System Change: A LitRPG Adventure (System Universe Book 1)

After walking outside, Derek scanned the area. The dungeon was a beast-type dungeon, and he could see different wolves, bears, and other beasts roaming around. Unlike the previous cave with insects, the area he was now in had a sky instead of a ceiling. Derek couldn’t help but wonder about how the dungeons were created.

He was standing on a hilly plain area, and an occasional tree or boulder could be seen in the distance. I guess this dungeon is a completely open area. He didn’t see any entrance to the next chamber. His guess was that the beasts would come in waves. As he wiped out the first wave of beasts, the next would come, and finally, the dungeon boss would appear. Though he believed that likely, it was still only a guess. I’ll just have to find out for myself.

Before jumping into battle with the beasts, he looked at where he came from. Sure enough, there was a small log cabin sitting in the middle of the plain. Derek had a thought and walked back to the cabin. Standing next to it, he pulled his fist back, then struck the building with a small amount of power. Seeing that the assault didn’t damage the structure at all, he pulled his fist back again and struck out with a bit more power.

Again, the structure was completely intact after his assault. He summoned his glaive and slashed the cabin. Nothing happened. Finally, using most of his strength, he sliced again. This time, the cabin took some minor damage as a cut appeared where his glaive struck, but the cut rapidly healed before his eyes.

With this, Derek could at least know that his group would be completely safe from anything inside the dungeon as long as they stayed inside the safe zone.

He walked over to the door and opened it. Poking his head inside, he looked at Rayna. “You ready? The surrounding area is pretty safe for now.”

Rayna nodded her head and walked over to the door. Derek pulled it wide open, and she walked outside with him. “It’s nice out here,” she muttered.

Derek didn’t respond to that. Instead, he told her the first part of the plan he made after surveying their surroundings. “The wolves are roaming around in packs of five.” He pointed at a group of wolves. “I’m going to aggro a pack, then kite them back here.”

Rayna frowned. “Aggro? Kite? What does that mean?”

It wasn’t the first time he had confused people by using these kinds of terms. He just laughed it off and continued. “I’m going to get a pack of wolves to chase me back here. Then, I’ll leave one to you, while I take care of two or three of them, depending on their strength. I will subdue the remaining wolf or two and have Thomas and Mal come out and finish them.”

A flash of understanding went through Rayna’s eyes. “That really is ‘hand feeding’ them.” She laughed.

“Okay, get ready.” Derek ran toward the closest pack of wolves. Once he was close enough, the wolves noticed him and began their chase. He ran back, keeping a small distance between him and the pack. Once back at the designated area, he slowed and turned around. The wolves all pounced.

He didn’t fight back and just let them attack him. They could make it through the leather armor he was wearing but nothing else. Once their teeth reached his skin, they couldn’t pierce through.

“Now,” he said, motioning to Rayna.

Derek watched as she ran in, and choosing the wolf farthest from the assault, she slashed out with one of her Wind Blades. He noted the damage the skill caused and nodded. It wasn’t able to instantly kill the wolf, but it caused severe damage. One or two more and it will die. And it did. On the third strike, before the wolf could even close in on her, it died.

“Good!” Derek yelled. Then, not wanting to get full experience for a kill, he kicked a wolf Rayna’s way. The kick almost killed the monster, so when it landed beside the woman, crippled and unable to move, she drove her sword through the base of its skull.

“Nice.” Derek grabbed the leg of one of the wolves going for his face, then tossed it at Rayna’s feet. It was still feisty, even with an injured leg, but it was slow, and two Wind Blades made short work of it.

Derek quickly grabbed the remaining two wolves and held one under each arm. He was careful not to injure them before as he wanted the full experience to go to Thomas and Malorie.

Rayna approached him with shining eyes. “I just got over 1,000 experience in that short amount of time and increased my Wind Blade skill level.”

“Mhm.” Derek nodded. “I thought you would like to fight one on your own to increase your fighting skill. And I would rather not level up too fast, which is why I gave you the others. Do you like this setup?” he asked.

“Very much,” she replied. “Thank you for this.”

“Don’t mention it. It’s as much for me as it is for the rest of you,” he said. “Now, go open the cabin door and have Thomas and Mal come out.”

Rayna nodded and went to the cabin. She opened the door and spoke a few words. Seconds later, the small boy and Brandi’s mother cautiously came out of the safe zone.

Derek approached them, then spoke. “Okay, these pups are your kills. Thomas, give Mal one of you dagg—” He paused. Actually, if Thomas plans on switching classes, there isn’t any sense in him killing with daggers. “Hold on,” he said.

Derek looked at Malorie. “What is your best weapon? The one most comfortable for you to use?” he asked.

“I’ve only ever used small weapons and the occasional sword. My class is common, and weapons weren’t easy to come by in my village, so the stronger warriors got the better ones,” she answered.

Derek nodded and closed his eyes. He was searching through all the weapons he had stored in his bracelet. Soon, an amazing scene occurred before everyone’s eyes. Weapon after weapon fell to the ground.

There were tens of weapons on the ground, and they were all different. There was a crossbow, spellbook, katana, spear, whip, wand, and many other weapons. There were even some advanced scientific weapons he had gotten off invaders, such as a photon pistol and a heat saber.

Thomas didn’t show as much surprise as the others. Derek had actually made him train with many of the weapons on the ground. Derek spoke to the boy. “Pick one of the spears—find the one that feels the best.”

Derek watched as the boy walked over and rifled through the spears one by one. Soon, he made his choice. None of the weapons Derek had picked up were of poor quality, so it really was down to preference. The spear Thomas chose had a shiny silver metal shaft with vein-like red patterns running along it. Where the spearhead was attached to the shaft, the red pattern formed a solid color. The spearhead was more like a double-sided blade than a regular spearhead. It was more like a dagger was attached to the spear shaft.

Derek nodded at Thomas’s choice. It wasn’t a bad spear. “Okay. Now come and kill this dog.” The wolves were still squirming around in his arms.

Thomas walked up to Derek and the wolves. He thrust out his new spear, and the blade pierced directly through the throat of the beast. Derek laughed at this. “Even after all that time with your daggers in the dungeon, you are still more accurate with a spear.”

Thomas’s face turned a little red. “I know. You don’t have to keep rubbing it in.”

Suddenly, Derek felt a powerful crash on the side of his right knee. Looking down, he saw the leather armor burned away and smoking, and his naked knee was visible. He turned to see Malorie with wide eyes and the Photon Pistol laying at her feet. Realizing what happened, he thought, Maybe I should have explained to them what everything does.

He looked at the embarrassed woman. “If you don’t know what something is or does, please ask me before using it.”

Soon, it was clear that Malorie was hesitant to use any weapon like the pistol or the heat saber. After observing her for a while, Derek could see that she clearly had a knack for using a staff. “Do you like the staff?” he asked her.

She hesitated. “I do, but I don’t think I could do very much damage with a blunt weapon like this.”

Derek nodded and walked over to another staff on the ground. With his free hand, he reached down and picked it up. He handed it to Malorie. “Try this one.”

She took the staff and performed some moves. “It’s good, but it’s still the same,” she said, confused.

Derek smiled. “See that button on the shaft?” he asked. The woman looked over the shaft until she saw the button. She nodded. “Push it in.”

She did, and a straight blade came out of both ends. “This…”

“It’s a bladed staff. You can use it as a regular staff, but if you need… hehe.” He laughed. “Push the button in again and the blades will retract.”

She did, and the blades disappeared. The great thing about that particular bladed staff was that once the blades were retracted, there were no signs of blades ever even being there.

Fascinated by the weapon, Mal spoke. “I can have this?” she asked.

“Of course. If there’s anything I lack, it isn’t weapons.” He then continued, “Is that your pick? I’m getting pretty tired of holding this dog.”

“Oh… Yes, I want this one.” Malorie pushed the button in, causing the blades to extend out of the staff. Like Thomas, she aimed one end at the throat of the remaining wolf and thrust. It wasn’t an instant kill like Thomas’s, so she thrust again. The wolf died in Derek’s arms, and he dropped it.

Derek thought for a second. “Do any of you have the Dismantle skill?” he asked the group.

Surprisingly, Malorie replied, “I do. I helped my husband with his kills a lot, so I ended up purchasing it.”

Derek nodded. “Thomas, give her your daggers. You won’t need them anymore.” Then he spoke to Malorie. “Take the daggers. They’re quite sharp. You can Dismantle the kills and give the hides to Brandi later.”

Malorie nodded, and without asking, Thomas walked around, collecting the wolf corpses and taking them into the cabin.

Derek smiled. “Okay, you two go inside. We’ll come get you when the next group is ready.” Derek collected all the spilled weapons. He then turned back to Rayna. “Ready?”

Rayna nodded.

After waiting for the cabin door to close, Derek and Rayna got to business. Soon they fell into a pattern. Derek would aggro a pack of wolves, Rayna would take one out alone, they would share XP on two, and then they would leave the remaining two wolves to Malorie and Thomas.

It wasn’t long before the area was completely bereft of wolves. They had decimated seven packs already. The wolves ranged from level 44 to 49. Luckily, Derek only shared half the experience for 14 wolves, earning him just over 3,200 XP and a level.

Rayna, on the other hand, was making leaps and bounds. As she only had a rare class, the experience points she needed to level were much less than what Derek needed. She had killed seven beasts by herself, along with sharing 14 kills with Derek. She had leveled up twice and was on the verge of leveling again. She was currently at level 33.

As for Thomas and Malorie, Thomas was at level 22 and Malorie was level 23. They were both closing in on their next class decision.

Derek surveyed the area. He could see a pile of wolves laying outside of the cabin. As they were moving quickly, Malorie couldn’t Dismantle fast enough to keep up with the supply.

“What now?” Rayna asked.

“There are only a few bears and some critters left. Do you think you can take the bears by yourself?” he asked her. The bears had a much higher defense than the wolves did. He wasn’t sure that her Wind Blade would be able to cause as much damage to them as it did the wolves.

“I can give it a try. If not, we can just go in and share the experience on them. The others won’t be able to get anything from the bears, but you can always capture the smaller monsters for them to kill,” Rayna suggested.

“Sounds good to me. Let’s go,” Derek said, and the two headed out toward the closest bear. When the bear was finally in Rayna’s striking distance, they stopped.

“I’m going to start from a distance and see if I can cut it down before it gets to me. If it gets too close, I’m in your hands.” She flashed Derek a bright smile. He just shook his head and laughed.

Rayna took up a stance, and a blue-green glow appeared on her sword. She slashed. The blue-green crescent flew towards her foe, hitting it on the back of the neck. It drew blood. Rayna scoffed. “Not deep enough.” She brought her sword back to its original position with a motion, sending another blade of wind at the now angry bear.

Derek watched, entranced, as the beautiful woman used her arm like a whip, sending a crescent of wind at the bear with every motion. Blade after blade flew at the bear. There was almost no downtime between Wind Blades. The creature never stood a chance. Before it was even halfway to them, it collapsed to the ground.

Rayna was breathing heavily. “14. It took 14 Wind Blades to take it down,” she said.

Derek almost felt sorry for the bear. Not only was it hit with blade after blade, but the accuracy Rayna exhibited was also astounding. Most of the blades hit the bear in previously injured places. One blade may not have dealt severe injuries to the monster, but three blades all placed at the exact same spot, sure as hell did.

“How’s your mana?” he asked.

“I still have more than half. I can kill one more before I need to meditate,” she responded.

They went after the next bear. It only took 12 Wind Blades to kill it. After the battle, or slaughter, Rayna meditated while Derek kept watch.

Soon, all eight remaining bears were dead, and Rayna was a level 35. She could actually kill one of the bears in seven strikes toward the end.

With the bears dead, Derek hunted down and caught the few remaining smaller beasts. He brought them back for Thomas and Malorie to kill. It turned out to be more than enough XP for the both to level to 25, leaving one monster left in the zone. Derek hoped that the mass killing of enemies over double their levels would lead to some good class options.

He held a squirrel-like creature and went into the cabin with the rest of the group. Derek watched Thomas as the boy closed his eyes. He saw a frantic look appear on the boy’s face. “What is it?” he asked.

“T-the growth spear class is gone,” Thomas said, defeated.

Derek let out a sigh. “That’s okay. Sort your possible classes by rarity and see what you get.”

The other three watched Thomas with bated breath. Malorie was adamant about waiting for the boy’s selection before she began with hers.

Soon, a sigh of relief came out of the boy’s mouth.

“What is it?” Derek asked.

I have another spear class. I don’t have any growth-type classes this time, but the new spear class is a rare class. It’s called ‘Soul Spear’ and focuses on piercing damage.

Derek nodded his head. “That’s good. Not a bad class.”

Thomas nodded and closed his eyes. Soon, a light flashed over the boy, and he opened his eyes again. He sighed. “I’m going to miss Stealth.” Soon, he smiled. “I get three strength, two vitality, and ten free stat points per level. I also got ten skill points and access to three skills.” Thomas then frowned. “But the skills are really expensive. For all three, it costs eight skill points. Oh well, that still leaves me two free skill points for general skills.”

“Are your skills good? Better than your other class?” Brandi asked the question on everyone’s minds.

Thomas smiled. “Yes, they are. I have Soul Spear, it’s the same as my class name. It lets me send a projection of my spear forward in a thrust that deals extra piercing damage. I think it’s like an extension of my spear. I also got Flurry and Spear Specialist. The first lets me release a flurry of attacks for a mana price, and the other is a passive skill that increases my spear mastery.”

Derek nodded. “Definitely not a bad class.” He remembered his first class, which only had an uncommon rating. In fact, his class from the other system was not great at all. All his power came from the titles he had received and their rewards.

Derek turned to Malorie. “Your turn.”

“Okay.” She closed her eyes. Her face went through a variety of emotions as she was looking through her possible classes. Soon, her facial expression stayed on what looked like confusion.

Seeing her confusion, Derek spoke. “What is it?”

“I don’t have any rare or better classes, but I have an uncommon growth-type class. Only, I’m not sure about it,” she answered. “It’s called ‘Ohm’s Fury.’ It’s a staff-type class, but it doesn’t have many descriptions. 12 free stat points to use, but only one class skill. I mean, it’s a growth-type class, so I should pick it, right?” She looked at Derek.

“I mean, I would. If you like using the staff and aren’t afraid of losing your current skills. Who knows what it could upgrade into?” he replied.

Mal let out a breath. “You’re right. I actually don’t have any class skills, only general skills. I wasn’t hunting or anything, so I never saw the point. I preferred the lifestyle skills… but since I need to be able to protect Brandi…” She closed her eyes again.

Soon, a blinding green light fell over the woman. When Derek was able to see again, he saw a fire-like green glow fading into Malorie’s body. “Woah, that was cool for an uncommon class,” he said and chuckled.

“T-this skill…” Malorie muttered.

“What?” Derek asked.

“It’s called Ohm’s Might. It… It’s amazing… I think. It doubles my strength and endurance stats for two minutes but leaves me exhausted and out of mana after use.”

“Almost like a berserker skill,” Derek said. “Still, it’s a great trump card. And, you can use it in combination with Meditation during training and level both of them at the same time.”

Soon, Malorie frowned again. “It costs eight skill points. The class only gave me seven. If it weren’t for the extra skill point from the Minor Giant Slayer award I got earlier, I wouldn’t even be able to buy it.” She sighed. “Here goes nothing.” She closed her eyes and learned the skill.

“So. How does it level? Does it say? Increase duration?” Derek asked. He was very intrigued by the woman’s class.

“Actually, it says it increases duration and buff as it levels,” she said, surprised.

“Damn. Who knows, you may be able to get a tenfold increase by the time you level it all the way. Congratulations,” he said. “I don’t need to tell you how to distribute your stat points, right?” he asked.

“No. Seems pretty obvious. Strength, endurance, vitality, and a little dexterity, in that order. Luckily, I haven’t been spending the points for these levels.”

Derek nodded. “Sounds good.” He looked back at Rayna. “You ready for round two?”

“I was waiting for you,” she said.

The two walked out. Before closing the door, Derek held the squirrel-like creature up. “Thomas, you mind giving this guy a farewell?”

A spear was thrust from inside the cabin. It went through the little creature’s heart. It was an instant kill. “Thanks.” Derek tossed the monster inside the cabin and closed the door.

Soon, pillars of light started popping up everywhere. One after another, beasts spawned. This time, there were no little creatures, and after using Identify on some of the monsters, Derek realized that every one of them was level 50. No more, no less.

The most common creature was still the wolf, but they were nearly twice as big as the ones before, and they were in packs of seven instead of five. They looked like dire wolves. There were also huge boars with rhino-like horns growing from their heads.

“Unicorn pigs?” Derek asked, flabbergasted. I wonder if the bacon tastes like candy.

A few hawks were also flying around. There were only three that he could count, and he didn’t see any in the few trees around. Derek walked over to a small boulder and bashed it. It broke into smaller pieces. He threw the stones at the flying creatures. He didn’t want Rayna to get hurt because of a flying monster swooping down.

He hit two but missed the third. I’m going to have to pump a few points into dexterity. Kill notifications popped up for the two that he hit. The third hawk changed its flight trajectory and flew towards him. Perfect. Seeing the last hawk coming his way, he picked up another stone and threw it. The final kill notification popped, along with a level-up alert.

He was now level 32. Luckily, by sharing all the experience, his level wasn’t growing as much as it could have.

Not bad. He looked at Rayna. “Wolves first. Get ready.”