Chapter 32 - System Changes

“Come.” Red beckoned, stepping back into the dim light of the cave.

After the shock of seeing elves, fairies, dwarves, skeletons, and even red skinned humans which Red had informed me were demons, I felt a strange sense of eagerness. These… beings were the ones who lived in fairy tales and bedtime stories. They were used to keep children in line, explain things that couldn’t possibly be explained, and were the epicentre of jokes. And they were real.

Standing, walking, talking right below me.

Before I could rush down, though, a powerful force stopped my movements. Red had binded me, proclaiming that I couldn’t leave the mountaintop until he made a few things clear.

I followed him into the cave, filled with a mix of emotions. A part of me was excited to see these new people. A part of me was angry at Red, who’d taken me away from the Haven guild without any warning. A part of me just wanted to go home.

He sat down on a flat slab of stone that lined the cave wall and beckoned for me to sit next to him.

I did so reluctantly.

He sighed and rested his arms on his knees, and his head in his hands. “I know you’re probably feeling pretty upset right now. We take you away for your friends, tell you that you can only go back once you master your magic and whatnot. But listen, this is not entirely a bad thing for you. Look at the positives. You won’t be kept under lock and key. You’ll be given a home. A family. Just for your stay here. You can make new friends. Learn magic, and other skills you’ll need in the future.”

I’ll admit. It did sound rather tempting. But I already had a family back home. ‘What if I say no? What if I don’t need all these things?’

Red shook his head. “You have to stay, whether or not you like it or not. I’ll warn you now. You will not leave my sight if you cannot prove to me that you will not destroy this entire dimensional plane with your void magic.”

‘My friends will come looking for me.’ Or at least, I hoped so.

“They will never find you. We are in a separate dimensional plane from Erobeus. This place exists on our continent, but not with the same people nor the infrastructure. Our time also runs at double the speed from the normal time. Thank the time Great Beast for that. The land you currently stand on is a spatial level above Erobeus. Only a master of space magic, which is me, can allow people to enter or leave.”

‘What if I try to escape?’

He scoffed, for real this time. ‘Attempts to escape are welcomed, provided they do not harm or damage the town. You may not use your void magic to escape. Even if it devours this entire plane and you survive, you will simply drift in space for the rest of eternity. Not a pleasant experience.”

Shit. There really was no way out. It looked like I’d have to abide with the Great Beast’s rules. For now, at least.

‘Can I at least see my friends one more time? If that’s even possible.’ I wanted to let them know that I was at least ok.

“Certainly. Just look into the pool for a moment and picture who you want to see.”

‘Uh… ok?’ I didn’t know whether or not he was kidding. He didn’t seem like the kind of guy that kidded around.

Cautiously, I hovered above the glowing pool, just a few centimeters above the surface of the water. As I imagined seeing Kearan’s face, the water began to ripple.

A bird’s eye view of the group travelling on horseback replaced the transparent water. They still looked to be in Oblivion, their surroundings being the rugged mountaintops and snowy caps.

Kearan seemed to be doing a little better- he could ride a horse without any trouble. However, from what I saw, he didn’t seem to have full control over his motor functions. The rest of the group had all recovered from their injuries, though, which was good to see.

‘Guys!’ I spoke through mind speech. ‘Guys! Can you see me?’

Winter turned around, her brow creased. “I swear I just heard June…”

“The pond acts as a spatial window. It allows you to see through to a destination of your choice. However, it is a one way window. They cannot see you.” Red explained.

‘But can they hear me?’ I asked desperately. ‘What was the point of showing this to me if I can’t speak to them?’

“They can. At least, I think so in your case. Normally, something such as sound will not go through. But you have the ability to communicate through one’s mind, am I right?”

‘Well… yes. But it has a range, I must be able to see…’ Ah. Now I understood what he was getting at. There was a loophole in the skill. I could only speak to people that I could see, since my range of sight was strictly limited. However, using space magic I could see farther. Much, much farther.

‘Winter. Kearan. Jay. Edith. Rarq. Verity. Mox. Raul. Fern. Lena.’ I recited the names and directed my thoughts straight into their head. It took a little bit more concentration, but I could do it.

All of them turned around, searching for the source of the voice.

“June? June, where are you?” Mox shouted.

“Maybe it’s his dead spirit?” Edith suggested.

Winter glared at him.

‘You guys can’t see me, but I can see you. I can also hear you.’ I explained, just glad to hear their voices again. ‘Also, yeah, I’m alive.’

They all breathed a sigh of relief, and Mox spoke up once more. “Where are you? Are you ok?”

‘I’m… fine. Apparently, I’m a threat to the realm and whatnot, which means I have to disappear for a little while. Don’t worry, a Great Beast is looking after me.’

“A Great Beast?” Everyone exclaimed.

I smiled in my head. ‘Yep, believe it or not, he’s actually a nice guy.’ I sneaked a glance at Red, who was playing with a small pebble.

“Thank goodness you’re alright.” Verity said instinctively, then blushed and put a hand to her mouth. “Not like I like you or anything… Don’t get any ideas.”

Edith let out a hearty laugh and soon, the rest of the group joined in.

“So when will you be back? Do you need us to come get you?” Winter asked.

‘No, I’m ok. The Great Beast said he’d let me go once I manage to master my void magic. Don’t worry about me. I’m sorry I won’t be any help to your plan to take down the baron.’

“No, you don’t worry about us. Just take care of yourself. You’ve done more than enough.” Kearan interrupted. “I’m sorry I wasn’t strong enough to protect you. And Cherry.”

An awkward silence hung in the air.

‘It’s alright. I’m over it.” Actually, I wasn’t. I hadn’t even had time to grieve yet. But they didn’t need to know that. “I’ll… see you again sometime. I’m sure. Just wait for me, will you?”

Kearan smiled. Something I’d never seen him do before. “Of course we will.”

I wanted to smile too, but I knew this happy feeling wouldn’t last. This was a bittersweet moment that I never wanted to end. ‘So, um… I think this is going to be goodbye.’ I said slowly.

Everyone hung their heads except Kearan. “No, this isn’t goodbye. We’ll see you again, won’t we, June?”

I felt my heart breaking. ‘Yes. You will.’ I really wished it was true.

“See you later, I guess.” He said.

A chorus of ‘see you laters’ and ‘byes’ filled the air, causing imaginary tears to drip down my cheeks.

Then they disappeared, and the pond became transparent water once more.

“Are you satisfied?” Red asked, standing up from his stone bench.

‘Yes.’ The interaction had lit a fire in me. A determination to master this void magic and return to the Haven guild as soon as possible. ‘So you’ll let me leave once I master void magic?’ I double checked with him.

“Of course.” He replied confidently. “If you master void magic. You are an abnormality, after all, and no one has ever appeared with such a skill. It’d be a miracle if you managed to master it in a million years, if at all.”

‘Wait, what???’

Red left me after that.

I guessed a tantrum wasn’t particularly convincing that I wouldn’t destroy the entire dimension if he let me down into the town.

I was angry. A million years? A million years to master a single element of magic that’s only purpose was to destroy. Even if this dimension ran at double the speed of Erobeus, in half a million years, the Haven guild would have died. I might have died. Who knew how long this potato body would last for?

Alone, dejected, and with nothing to do, I stared blankly into the little pool, hoping to see the Haven guild’s faces one more time. I recalled the series of events that had occurred for me to land here. A week had already passed- at least according to Red.

[Hello!]

The voice and line of text appeared so suddenly that I almost lost my balance and fell into the pond.

‘G?’ I asked slowly. ‘Is that you?’

[Hmm, if you mean Glyphmere, then no, I am not him.]

‘Then… who are you?’ I’d already noticed the blue colour of the text, which was different from the updated A.S.S. I needed to stay alert.

[Nice to meet you! My name is Eve, and I’ll be guiding you on your path, which is… oh, dear. Potato God? Now that’s not something you see everyday.]

That energetic tone reminded me of Cherry.

[Alright! Before we begin, do you have any questions?]

‘Yeah. A lot of them, actually. What are you? What happened to the A.S.S.? Does G know about this? Why did I get a new path? Were you sent by the Maker?’

[Wow! That’s a lot of questions. Oooh, I haven’t been assigned to anyone in centuries! I’m so excited! Oh, oh. First, I am what is known as a virtual assistant. I don’t have a physical body, and am bound by many restrictions- one of them being the system. I was appointed by the Maker to assist you along your path. To answer your second question. The A.S.S. was, to put it simply, a bad replica of the real system. Your skills and stats have all been transferred over during the update, so don’t worry. Glyphmere does not know about this. Also, he can’t communicate with you through the system anymore- unless I let him. Which I won’t. He’s a big meanie. Alright! Onto the fourth question.You didn’t exactly receive a new path. It was just a small change to make it a more direct path to your end goal. I don’t know if you’d noticed it before, but when you completed quests, your titles were all over the place. L’Der, hero, potato, it would’ve taken years to reach the end of your path. Now, it’ll only take you ten steps. Does this answer all of your questions?]

Holy shit, that was a long paragraph. My ears felt like they were about to fall off.

‘Um, yes? I guess?’ I didn’t even think I’d absorbed half of the information.

[That’s great! Now let’s begin with showing you the basics. This system is similar to the A.S.S., meaning it will have similar commands. However, the A.S.S. restricts L’Ders from leveling, only allowing them to increase their power through skills. This updated system allows L’Ders, which were originally called ‘Stars’, to level and learn skills that affect your life. For example, magic. To begin, open your status/profile window, by saying ‘status’.]

‘I know… I know.’ I’d already been through this before once, and I had to learn the hard way. This time, it looked like a helpful little assistant would be giving me a hand. Much better when compared to G, who’d simply told me the world was changing and patted my ass with a ‘good luck’.

‘Status.’ I said, already knowing what was coming.

___________________________________________

Winston June

Title: Hero (Stage 1)

Race: Ascended Potato

Path: Path to Potato Godhood

Faith: 108

Xera: 200/200

Path Skills:

[Divine Being] (Passive) {Maxed} [Xera Transfer] (Active) {3/10} [Potato God’s Eye] (Passive) {Maxed}

L’Der Skills:

[Set Quest] (Active) {N/A} [O.C.C] (Active) {N/A}

Race Skills:

[Germinate] (Active) {7/30} [Potato Battery] (Passive) {9/40} [Potato Body] (Active) {2/20} [Hull] (Active) {2/10}

Misc. Skills:

[Mind Speech] (Active) {15/20} [Potato God’s Hand] (Active) {Maxed} [Percieve Domain] (Passive) {2/35} [Mutation] (Active) {2/15}

[20 Skill Points Available]

[2 Instant Evolution Available]

___________________________________________

Surprisingly, it was exactly the same as before.

[This is your previous status window, before your system was updated. If you say the command again, your status window will change to what it is now.]

‘I see…’ I prepared myself for something crazy.

‘Status?’

___________________________________________

Winston June

Major Attributes

Level: 0 {0%}

Race: Potato

Path: Path to Potato Godhood (Guided) {0/10}

Xera: 200/200

Class Attributes

Class: TBD

Rank: N/A

Level: N/A

Other Attributes

Accumulated Faith: 161

Skills

Path Skills:

[Divine Being] (Passive) [Xera Transfer] (Active) [Potato God’s Eye] (Passive) [Potato God’s Hand] (Active)

L’Der Skills:

[Set Quest] (Active) [O.C.C] (Active)

Race Skills:

[Germinate] (Active) [Potato Battery] (Passive) [Potato Body] (Active) [Hull] (Active)

Misc. Skills:

[Mind Speech] (Active) [Percieve Domain] (Passive) [Mutation] (Active)

Class Skills:

Statistics

Xera Purity: 100%

Xera Capacity: 200

Xera Regeneration: 200/s

Physical Strength Boost: 16.1% {0}

Mental Strength Boost: 16.1% {0}

Physical Endurance Boost: 16.1% {0}

Mental Endurance Boost: 16.1% {0}

Followers

Accumulated Followers: 2

Item Buffs

N/A

Combat Power

Base Combat Power: 1

Current Combat Power: 1

___________________________________________

Before I could get any more information from Eve about the new system and status window, Red returned from the depths of the cave.

“Have you thought it over?” He asked, taking a seat on the stone bench. “Are you ready to meet the people of Flurisburg?”

I nodded, even though he couldn’t see it. “I’m ready.” If I wasn’t able to return to my home and friends, I might as well enjoy my time here. As weird as that sounded.

He smiled. “Good.”

Just like that, he simply stood up and walked out, beckoning for me to follow.

I was slightly confused. He was just taking my word for it? ‘What if I’m lying? What if as soon as I leave here I blow up the entire dimension?’

He turned around and gave a strange look, as if I was stupid. That look changed to one of seriousness. It was almost like he hadn’t even considered that. After a moment of thought, he walked up to me and lifted me to his eye level.

“You brought this up, not me.”

He brought his hand around my body, blocking my vision.

‘Wait!’ I shouted. ‘I wasn’t going to, I promise! After all, why would I try-’

“Fascinare.”

A grey light filled my sight. However, when he lifted his hand, nothing seemed to have changed.

‘What… did you do?’ Actually, I take that back. Something had changed. I couldn’t exactly tell what it was, but my body gave off a different feeling than before. It was like I was more alive… if that was even a way to describe it. I felt more energetic, that was for sure.

“I enchanted your ribbon. “

Right. The white ribbon Winter had tied around me all those weeks ago still somehow stayed on, tied firmly to my forward. It was dirty and grimy now, though.

‘You enchanted it? With what? How? Why?’ I asked, shocked.

“I enchanted it with a bind. It restricts you from using more than ten percent of your xera core- which includes purity. That means you can’t use your void magic. You’ll only have a tenth of your xera capacity, but your ability to manipulate and learn magic will be that of a genius level human.” He explained. “Also, since one of the drawbacks of the enchantment is the limited xera capacity, I gave you a small buff. Your xera capacity will be multiplied by your xera regeneration. That should hopefully at least double your xera cap.”

‘Oh.’ I said dumbly. ‘Thanks, I guess.’ I wasn’t planning to use it, anyways.

“Well, come on then.”

Excited, I flew beside Red. Finally, I’d get to see what these humanoids and town was all about.

A new world awaited me. Maybe, it’d help me forget the past. Maybe, I wouldn’t spend countless nights crying for my lost daughter. Maybe, I’d gain new skills and level up.

But before all that, there was something I’d forgotten.

‘Potato Body’ multiplied my xera regeneration rate by my xera capacity.

And if this new enchantment multiplied my xera capacity by my xera regeneration rate…

The power to destroy the world had already landed in my lap.