System Change

Once he watched Thomas disappear around a corner and out of his sight, Derek decided to explore a bit more of the academy before leaving. Instead of going back the same way that Anthony Onis had taken him, he chose to slowly make his way back through the north side of the academy. It was the side of the academy where Anthony had told him that the students had set up stalls to sell items for credits. It was also where all the student dorms were located. He decided to call it Student Row.

Of course, Derek didn’t have any Academy Credits to give out—at least, he didn’t think he did, but he wasn’t actually sure if the king’s token he was wearing would allow him to give some out. He hadn’t really gone over the credit system too much with Anthony or Thomas when he was learning about the academy from them. He actually didn’t know if they were physical tokens or accumulated on some sort of card like the bank in Savannah had given him.

So, being that it had been a long time since he had last eaten, it could have almost been considered torturous when he made it far enough down the street to start smelling the different aromas from the food items being prepared by the cooking students. For a moment, he thought about seeing if it would be okay to trade some of the things he had in his storage ring for a few credits of his own, or just a straight up trade for whatever the delicious smelling meat kabob was, but after a moment, those thoughts passed.

He was literally in the city of the main Crown Restaurant, and he knew that the best dish he found at the academy probably wouldn’t even be able to touch the food prepared at the Crown—even on the first floor. So, instead of continuing to slobber over all the different foodstuffs, he moved further down until he arrived at some stalls with crafted items.

The badge on his shoulder did allow him some perks, as all the students tensed when he moved in front of their stalls. I could probably take advantage of this badge and ‘test’ some of the food prepared by the students, he thought, but didn’t want to do that because it would literally be stealing from children, and he didn’t see any instructors with stalls up. He couldn’t replace any food he consumed, after all. However, all that was untrue for the other crafted items—other than the consumables, of course.

So, when he arrived in front of a small stall with a bunch of different small weapons—weapons like daggers, knives, needles, and even a couple shortswords—he didn’t hesitate to pick one up and swing it a few times. It wasn’t like he was going to try to pump it with mana or test it on his own skin. A few swings and a quick Identify was enough for him to get the feeling of the weapon’s quality.

At one particular stall in Student Row, Derek picked up a halberd—glaives still seemed to be an unpopular weapon choice, but there were plenty of other polearms—and gave it a couple swings through the air. He thought back to his still damaged glaive, and realized that the weapon he was swinging was already of higher quality than the one that had accompanied back on Earth and through all those years in the void, before finally giving out on him in Cydaria.

It was a bittersweet memory for him. His weapon had kept him sane—well… less insane while he was in the void—so it was a weapon that he would probably never discard, no matter how useless it became. Finally, he swung the halberd through the air one last time, then put it back in the open barrel that had been holding it before.

“What year are you?” Derek asked the young man, who was watching Derek with gleaming wide eyes.

“I see,” Derek said with a nod. “Good, good…” he said with a smile. “When did you create that halberd?” he asked.

“Sir!” the young man called out again before answering. “I crafted that halberd three weeks ago, sir.”

“And its quality? Is that the best you can do, or do you have better?” Derek asked.

“I have better, of course,” the young man answered with a serious nod. “These weapons are those I deem worthy to sell to the underclassmen, the best weapons I keep for myself, or trade with my fellow classmates.” Then, the young man flicked his wrist, and a shortsword appeared in his hand. “This is one of the weapons that I am proud of. I finished it three days ago.” He handed the sword to Derek.

Derek examined the sword and gave it a few mechanical swings before he nodded and handed it back to the young man. “Very good,” he praised the young man. “Keep doing what you’re doing. I suspect you’ll be quite the smith when you are older.”

“Thank you, sir!” Christian straightened his back and did his best to hide the smile on his face and the pride in his eyes.

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“Carry on,” Derek said and turned to continue his stroll down the street. He was sure that the young man would be curious about the interaction, but Derek didn’t plan to say anything else. All that Christian would know was that someone in the king’s favor came by and inspected his wares.

But as Derek walked away, he couldn’t keep a smile from forming on his face. She’s already at the level of a fourth-year academy student with her legendary class—even at a lower level, he thought as he continued on. Doesn’t look like there’s any point in even mentioning the academy to her… well… there may be a library or rune books or something, he thought. But she pretty much has access to anything she wants as long as she asks. I’m sure Stella could track down anything that this place has for her.

Just before he got to the end of Student Row, Derek stumbled upon another very interesting vendor. It was interesting because it was another halfling alchemist who very much reminded him of Roman, and the boy was offering credits for students to use his potions instead of selling them for credits. There was also a small disclaimer hanging from the front of the table under the price, which mentioned that the ‘stall owner is not responsible for any undesirable outcomes.’

Derek couldn’t help but stop in front of the stall. There was nobody else around it, and it seemed that every other student was doing their best to steer clear. “An alchemist, huh?” Derek said, getting the young halfling’s attention, causing his head to slowly raise—it seemed the boy was even nodding off. He didn’t expect any ‘customers’ either.

“Huh? Yeah,” he answered.

“Do you know Roman Pascal?” Derek came straight out and asked.

“Do I know him?” the boy yawned. “I know of him, of course.” The halfling’s eyes landed on Derek’s shoulder where the king’s token was, but he didn’t seem visible impressed by it—just a very slight raise of his eyebrow before he continued. “He’s a very popular alchemist known for his virility potions among the nobles. Why?”

“Oh,” Derek said. I guess they’re not related. He’d already met a couple of students who were relatives of people he knew, so he wouldn’t be surprised to see another. The people that he’d been around lately had all been some of the more prominent or stronger people in the kingdom, so it would make sense if their relatives were able to enroll in the academy. I’ve probably already passed a bunch, actually… he thought. “You just reminded me of him, is all.”

“Because I’m a halfling who just happens to do alchemy?” the alchemist said, with a raised eyebrow.

“No… well, yes, but not just that,” Derek stammered, then felt a bit of embarrassment from being called out by a boy. “The first time I met the man in an alchemist sense, he had me test some potions for him. I saw your sign, so I decided to check.”

“Oh… I see,” the boy said. “Can’t say I’ve ever met the guy,” he answered with a shrug.

“Gotcha,” Derek said as he looked down at four potions placed on the stall. “Want me to test a couple of potions for the mistake?” Derek asked.

“You want to test some of my potions? For your own curiosity?” the boy looked around conspiratorially—like he was plotting something and didn’t want anybody to overhear.

“Am I not supposed to?” Derek asked with furrowed brows. “Are there rules against doing something like this?”

“None specifically stated,” the halfling said. “At least none for someone like you.” The alchemist pointed at the token that Derek had pinned on his shoulder. “You have that badge. I’m sure you can do whatever you want. And if you want to sip a couple of potions, who am I to stop you? I doubt any of the instructors or the headmaster would punish me if it was for your own curiosity. In fact, I’d probably be punished for not letting you do what you want.” The boy’s eyes brightened as he spoke.

“You don’t even know who I am,” Derek said with a half smirk.

“It doesn’t matter who you are.” The boy shrugged. “I’ve read all rules multiple times—studied them intensely. You have that badge. That’s all that matters.”

“And why have you studied them so much?” Derek asked, but he knew the answer, and it wasn’t so the boy would be able to avoid breaking any of them like a good student.

“I want to be the best academy student I can be,” the halfling said proudly.

“Yeah… sure you do,” Derek snorted.

“And in order to be the best student possible,” the boy said as he leaned in and his voice quieted to almost a whisper. “Then I need to be able to know which rules can bend and which ones cannot.” He pulled a notebook and a writing utensil out of his storage ring. “And if I happen to overhear any details you find out from drinking my potions… it wouldn’t be student-like for me not to write them down.”

“Hah!” Derek chuckled. It was exactly as he expected. With a smile and a shake of his head, he reached out and took the first potion into his hand before gulping it down. After a few moments, he said, “Very small endurance boost. Slows speed by a small amount, too.” As he spoke the words, the young alchemist furiously jotted down notes. Derek then turned the next potion up and swallowed. After seeing the effects, he sighed. “Small increase in vitality for a very short amount of time. Will probably kill anyone who doesn’t have a really good health potion on hand if they have less than eight thousand or so health points. I wouldn’t recommend selling it unless it’s to an enemy you want dead.”

“Yes, yes…” The boy nodded quickly as he finished his notes, then looked at Derek with a pair of pleading eyes. Derek had offered to test some of the potions, but the boy had never come out and asked him to, and it didn’t look like he was going to. It seemed to be one of those ‘bendy’ rules.

“Nope,” Derek said. “You only get two. One for me waking you, and the other for me assuming you knew Roman. That’s it. Good luck with your alchemy,” Derek said with a chuckle, then left. He heard a sigh come from the booth behind him as he walked away.

Once he was a decent distance away from the alchemist and his booth, he turned his head to see that the boy had already sat two more potions on his stall to take place of the two that Derek had tested for him. Derek shook his head. Crazy alchemists. All the same.

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