System Change

“I am amazing, huh?” Silvi’s voice chimed.

“Very amazing,” Derek laughed as he looked around the table and could guess that everyone else was currently going over the new Achievement that they had all received.

“Mhm,” Silvi’s voice chimed in agreement.

“Did everyone get the same Achievement?” Derek asked. Then, he looked over at Bones, then turned to Silvi and said, “Silvi, do you have any more of that exact meal we just ate?”

He saw Silvi’s eyes shift to the side for a second, then she finally said, “I may have a serving or three left.”

“Great!” Derek said with a chuckle. “What do you think about giving a meal to Edgar and Avery?”

“I guess…” Silvi relented, then, without saying anything, vanished. Derek felt a small amount of the dreadful aura moments later.

She certainly doesn’t waste any time, Derek thought. She probably has to give the meals away before she ‘accidentally’ eats them herself. After thinking that, he looked over at Bones, who was still standing in his corner. “Bones, hurry and go share that exact meal we just had with Ogre. I don’t know if there’s a time limit on the meal, so it would be best to hurry.”

“Are… you sure?” Bones asked—he didn’t seem to want to leave his post.

“Of course,” Derek said. “I told you I wouldn’t hinder you or Ogre’s ability to grow stronger, didn’t I?”

“Yes.” Bones nodded seriously.

“Then go,” Derek replied. “This is one of those times that you can grow a little stronger instantly, and I’m not going to keep you from it.”

“Very well,” Bones said with a bow. “Thank you.” He walked past everyone on the left side of the table, then exited the dining room.

A couple of seconds later, he felt the aura once again, then Silvi appeared back on the table in front of him. “Done,” she said.

“Did… you tell them what they needed to do?” Derek asked.

“I said, ‘stop everything, eat now!’ Then left,” Silvi answered.

“That should do it,” Derek said with a chuckle, then felt a buzzing coming from his storage bracelet. “Or not…” he muttered, then took his red communication crystal out. ‘Yes?’

‘Why did Silvi just shove the most delicious smelling dish in my face, tell me to eat, then leave?’ Avery asked from the other end.

‘She made a meal that is giving people an Achievement. Stella already had hers, I thought you ma…’

‘Got it,’ Avery said. ‘Tell her thank you for me,’ he said before ending the communication.

“Avery’s good to go,” Derek said with a chuckle, then put his crystal away. Honestly, he was waiting for another communication request to come from Edgar, but it hadn’t yet.

“Thank you!” Stella said to Derek and Silvi. “For thinking of Avery.”

“Of course,” Derek said. “He’s a friend.”

“A friend of delicious recipe giving, restaurant owner,” Silvi chimed in.

“That he is,” Stella laughed. “But I can’t believe we got this Achievement just by eating a meal.”

“Am very amazing chef. Only natural,” Silvi said smugly while looking at Derek, repeating what he had said. “What… is the Achievement?” she finally asked.

“It is a very good one,” Malorie said.

“Very, very good,” Jacks said.

“I am very, very amazing chef,” Silvi said.

“Just like I said,” Derek replied with a laugh.

“What does it do?” Silvi asked.

Derek looked around the table. It didn’t look like anyone was going to say anything, but just before he answered the question, Thomas spoke up.

“It makes food better,” Thomas said.

“Really?!” Silvi’s eyes grew big. “I want it!”

“Not like that,” Derek said with a chuckle. “It makes the buffs we receive from future meals stronger. It doesn’t say anything about making the cooking taste better or anything.”

“Oh…” Silvi said with slight disappointment in her projected voice. “Still good… I guess…”

“Yes,” Rayna said with a big smile. “It is very good,” she said, then looked down at her belly and placed her hand on it. She hesitated for a moment, then finally asked, “Silvi…”

“Yes?”

“May… I have the third remaining meal?” Rayna asked. “I… don’t know if it will work after being stored for a long time, but I would like to give it to my child once he or she is able to eat it.”

“Um…” Silvi also hesitated.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

“A gift… from his Aunt Silvi,” Rayna said.

“Of course!” Silvi answered quickly. “Because Aunt Silvi is an amazing, awesome chef.”

“Exactly,” Jacks said with a big belly laugh.

Silvi hopped over to Rayna, then placed two big plates in front of her. One had some of the Smoke Wyvern and extra sides, and the other had a big pile of salad. “Here you go,” she said, then hopped back to her place.

“Thank you so much, Silvi!” Rayna’s smile was massive.

“It was nothing,” Silvi sat straight up with her head held high. She was very proud of herself.

“What about… Clare, Zachary, and Lucas?” Thomas asked from his part of the table.

“Silvi?” Derek asked.

“All out,” she answered. “You all ate too much,” she said. “Could take away from Ogre, but he is big, need bigger food.”

“You’re right,” Derek said. “And they may have gotten a lot of the salad, but I suspect that large slice of the tail you gave them will only be enough for the two of them.” Derek sighed.

“Those three have a very bright future whether they receive an Achievement that makes food buffs better or not,” Stella said. She was pretty close to the boys and Clare as well. They had been training all this time at the Crown Restaurant’s courtyard, after all. “They have been given a lot, and they have Avery helping them. They certainly won’t be left wanting.”

“That’s true,” Derek said. In the back of his mind, he wished that he would have eaten less, but there was no way for him to know that they would all be receiving an Achievement from the dish. If he had known before, he certainly would have made sure that there would have been plenty for others. “Oh well,” he said. “Nothing we can do about it now,” he said, just as his storage bracelet began to buzz again. “Oh? Looks like Edgar finally decided to ask what it’s about.” He pulled the crystal out again and answered.

‘Yes?’

‘This Achievement is great!’ Edgar’s voice sounded off inside Derek’s head. ‘Tell Silvi thanks! My brother, sister, and father are so jealous, you wouldn’t believe.’

‘You… just ate it? Without asking about it?’ Derek asked.

‘Of course,’ Edgar said. ‘It smelled delicious, and it was from Silvi. Why would I hesitate?’

Because she has ingredients that she uses that could literally kill anyone other than me or her if consumed, Derek thought, but didn’t say. ‘True…’ he said instead. ‘So Edward is jealous?’ he asked with a smile.

‘So jealous,’ Edgar said. ‘And he doesn’t even know about the Achievement. He’s envious of the fact I got to eat such a delicious meal. I made sure to eat it in the middle of the Throne Room in front of everyone. I was going to pretend that it was the best thing ever, but I ended up not having to because it was.’

‘That’s great,’ Derek said. ‘I wish I could have seen their faces.’

‘It was funny,’ Edgar said. ‘But now I almost feel bad because of the Achievement. Maybe I shouldn’t have teased them so much.’

‘Well,’ Derek said. ‘You didn’t know. You were just having some fun. There’s nothing to feel bad about.’

‘I said I ‘almost’ feel bad about it,’ Edgar said. ‘You can’t feel bad after such a surprise.’

‘So, what you’re saying is that you enjoyed it?’

‘Immensely,’ Edgar said. ‘Anyway, thank Silvi for me. I have to go figure out a way to break the news to my family.’

‘Okay, I will,’ Derek said. ‘Have fun with all that.’ He ended the call and put the crystal away. “Silvi,” Derek said.

“Yes?”

“Edgar says, ‘Thank you.’”

“Of course he does,” Silvi said. “He is welcome.”

Derek then told everyone around the table what Edgar had told him.

“Smart man,” Silvi said before anyone else. “Let everyone know how amazing I am.”

“Wow…” Rayna said. “I can’t imagine if I just had to watch everyone else eat it. That would be miserable.” Other than Silvi, everyone else agreed with Rayna.

After that, Silvi cleared the table of any remaining dishes or mess—making sure to use her Cleaning skill on everything before she stored them. Everyone talked for a short while longer, making sure to express their gratitude to Silvi during that time, then began to leave one at a time until only Derek, Malorie, Thomas, and Brandi remained.

“I’m going to go get back to my designs,” Brandi said. “I feel like I’ve gotten a second wind. I can’t waste it.” She got up from her seat, then left the dining room.

“Huh… I wonder if the meal provided clarity, too,” Derek said. “Like a hidden effect or something.”

“I think it’s just the effect of a nice meal with friends and family,” Malorie said.

“Probably so,” Derek said.

“Um…” Thomas said.

“Yeah?” Derek asked.

“Could you take me back to the dungeon?” Thomas asked. “I’m sure my team has been waiting for a long time.” He looked around with a frown. “I don’t know where Silvi went, and she isn’t accepting my communication.” He held up the red crystal in his hand.

“That damn bunny,” Derek said with a laugh. “I suppose I could do this for her after such a good meal.”

“You two go,” Malorie said. “We’ll have to do this again. This has been the best day I’ve had in… a very long time.”

“Definitely,” Derek agreed before nodding to the door while looking at Thomas. “Let’s go.” He stood.

“Okay,” Thomas said, but before he even stood, Silvi appeared on top of his head.

“To the travel room!” she commanded.

“Looks like I don’t need to go, after all,” Derek said and started to sit back down, but after seeing the pleading eyes of Thomas, he changed his mind. “I might as well go too, actually.”

Thomas breathed a sigh of relief, then stood and headed to the door. Derek followed behind the duo as they walked down the stairs toward the basement. The scene in front of him gave him a flashback of back when Silvi used to call the boy her ‘mount.’ He had a good chuckle as he followed them into the travel room.

Silvi summoned a pot, then hopped off Thomas’s head and onto Derek’s shoulder. She looked at Thomas, who looked at Derek with pleading eyes once again. “I’ll protect him,” Derek said to Silvi.

“Kay,” Silvi said, then stuffed her stuff into the pot, which she made smaller since Thomas wasn’t going to be riding inside.

Derek reached out and placed his head on Thomas’s back. “Go ahead,” he told Silvi.

Silvi then opened the space in front of them, then hopped in. Derek followed closely behind the bunny while keeping Thomas protected from the void. Eventually, she stopped at a certain point.

“Where are we, anyway?” Derek asked. He hadn’t bothered trying to sense anything while moving.

“The dungeon is in Indria,” Thomas said.

“I see,” Derek replied as he watched Silvi rip the space open and hop through. He also stepped forward and left the void with Thomas. As soon as they were out, Silvi fixed the space.

“Uh… hello,” Derek said, noticing that they had just appeared in the center of an entire class of students and instructors.

“Thomas!” A voice sounded from the students. “Where did you go? What was that?”

Derek looked around and saw that many of the students were looking over with fear in their eyes. Void Travel seemed to have that effect on people—especially those unfamiliar with it. Finally, his eyes met with the student who had just spoken to Thomas. It was Syd, Cain Ibarra’s nephew.

“I…”

“I needed him,” Silvi said from her crystal she had just re-equipped. “It was very important.” She then disappeared, then reappeared in front of one of the instructors—the one who seemed to be in charge. She was hovering in front of the instructor on her pot lid—her nose was maybe two inches away from the instructor’s face. “He is not in trouble. He and his team will be graded as usual. They will enter the dungeon next. Kay?”

“Uh… y-yes… of course,” the instructor said as he glanced at Derek. Derek recognized the instructor as one of the ones he’d sparred with, but he couldn’t remember his name. Instead, Derek just nodded a greeting and shrugged. “The dungeon running will continue as usual. Syd’s team will be next.”

“Good!” Silvi said, then hovered over at Derek. “Done! Let’s go.” She opened the space behind them, stored her gear inside a small pot with a lid, then hopped inside.

“Ya’ll have fun,” Derek said with a smile. “Do your best!” He stepped inside, then the portal closed.