System Change

“Is that it?” Derek asked the odd man who had just thrown him a diamond ranked adventurer’s badge.

“Is that it?” Klaus echoed. “What more do you expect? You’re obviously at the level of one of those freaks like Ms. Swan. The little palm strike you hit me with was enough to actually do damage to me… which isn’t easy to do… trust me. Would you like to take Cain to one of the back rooms and wipe the floor with his face? Would that make you feel more worthy?”

“I would rather not…” Cain said from the side.

“That…” Derek started, but he was at a loss for words. He didn’t know what he was expecting. His last upgrade, he’d had a pretty long spar with Shae. I guess that little scuffle could be considered a test. “Well… whatever.” Derek shrugged, then took his onyx badge and moved toward Cain. “Here you go,” he handed both badges to the Guild Master.

After a short while, Cain finished up with the upgrade process, and Derek was finally a shining example and… whatnot. “That was easier than I thought it was going to be,” he said.

“I don’t know why you thought it would be hard,” Klaus said with a shake of his head. “You know your strength. I know… some of your strength. Much of the kingdom knows a bit of your strength. It would be weird if you weren’t able to get the badge so easily. I guess I could send you on a mission to fight some legendary monsters… but considering that little dragon pen you had the Walking Forge set up… I think that would be a bit pointless… and time consuming.”

“I guess you’re right,” Derek said with a shrug. “Just feels weird. I’ve completed maybe a few Adventurer’s Guild missions, and I’m already at diamond rank.”

“I don’t know what to tell you,” Klaus said. “If you want a challenge next time, how about not getting so strong? Or go somewhere where you don’t already have a reputation that is easy to find out about.”

“No, this is fine,” Derek said, then pinned the badge to his shoulder. I might as well wear it while I’m in the guild, at least, he thought. I wonder what kind of discounts I could get from some building contractors now that I’m diamond ranked. He remembered what the builders were willing to do with him only being onyx ranked. I guess that’s pointless to think about, he thought. I already have that slimeball Geoffrey to do whatever I need. He’s been good to me, might as well stick with him… as long as he can make some decent recliners.

“Hey… you there?” Klaus broke Derek out of his daydream with a couple snaps of his fingers. “Good,” he said when Derek looked at him. “Follow me.”

Derek didn’t have time to refuse or even react to the Guild Leader before the man had already left the lobby and the door to the back swung shut behind him. Derek looked back over at Cain, but the man gave him a shrug. “He does what he wants,” Cain said.

“I can see that,” Derek replied, but still followed behind the man deeper into the guild. His curiosity outweighed any other feeling he had at the moment.

“Come on, I don’t have all day. I’m a busy man, and I’m about to be a lot busier.” Klaus stuck his head out of a doorway on the right side of the hall and spoke. He motioned with his hand to ‘come on,’ then ducked back inside whatever room he was in.

“Is this what it feels like dealing with me?” Derek muttered to himself as he continued forward. Is this his ‘eccentric mode’ or is it just what he’s like? He wondered.

Soon enough, though, he found himself in a private room, sitting at a desk full of paperwork, opposite Klaus.

“What is this about?” Derek asked.

“Well, you seemed to want to know more about me, so go ahead and ask. I’m an open book,” Klaus said, then yawned again. “But like I said, let’s make this quick. I’m sure we’re about to get a flood of new quests and new adventurers signing up.”

“That’s probably true,” Derek said. “I take it Cain let you know everything?”

“Yes, and I’ve been keeping up with the other news too ever since the teleporters came back online,” he said. “But enough about that…”

“In that case,” Derek said. “Were you really not going to help with the war until they came to the capital?” It would have made my job easier if you had, Derek thought, but didn’t say aloud.

“That was the plan,” Klaus said. “It would have been pointless for me to do so. My abilities are purely defense and recovery for now. I could have maybe flown around Ryven for a bit and provided distraction or locked him down. But why provoke them by joining the fight?”

“What do you mean?” Derek asked.

“If you go look at the sub-cities and Wilmette that were taken over, along with most of the villages, you’ll see that for the most part, all the regular citizens were left alone—this included my Adventurer’s Guild staff. Most of the casualties came from soldiers, guards, and mercenaries. If I would have joined with my limited offensive power, what good would have that done anyone? By the time I wouldn’t have had to worry about that anymore, you’d already shown back up.”

“Hmm…” Derek rubbed his chin. “I guess it makes sense not to join, but I’m having a hard time believing that the Guild Leader of the Adventurer’s Guild would be so weak. You moved fast enough, and I can imagine some very… interesting ways to use those abilities of yours.”

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

“I may have tried back when I started the Adventurer’s Guild,” Klaus said.

“Wait… back when you started the guild?” Derek questioned. I had to have heard that wrong, he thought.

“Of course,” Klaus said. “That was when Edwin’s… great… great… great grandfather was king. Somewhere around there. Time passes by pretty quickly, after all.”

“How old are you?” Derek asked.

“I dunno,” Klaus answered with a shrug. “A couple thousand years… give or take.”

“But… what about your natural lifespan? Your longevity?”

“I don’t have one,” Klaus replied. “Well… I do, but it’s one of the things I can modify with my skills. Though, doing so is becoming harder and harder these days, and leaves me crippled for much longer than it used to. The recovery is much harsher now. I imagine I only have a good thousand years left in me.”

“W-what?” Derek blurted out. “So, you’re older than Marrick?”

“Marrick? The Earth Sage Elf? I guess he did go to Astrus with everybody, didn’t he? Yes, I’m quite a bit older than that young lad,” Klaus chuckled.

“Lad?” Derek said. “Have you seen him recently? He looks like a goblin with only a few strands of white hair on the sides of his head.”

“Well… it’s been a while,” Klaus said. “I’m surprised he’s not dead yet, honestly.”

“He looks like he is,” Derek said.

“Is that it all you wanted to know?” Klaus said. “All your questions answered?”

“No!” Derek said. “I just got a ton more. You probably know more history about this world than any other living person.”

“Probably.” Klaus shrugged. “I’ve been pretty static for the last few centuries, though. I’ve pretty much relegated myself to watching young adventurers grow stronger. It’s the only thing that really keeps me entertained.”

“What about relationships?” Derek asked. He hadn’t been in one in quite a while, or even had time to think about one, but he couldn’t imagine the vast difference in longevity.

“I outlast them,” Klaus said with a shrug. “I’ve watched my children die a few times. It’s not easy, so I stopped.”

“What about your skill? Can you not use it on them?” Derek asked.

“Unfortunately, no,” Klaus said. “There are limits. You saw the chair, right?”

“The one you turned into a spear?” Derek asked.

“That’s the one,” Klaus said. “I used Molecular Reconstruction on it. I am able to take any ‘non-living’ items and deconstruct them before reconstructing them in a different way—even to a completely different form or type of item. Like… wood into metal. But you also saw that it disintegrated after you caught it.”

“I did,” Derek said.

“That’s because its structure changed so much, and it couldn’t hold its new form any longer without my mana flowing through it. But, because of the change, it didn’t have a structure to revert to… so it was destroyed,” Klaus explained.

“I… see… kind of,” Derek said.

“Some things work better, though.” With a flick of his wrist, Klaus brought out a sword. Derek watched as, before his eyes, the blade on the sword transformed into an axe-head. “The form has changed, but nothing innate about the material has,” Klaus said, then tossed the axe on a sword hilt to Derek to look over. “That form can be held as it only changed shape. I didn’t reverse any aging or change it to gold.”

Derek flipped the axe around in his hand before handing it back. “It’s cool, though,” he said. “Seems like a very convenient skill.” I could make the fluffiest chair with that skill…

“But you see the problem with what you suggested now?” Klaus asked Derek.

“I do,” Derek said. “But couldn’t you continuously inject mana into a person until their… molecules settled? Is that how it works?”

“No… it doesn’t work like that. Like I said, it doesn’t work on ‘living’ creatures,” Klaus said. “And even if it did, other people don’t have a Molecular Body like I do, so they would always revert.”

“Oh… that sucks,” Derek said. It was pretty tragic if he thought about it. Outliving multiple generations of your loved ones would be terrible, he thought.

“It does, but if you live long enough, you learn to deal with ‘suck,’” Klaus replied.

“So… about your offense?” Derek asked, hoping to change the conversation.

“My offense? It isn’t bad, per se.” Klaus stored his axe-sword, then held his hand in the air, pulling the sleeve of his tunic down to his elbow in the process.

Derek watched as the man’s arm transformed into a sleek and shiny blade. That’s cool, he thought.

“Touch the blade,” Klaus said as he ‘reached’ across the desk with his blade-arm.

“Uh…” Derek felt a bit uncomfortable, but still reached out and ran his finger along the blade. To his surprise, when he pushed down hard, the blade was actually able to draw a little blood from his finger. The wound healed instantly, and he used Cleaning to get rid of the blood, but it had cut him. “Wow,” he said.

“Damn,” Klaus clicked his tongue. “I thought it would do more than that.” He shook his head. “This is my best blade.”

“That’s some material,” Derek said.

“It is. And I can make it extremely sharp. The problem is that every time I restructure myself, I lose stats permanently. Not a lot, but enough that it starts to add up after all this time. So, I have a very good weapon, and quite a few skills I’ve collected over the ages, but my stats aren’t what they once were,” Klaus explained. “So, I’m not as fast or as strong as most ‘elites’ these days.”

“I see…” Derek said. “And the defense?”

“Oh… pretty much invincible,” Klaus said with a grin. “Though, that was the first time in my long life that I’ve experienced such a void attack. You literally made my Molecular Body—parts of it anyway—inert. That was a first. I’ve been frozen solid, fried by lightning, squished between barriers, trapped underground, and all sorts of different things, but nothing has ever affected me that way. It was very interesting.”

“Lightning… barriers… ice…” Derek muttered. “Did you piss off every royal family on the continent at some point?”

“It was a different time back then,” Klaus said.

“Why are you telling me all of this?” Derek asked. “Aren’t you afraid I’ll use it against you?”

“Why would I be afraid?” Klaus asked. “Your void caused a different reaction. I’m not sure how bad it actually is. Besides, you asked. And if you wanted, it’s not hard to find out about me if you ask the right people. I usually stay in the background, but ask Cain, or Ms. Swan, or Edwin, and they’ll let you know. Nothing about me is a secret after being around so long.”

“Huh…” Derek said. He’s at the point where secrets no longer matter to him. He doesn’t have anyone close, and he’s pretty much invincible—according to him—so why would he lie?

“I also have a couple questions for you, if you don’t mind me asking,” Klaus said.

“Oh,” Derek said. “That’s why you so easily answered my questions. If you offer information on yourself, then maybe I’ll do the same…” There’s always a catch with these old bastards, he thought, then shrugged. “But I don’t care about hiding much these days, so I’ll return the favor if I can.”

“Great!” Klaus smiled, really smiled this time. Then, his eyes began shifting through multiple colors at a rapid pace, and Derek even felt some of his aura leak from him. “Your body…” Klaus began as he eyed Derek up and down with his ever-shifting eyes. “It’s different.”

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