuckle.

After that, he and Silvi waited. During the wait, Derek decided to check out his new skill.

Spatial Redirection

Intercept an attack and redirect it to a different position at an amplified power.

Current Attack Strength: 100% of Original

Cooldown: 2 minutes

Mana Cost: 7000 mana

Increase the level of the skill to increase attack strength and decrease cooldown.

Wait, so as I level the skill, the power of the attack I intercept will increase? I wonder what the attack strength will look like at level 10 or 20. In a daze, Derek thought about the different ways he could use the skill. Finally, he had an idea. Can I redirect my own skill with it?

If he could increase the level of Spatial Redirect, then combine it with his combination attack. What kind of damage would it cause? If it can grow all the way to 200%, would I have been able to one-shot the Starfury Leonarus? Thinking about the boss monster, Derek swallowed hard. What if the beast would have redirected my attack at someone else instead of Ray? What if the attack had been directed at Silvi? It was a morbid thing to think—that one life was valued higher than another—but Derek didn’t really know Ray, and he’d choose to save Silvi over him 100% of the time.

Dismissing his skill window, Derek next checked out his boots. Using Identify on them, he frowned because Identify didn’t seem to want to work on the boots. Avery did say that he couldn’t Identify them, either, but I thought it was different for things you’re currently wearing. Derek tried his skill out a couple more times and was surprised when he received an odd notification.

Information Received…

Displaying…

Starfury Boots

Durability:

2500/2500

The Starfury Boots were created by ****** ****** from the essence of a legendary beast from **********. Within these boots lay a power used exclusively by the Starfury species.

Starfury: Unleash an attack with the fury of a star.

Bound to User

Unleash an attack with the fury of a star. Right, very helpful. Derek chuckled. At least I know where the corpse of the beast went to. The other system must have used it to make the boots, and probably the skill scrolls, as well. Now… how do I use these things?

Derek focused on the boot on his right foot, and nothing happened. Then he thought about how he activated Material Drain with Harbinger. He felt a tug come from the boot—like it needed something else. With realization, Derek slowly began channeling some of his mana into the boot.

Intensely, he watched as the more mana he channeled into the piece of equipment, the faster the stars floating on the boot became. It was just like how they had been spinning inside the beast’s final attack that was stopped before it had a chance to do any damage. Is that the attack these boots received?

The longer he channeled mana into the boot, the more heat came off of it. Derek glanced up for a moment and saw that most of the party members were staring at him and had begun to back away. Yeah, probably not the best idea right now. Derek stopped the flow of mana and canceled whatever skill he was teeing up. He had an idea about what the boots would do, and he was excited.

The other system had given him a piece of equipment that he was pretty sure would unleash a pretty devastating attack. The only problem is that its power is basically capped where it is right now. I certainly can’t increase the level of the boots. I don’t even know if Tyron would be able to repair them, either. Not to mention that the boots are bound to me. I guess the other system didn’t want anybody else getting their hands on them.

“That was interesting,” Avery walked over and said as he stared down intently at Derek’s new boots. “I take it they’re pretty good?”

“I can’t know for certain,” Derek shrugged. “But I think they may be okay.” He inwardly grinned. He really wanted a place to use them just to see.

“I guess it’s finally time to go back,” Avery said as he looked over his shoulder.

“Yeah. Seven losses are rough, though,” he replied. He turned to see what Avery was looking at and saw the remaining party members making their way out of his Time Prison. Some looked fine, but some acted a little groggy.

“Believe it or not, it’s better than most new dangerous dungeons. At least percent wise,” Avery said. “Some elite dungeons have been known to take out multiple full parties before one comes back with a completion—even if the party is full of elites.”

“I guess.” Derek shrugged. Finally, Elena walked out with a very groggy Kieron Dawson, leaning on her as they moved forward. With that, it was everyone.

Derek quickly moved and passed by everyone on their way out. He ducked inside the prison for a moment and gave it a quick scan. Seeing only Bones and Ogre coming out of the cell, Derek ducked back out and closed the door before ending the skill.

In a few moments, Derek was back at the dungeon orb with everyone around him. “Is everyone ready?”

“Can we wait just one more minute?” Jasper asked. “Terry couldn’t fit inside the space’s door, so I had him run far away.”

Terry? Derek thought, then remembered the man’s companion. I guess that’s its name. Not long after, Terry made its appearance, and everyone was ready.

“Ready?” Derek asked, and everyone nodded. “Remember, we don’t know what’s waiting for us on the other side. Be prepared.”

Derek placed his hand on the dungeon orb and chose to leave the dungeon. One by one, the light washed over all the party members, and they disappeared from the dungeon.

Derek blinked as his feet found solid footing. He was finally out of the dungeon. However, something was wrong. He wasn’t in the cave they had originally found the dungeon orb in. Instead, he was in an empty room with gray walls surrounding him.

Confused, Derek looked, but couldn’t find anyone other than Silvi, who was still on his shoulder. What’s going on? He was about to move to look around, but was halted by a voice.

“Mr. Hunt… Silvi… it’s nice to finally meet you?”

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