System Change

“Come on,” Alanah finally said. After that, the two of them walked the rest of the distance to the edge of the abyss—where Ryven was unable to go. It didn’t take very long before Derek and Alanah were standing at the very edge, looking down at the steep drop off.

“Whew…” Derek whistled. “That’s a long way down,” he said.

“Yes, it is,” Alanah replied. “Close your eyes and listen,” she said. “Do you feel how powerful the vibrations are just at the edge?”

“Let me see,” Derek said before closing his eyes and doing as he was told. The vibrations were certainly jarring—even to him, they were enough to make him a little more than uneasy. “It’s about at the point of your control when you try to give me a command when you aren’t transformed. I’d say that it’s enough to really affect or harm any person under level 200, or even many over level 200 that don’t have high rarity classes.”

“Mhm.” Alanah nodded her head. “That’s about where I would put it, too,” she said. “Using The Echoing Abyss to train up everyone’s Mental Resistance and willpower was certainly a good idea.”

“I also didn’t see any monsters around on our way here.” Derek pointed out. “Do you think those strong guards and fighters have somewhat got them under control?”

“It’s just about the only thing that makes sense,” Alanah answered. “If there were still level 220 plus monsters roaming around the edge here, there would be more guards around the more talented heirs and students that are training close to the edge.”

“I guess that’s true,” Derek said. “I bet there’s also someone who patrols the edge, too.”

“I would imagine so,” Alanah replied. “And if there is, then they won’t be your run-of-the-mill guard.”

“Not just yet,” Alanah replied. Then she pointed at the monster that Derek had mistaken for land earlier. “The monster. What do you see?”

“That… I’m not sure,” Derek answered. “It doesn’t look like it’s moving at all, and I think that, at its size, it would be easy to see even the subtlest of movements.”

“You are correct.” Alanah nodded. “The creature is static. As long as I’ve known it, it hasn’t moved an inch from where it’s at… well… that’s not true.” She corrected. “It has grown a bit, which means that I guess it has moved. But it hasn’t moved based on anything other than growth.”

“What kind of monster is that big, yet doesn’t move?” Derek asked. “And is able to make an entire area a danger zone just by sitting there.”

“You’ll never guess,” Alanah lightly chuckled.

“I’m not even going to try,” Derek said. “I would rather you just tell me.”

“Very well,” Alanah said. Then she pointed. “You see that part that looks like land?”

“Yes?”

“That is a very dense canopy,” Alanah explained.

“Really?” Derek asked. “If that’s a canopy, then that means that the creature is…”

“It’s a tree,” Alanah finished his sentence.

“You’re saying that the ‘creature’ that is feared throughout this kingdom, and that even you show signs of hesitation towards… is a tree?” Derek asked. “You’re joking, right?”

“Joking?” Alanah looked straight into Derek’s eyes and shook her head. “No, I’m not joking in the least. It is known as the Echoing Willow, and is also the reason that the area is called The Echoing Abyss. There have been people who have gotten close enough to Identify the tree to know what it is called. And there are many more who have gotten close to the tree and never returned.”

“How did you survive?” Derek couldn’t help but ask.

“Mostly by luck,” Alanah answered with a shrug. “During the periods that I was conscious, I was lucky enough to land killing blows on some very injured beasts roaming around the abyss. Like I said, it is chaos down there. Every beast within the willow’s range has extended bouts of insanity—I was no different.”

“And even though you would go… insane, you were able to stay alive?”

“Yes… I know it’s hard to believe,” Alanah said. “However, my weakness actually played a big role in keeping me alive. On the edge, when I figured out what was going on, I was able to fashion traps that an insane me was not able to escape. I made multiple and had many fail-safes. Because I was weak, I was unable to brute force my way through, and the uncontrolled me was not very smart—nor are any of the crazed beasts down there.”

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“I see,” Derek said. “But you had to have gotten stronger to be able to get out.”

“I did,” Alanah said. “I found out that once I became conscious again, I would have some time to do things. One of those things was to slowly venture out of my cave and look for those injured beasts. It took… a long time for me to find on that I had any confidence in defeating. It was a beast that would have probably bled out and died in minutes had I not gotten there in time to land the last strike… which may have done a point or two of damage at most. Honestly, it almost felt like the abyss felt sorry for me.

“I was unable to gain some of the Achievements for killing a beast so many levels higher than my own level because I didn’t deal all the damage, but just getting a share of the experience points was enough to increase my level by a lot. The one kill was enough to obtain a class. The first class wasn’t all that great, but the first upgrade came with help to resist controlling effects. On top of that, I believe that my willpower eventually grew to be monstrous. I am unsure if it has changed since I escaped though… I may not have as much willpower as I used to.”

“Hmm…” Derek scratched his chin. “I doubt you have lost much willpower,” he said. “I don’t even know how someone would do so… I guess you may lose it if you become complacent…”

“And have I not?” Alanah asked.

“I don’t know… have you?” Derek replied.

“There’s no way to find out,” Alanah said. “With my class the way it is now, I have no doubts that I will be able to stand next to the willow and not be affected by its echoes.”

“But what else can it do?” Derek asked. “Surely it has something other than its controlling echoes to deal with enemies. How intelligent is it even? Does it release the echoes on purpose? Or is it just something that the tree does unknowingly?”

“I don’t know,” Alanah said. “I’m sure that if it is threatened, it will retaliate. Now, how may it go about that? I do not know.”

“And how do you plan on taking something of that size out?” Derek asked. “Against even those whales, I would have a hard time killing them because of their size. I have to somehow find the brain or some other organ and pound directly on that to do any real damage. Does this willow tree even have vital points?”

“I don’t know if it has any vital points,” Alanah said. “It may… I doubt it would be easy to find out, though…”

“Wait…” Derek said. “Do you plan on taking that tree out? That is why we’re here, right?”

“It is one of the reasons,” Alanah said. “If we are unable to defeat it, then that is just its good fortune. If we are, great… that means I get to have some revenge. But the main reason I wanted to come here is because there is something I would like to retrieve down there. Something that I would like to take with me to wherever I end up going.”

“Oh,” Derek muttered. “Must be something incredibly valuable if you came all this way to get it.”

“Valuable…” Alanah tapped her finger against her leg armor. “Yes… it is something that I would deem very valuable.”

“Great,” Derek said. “After we get this item, I think I may have a few ideas to try on that big piece of firewood out there.”

“Great,” Alanah said. “My plan is to challenge it with my own controlling powers. I may be able to beat it at its own gain at this point in my life. But if that doesn’t work, I welcome you to try whatever you can. I would hate to let these people of Linderis have such a good training area.”

“A little vindictive, are we?” Derek said with a laugh.

“Sometimes, it is okay to be petty,” Alanah replied.

“Can’t argue with that,” Derek said. “Now… where is this item you’re looking for? Let’s go get it!”

“Wait!” Alanah halted Derek. “Before we go down there, I must ask… are you okay with gaining experience points and increasing your level?”

“Huh?” Derek frowned.

“Well… once we get down there—if it is anything like it used to be—it will be hard to avoid fighting. Even close to the walls, the beasts go on rampages. And if we choose to go to the Echoing Willow, there will be more and more beasts there—beasts that the tree will be able to control. I can’t imagine we will be able to get anywhere without you killing some beasts and gaining levels.”

“You have helped me greatly so far, and have made this trip fun,” Alanah continued. “For obtaining my valuable, I, alone, will be enough. You do not need to follow me there. You can find a spot and hide until I return. After that, if we head straight for the tree, we should be able to avoid the monsters between us and the tree, but the monsters that are around the tree are a different story.”

“I don’t know,” Derek said. “I think a giant tree that can’t move may make for one of the best training dummies out there. I only have five levels until I hit level 250, anyway. I’m sure Silvi is itching at getting out there and leveling her own skills up.” Specifically, he was thinking about her Cook What You Kill skill. It was something that she hadn’t been able to use much, and he looked forward to seeing what it could do—especially at higher levels.

“That is true…” Alanah muttered. “And I should be able to take care of any of the beasts that aren’t in the core region of the tree quite easily.”

“If I can make it to the tree with a few levels left to gain, then that will be more than enough for me,” Derek said. “It will hopefully give my skills a small boost alongside the skill potions. Besides… I’ve been holding my level back for too long and now that I’m so close, it’s hard to not just push it right up there alongside everyone else.”

“Yeah… your level may be the same as everyone else, but with the quality of each of your levels, there will be a massive difference,” Alanah said with a smile.

“I wouldn’t have it any other way,” Derek said. “I’ll finally be at the point that everyone already thinks I’m at. That means I won’t have to shrug any questions off about it if anyone asks. And like I said, it will free Silvi up to go collect as much dinner as she wants.”

“If you say so,” Alanah replied. “In that case, I must thank you once again for taking this journey with me. And seeing it through to the end.”

“Oh, stop it.” Derek rubbed the back of his neck. “You’re going to make me blush,” he said. “Besides, we’re way past all this decorum. I just did what a friend should do.” Especially if said friend is growing antsy from sitting in a shop all day with nothing much to do there, he thought, but didn’t say.

“Still,” Alanah said. “It is all the same.”

“Fine,” Derek said. “You are welcome… Now, let’s go get you shit!”

“Ah… yes…” Alanah said. “Let’s go get my… stuff.”