System Change

Derek enjoyed his slow walk back to the city alone. He may become restless and antsy after staying couped up in a city for a while, but it was nice to take a moderately long break after doing a raid or going on an adventure like he just had with Alanah. Sometimes, it was just nice to slowly take things in and be alone with his thoughts.

And Derek did take his time. He was sure that everyone else who went to see the siren off had already made it back to Savannah by the time he entered through the city gate. He still wore the badges that he and Alanah had received on his shoulder, and the guards knew him, so he didn’t have any trouble making his way inside on foot—also, nobody tried to stop him for a chat, and that was nice most of the time.

Once inside the city walls, he leisurely strolled the outer region of the city until he made it back to his shop, which was still very much under construction. Derek stood outside the shop and examined everything in front of him. The lots around the shop were all being built up. On one of them, he saw what looked like a massively sized barracks. It was the bunkhouse that they had talked about building.

The reason it was so big was because they had to make sure and make it large enough for Ogre to live within comfortably. Derek ventured over to it and walked inside. The building wasn’t finished by any means, but he could see exactly what they were going for.

He thought of it as a bunkhouse, but it was really more of a massive building with apartment-like rooms. It was a one-story building with a ceiling tall enough to be the top of a two-story building—that was all for Ogre’s sake. Geoffrey had gone above and beyond in the construction of the building, too.

It was very basic, but also very comfortable. When he walked in through the central door, his first sight was that of a sort of living area with a small kitchen. It was very open, had sitting places all around—including some reclining chairs—and the kitchen was equipped with a bar, stove, and his current world’s version of a refrigerator—which was a big box with cooling runes etched inside.

After scanning the living area, Derek went on to check out the personal rooms. There were basically two wings of rooms—one to the left of the living area, and one to the right. He opened the door to one of the rooms and nodded after giving it a quick look.

Each room was actually bigger than the one he lived in at his shop and had a built-in bathroom. They were basically one-room studio apartments. The only difference was that they didn’t have their own kitchen in each one—for that, the residents would have to use the central kitchen.

For now, each room was bare—Geoffrey and Malorie hadn’t gotten around to furnishing all the beds and the rest of the furniture for each one. When Derek stepped inside the shower, he let out a slight chuckle. Since Geoffrey didn’t know which room Ogre was going to choose, he made it so each room would accommodate him. This meant that, just as the rooms and the building were, the showers were also massive.

The shower head was very high up. Luckily, the rune to control it was in an easy to reach area for anyone. Derek stood to the side and turned it on. Oh… this is neat, he thought as he played around with the runes. Looks like Geoffrey has been busy with upgrades. The upgrades he was thinking about were different shower patterns from the shower head.

There was the classic jet patter, a massaging one, mist, rainfall, and a few others. There was also what appeared to be a warning label on a couple of the patterns, and when Derek changed to them, he knew exactly why. Whew… this would take the skin off of someone without a decent amount of endurance, he thought. He also found another rune he wasn’t sure about, so he did the only thing one should do in that situation and activated it.

To his surprise, the rune actually raised and lowered the shower on the wall. That was something he was wondering about because of how high it was—it would be great for Ogre, but for anyone else, it was just too high. Looks like they thought of everything, Derek thought.

Derek soon walked out of the building with a nod and a smile on his face. The place would be perfect for Bones and Ogre and could be used for guests or any live-in workers that they may end up supporting. It would do just fine.

After leaving that building, Derek walked over to another one. It was a smaller version of his own shop building. It was a building that Malorie was having built specifically for Rudy. Once he got to it, Derek walked inside. It was a nice, almost cozy, building.

“Derek!” Rudy said when he saw Derek enter.

“Rudy,” Derek replied. “How are you liking this place?”

“Oh, I’m going to love it,” the contract maker answered. “Look over here.” Rudy walked over to the side wall. There was a glass display case—one that would be in some jewelry shops.

“What’s this?” Derek asked.

“Once everything is finished, I’m going to write up a bunch of specialty contracts,” the man explained. “Then, I’m going to put a template for each one in these display cases for people to peruse. If they find one that they like, they can purchase it for a price, or they can have me customize it to fit their needs for a price.” �

“Good thinking,” Derek said.

“On this side,” Rudy said as he walked to the other side of the store. “Are all the generic contracts. Things like your normal employee agreements, rental agreements, and various other service contracts. Of course, I’ll also customize these within reason, as well, for a price. But I don’t suspect there will be a need for much customization on these.”

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“I see,” Derek said. “What about over there?” he asked as he pointed over to the main counter. It was just like the one in his previous shop—with another room behind it and everything. But beside that room was another that Derek was unsure about.

“Well,” Rudy started as he walked to one of the rooms and opened it. It was pretty basic, but had a desk for the man to work, and some very comfortable-looking seating for guests. “I’ve set this area up just in case I’m able to upgrade in the future. I’ll be able to draw up specific contracts in front of the parties for exorbitant prices. And hopefully, I’ll be able to create soul contracts one day, then I’ll really rake in the profits.” Rudy’s eyes shone as he spoke.

“Good luck with that,” Derek said. “Speaking of contracts, are you able to create beast contracts?”

“I am,” Rudy said. “I’ll sell them under the specialized contracts section. Though, that is just because of the pricing—there’s not really anything you can change with such contracts. That would just be bad for the beasts if you were able to. It seems that the Great System keeps stuff like that in check—at least it does with my class. But still, beast contracts are very popular and not too terribly hard to create. They are best sellers for nobles who have too much money.”

“I see,” Derek said as he turned to leave the room. Once back out, he nodded to the other remaining room. “What’s in there?” he asked.

“Oh, that’s just my regular office,” Rudy said. “I thought it would be better to keep it and the one I use for clients separate. It may be overkill, but I like it.”

“That makes sense, I guess,” Derek said. “What’s happening with your other shop?”

“It’s Malorie’s,” Rudy said.

“Your office is Malorie’s?” Derek asked.

“No… well… yes,” Rudy said. “As far as I know, she’s turning it into a waiting area, meeting room, and office. Along with a bit of storage, but that doesn’t take up much space because of the spatial rings she has. It seems that she is having more and more meetings with businessmen and others lately, so having an entire space for it is for the best.”

“Great!” Derek said. “She needs that. Hopefully, it will make everything she does for us a bit easier.”

“I’m sure it will,” Rudy replied.

“Do you know when everything is estimated to be complete?” Derek asked. In the time he’d been back, he hadn’t asked much about anything. He had noticed that a lot was being done each day, so he was wondering what the schedule was.

“Oh,” Rudy said. “Mr. Tate and his team have been working extremely fast and hard. Everything should be finished within the next couple of days.”

“Just a couple of days?” Derek asked with raised eyebrows.

“Yes,” Rudy said. “Most of the construction is finished as you can see.” He gestured with his hands—presenting Derek the shop. “I think all they have left are the smaller details and whatever furnishings Malorie chose to go with. They’ve already begun furnishing some of the buildings, actually.”

“I saw,” Derek said. “The central room in the workers’ housing already has some chairs and things.”

“Yeah,” Rudy said with a nod. “All that’s left for my shop is a sign outside and some seats for waiting here in the lobby. Can’t have people just standing around if I’m busy with others in the back.”

Derek nodded along with the man. “Well,” he said once Rudy was finished speaking. “Good luck with your new shop.”

“Thank you!” Rudy said. “And thank you for everything else, too. I would have never gotten to this point if not for you and the others. Hell… there is a possibility that I would be a dead soldier at this point if not for you. So, I will always remember what you have done for me.”

“Maybe… but we will never know,” Derek said. “But that’s enough with the gratitude. You just focus on your contracts. And try not to screw any people who don’t deserve it, will ya?”

“I’ll do my best,” Rudy said. “I have an image I must maintain.”

“Sure you do,” Derek snorted. “Anyway, I’ll see you later. Maybe for dinner or something.”

“I’ll be there,” Rudy’s eyes lit up. “I heard that Silvi is planning on cooking something with that new wood she has and her dragon flame. I’m very curious.”

“Is she now?” Derek asked rhetorically. “I’ll look forward to that as well.”

With that, Derek left Rudy’s new building, then walked over to his own. Instead of entering the front, he entered through the door to Rudy’s old shop. As soon as he walked in, he saw Malorie and Geoffrey discussing something.

“Derek,” Malorie said. “It’s good that you’re back. Mr. Tate has been waiting for us to return for quite some time. He has something he wants to show you.”

“Oh?”

“Yes,” Geoffrey said with a nod. “If you would follow me, please.”

“Okay…” Derek said, then followed the man.

“So, Ms. Fields said that you needed a space away from everyone else. Preferably one that would block auras, so I have been personally overseeing it,” Geoffrey said as he led Derek down the stairs to Brandi’s basement. He opened the door and walked in.

As soon as Derek stepped inside the basement, he was left stunned.

“Ah, yes…” Geoffrey started. “We expanded the basement to cover more of your land.”

What he saw of the basement was at least a third bigger than it used to be. Along with that, there were shelves around that had crafted weapons and armor sitting on them. They were items that Brandi probably planned on selling soon. The rest of the area was arranged in a much more neat and tidy way.

“We also upgraded some of that young smith’s equipment—particularly her furnace and the ventilation runes. But that is not what I wanted to show you,” Geoffrey said. “Come on.”

Derek followed the man to a door that wasn’t there before. Geoffrey opened it and they walked inside. The room was only around 150 square feet, but there were runes etched into every side, the ceiling, and the ground.

“All of these runes are used to dampen aura,” Geoffrey explained. “With this, you should ‘scare’ any customers. Ms. Fields said that was an issue that you had.”

“It was,” Derek said. “Leave the room. Let me see how well it works.”

“Of course,” Geoffrey said, then quickly left.

Derek opened a portal with Void Travel and stepped inside for a moment after covering all his storage items. After a couple of minutes, he stepped back out and closed the portal. He looked around and saw that many of the runes were glowing a bright blue color—the color of mana. With a shrug, he opened the door and walked out.

“So?” he asked.

“Hmm…” Geoffrey scratched his chin. “Standing so close, I could still feel some ominous aura, but it didn’t affect me much. I am surprised that it was able to leak out… unfortunately, I believe that is the best we can do for the time being. I am sorry. Though I do believe that it will be enough not to affect any of the other floors.”

“That’s much better than nothing,” Derek said. “Thanks for the room.”

“No problem,” Geoffrey said with a wave. “Now, if you will excuse me, I have a few more things to oversee.”

“Go ahead,” Derek replied, then the man left the basement. Derek also took one last look around at the basement before leaving.

Once back upstairs, Derek left the shop through the entrance this time. He walked a short distance, then turned around and looked at everyone all at once. Inwardly, he sighed. Everything was great, but if he met all of his advancement requirements, would all the building be for nothing? It’s not like I can take it with me… He scratched his chin. Can I?

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