System Change

As Derek was following everyone back outside, he felt the lightweight that could only be Silvi appear on his shoulder. He laughed lightly, as he hoped that she would never change. She was still the number one beast companion in his books.

‘They’re all stupid,’ Silvi said to him through their link.

‘Why is that?’ he asked as they continued to walk.

‘All that food,’ she answered. ‘Now, it’s going to get cold. Idiots. Why put everything out, then not eat? Terrible… terrible.’

‘I imagine they just want everything prepared for when the ceremony is over. You know, so they can get into the celebration faster. Plus, it all looked very good and decorative,’ Derek said, then, he admitted it. ‘You did a very good job.’

‘I know,’ she replied smugly. ‘Need bigger kitchen. Like Crown one.’

‘Alanah told me that you borrowed one of her kitchens,’ Derek said. ‘I take it you liked it?’

‘Mhm. Very good kitchen.’

Finally, Derek and Silvi made it outside the palace and stepped down to where all the seats were. He looked around, and it seemed like certain people had designated seating areas—such as the families of the bride and groom being up front. It looked like others would be able to sit wherever they wanted—which was just fine for Derek.

As he walked down the center aisle, he passed every row of seats. They were all facing the palace steps where the ceremony would take place. He continued on until he arrived at the final row of seats, then he walked a little further. After moving a bit past the end of the seating area, Derek and Silvi moved to the far left side. After finding the perfect spot, he pulled his own chair out and sat.

He did this for multiple reasons. The first and foremost reason was that he wouldn’t be caught dead sitting in one of those poor excuses for a chair that Astrus had arranged. At a distant second was the next reason—from where he put his own chair, he would be able to see the entire area. He would have a full view of all the guests and the ceremony. If anyone decided to try something, he would see it, and he could stop it—depending on what it was.

“This looks like as good a spot as any,” an old withered voice that Derek could recognize anywhere sounded from beside him. “I wasn’t sure that you would be coming back here.”

“I’m surprised you stayed,” Derek said as he waved his hand and another chair—albeit not one as good as the one he was sitting in—appeared next to him. “I figured that you would have left once the teleporters got connected. I didn’t take you for the wedding type. Surely you’ve already got what you came here for, right?”

“Bahahaha,” Marrick laughed at Derek’s questions as he hopped into the seat he’d been given. “You don’t see something like this wedding often—first time, even for me. Two people from different kingdoms getting hitched to take over a third kingdom… how could I miss that?”

Derek turned to look at the old man and smiled. It seemed that Derek wasn’t the only one who didn’t dress up formally for the occasion. Marrick was still wearing his long robe, but at least his hood was down this time. “You even combed your hair,” Derek said.

The old man ran his hand through what little hair he had and scoffed. “And you finally got rid of that leg armor with the big hole in it. Though… I’m not sure if your current attire is… normal. Interesting pants, though, and that shirt looks comfortable. Always interesting, you are.”

“Oh, you wouldn’t believe how comfortable my clothes are,” Derek said. “I wouldn’t be caught dead wearing one of those tunics and… pantaloons? Trousers? Whatever they’re called. I’d definitely get a robe before wearing any of that shit.”

“Haha,” Marrick laughed, but it ended in a light coughing fit. “Ugh…” he shook his head and continued. “Robes are nice—especially at my age.” Finally, Merrick looked directly into Derek’s eyes, and his face turned serious. “There is something that I need to ask you about.”

“Oh?” Derek questioned with raised eyebrows. “What is it?”

“Why…” Marrick started, and Derek leaned in a little. “Why is your companion wearing that hat?”

Derek snorted and leaned back in his seat. “That’s what you wanted to ask? I thought you had something serious to discuss…” he shook his head.

“Like I said before,” Marrick countered. “There aren’t many things that I haven’t seen in my long life. A wedding with the weight of this one is one of those things. Another is what I suspect used to be a Horned Rabbit that has evolved into a void based rabbit species—and one that is wearing a white and purple chef’s hat and well stitched cloak. So, you can see why I had to ask.”

“Because,” Silvi’s voice sounded out from her communication crystals that she was finally able to wear once again. “I am a Mythical Void Battle Chef. Mythical Void Battle Chefs need chef hats. It’s natural. I cooked the food… I wear the hat.”

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For the first time since he’d met the man—even though it had been a very short amount of time—Derek finally saw real surprise creep onto his face. At first, Derek thought it was because Silvi was the one who answered him. Hell, Derek was surprised for a moment that Silvi fielded the question—even if it was about her. But that surprise didn’t last long, as she had done all the cooking and she was, of course, very proud of her work.

“Myth… Mythical?” the old elf finally said, and everything clicked for Derek. Marrick looked hard at Derek again. “Then you?”

“Maybe…” Derek said. He’d stopped worrying about revealing secrets to people like Alanah or even Marrick anymore—at least secrets like his class rarity or even where he came from. But nobody had really asked about the latter since he decided he was strong enough.

He was also under oath not to reveal things he’d learned about the other system, and obtaining a Mythic Class was loosely related to that. So, even though he wasn’t prohibited in talking about having a Mythic Class, he still had to keep tight about the specifics in how it was given to him unless he was speaking with someone who already knew the truth—someone like Dave.

However, that didn’t mean he would go around telling everyone that he had a Mythical class, but he didn’t care about someone like Marrick knowing. I’ve been a decent judge of people, and the old elf seems like good people.

“Bahahaha,” after staring at Derek for a good deal longer, Marrick finally slapped his knee and began laughing. “I was wondering about that. When I was watching your fight—if it could be called that—with the army, I couldn’t make out any disparities between your stats and your companion’s. I know the two of you never went all out or anything, and it was like two adults against a bunch of toddlers, but I can usually get a sense of someone’s stats, even in such cases.”

“So, you know about Mythical classes?” Derek asked.

“Just a bit, here and there,” Marrick said. “Well… myths, really. There’s a story about an elf reaching that stage in our history, but you know how stories are. If it really happened, it was tens of thousands of years ago. I’ve another question for you, then,” the old man said.

“Go ahead,” Derek replied.

“Are you really a human?”

“Am I a human?” Derek wasn’t actually sure how to answer that question. Technically, yes, he was a human. He had just evolved and was now a void based human. “I am,” he finally answered. He did start out as a full blood regular old human back when the system first arrived on Earth.

“How old are you?” Marrick asked.

“That is another interesting question,” Derek teased. It was also another question that he really couldn’t answer. His status sheet said he was 30 years old, but if he added the time he spent in the void, would he be decades older? Or maybe even centuries or millennia older. Finally, he just answered with his system answer. “Not much older than thirty.”

“So young? Fascinating,” Marrick said. “I’d ask to hear your story, but now is neither the time nor the place—and that is if you are even willing to share it. I would not blame you if you wouldn’t want to. I don’t know if I would, either.”

“Maybe later,” Derek said. “For now, let’s just say that how I obtained my class isn’t something that can be replicated, and there is much that I can’t speak about.”

“Very understandable.” The old man waved his hand. “I wasn’t looking for tips on getting a Mythic Class, anyway,” he shook his head. “We can’t even replicate legendary classes, and we can barely produce epic classes. Everyone’s path is different, and I believe that is truly what decides class rarity past epic. So, no, that’s not something I would try, or even have my kin try. But a story that can keep me entertained, that is something that I would like to listen to. This need not have anything to do with your class, I am more interested in your story.

“But yes, it is better left to another time and another place,” Marrick continued. “We’ve a wedding to watch, and perhaps… there will be some extra entertainment during the ceremony.” Derek saw the old man’s hand tighten on his cane.

“Ah,” Derek said. “So the truth finally comes out. That’s why you stayed.”

“Oh, you can stop that,” Marrick hushed. “Is it not the same reason you’ve come back? The same reason you’re sitting back here instead of up front with the other guests of importance?”

“You got me,” Derek said and raised his hands. “That, and so I could use my own furniture. Did you see those seats they have up there? Purely decorative. There’s not much worse than having to sit in a chair that was made purely for decoration.”

“Used to, I would have argued with you,” the old elf said, then he settled himself deeper into the cushion on the chair he was using. “But after meeting you, I have to agree. I can’t believe I went all those years without thinking about it. Truly makes me wonder what I have been doing with my life.”

“Haha,” Derek laughed. “Yeah, I can’t imagine being your age and having the misfortune of living my life with decorative furniture. Truly, not a life worth living.”

“That’s not something you’re supposed to agree with when you’re speaking to the elderly,” Marrick snorted. “You’re supposed to give empty platitudes about how sure you are that our lives were great.”

“But… decorative… chairs…” Derek replied slowly.

“Again,” Marrick said. “You will introduce me to your ‘chair guy’ after this ceremony. It is no longer a request.”

“Yes, sir!” Derek straighten and half saluted. “Geoffrey will be happy to assist you. I’m sure of it.”

“Good, good…” the old man nodded.

After that, Derek and Marrick continued their small talk for a while. Derek looked for Alanah or Avery to join them, but it seemed that they had found a pair of seats at the very front, with the rest of the guests of importance. That was good, though. That meant that if anything happened up there, Alanah—who was probably the fastest and definitely one of the strongest people at the ceremony—would be there to stop it. Derek had Void Shift and Active Void Shift, so he would be right behind her.

Avery was sitting between Edgar and Alanah, and, by the way he’d glanced all the way back to where Derek, Silvi, and Marrick were sitting, he looked a bit envious.

It wasn’t too much later that the final people were being guided to their designated seats. The seats at the back, which had no designation, had filled up quickly with the non-important people, but it had taken a while for the servants to guide all the others. Where they were seated at such an event looked to be very important for the heads of the noble houses that had chosen to attend the ceremony.

Another thing that Derek was about to see as he watched everyone be seated one by one was the amount of people Indria had chosen to send. It looked like—since this was an event that was also meant to mollify his own people—Osian had chosen to invite many of the top noble houses from his kingdom.

Finally, the last person found their seat, and the servants scurried away. Then, from the entrance to the palace, King Edwin and King Osian walked out, side-by-side to begin the ceremony.

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