Chapter 546: Always

Chapter 546: Always

Okay… Derek thought. Let’s do this.

Oh… He shook his head. I guess Dave can control what the notifications say through the Davenresh System, then? Honestly, before his talks with Dave, Derek would have been taken aback, or at least very surprised by receiving a notification like the one he did. However, knowing more about everything—even if there were still a ton of things he was in the dark about—it wasn’t actually surprising. Let’s see what else he had to say.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, Derek thought. I said I wasn’t going to go as soon as I completed the requirements. You don’t have to remind me over and over. He rolled his eyes. Plus, wouldn’t it have been easier to have… I don’t know… brought us back to your dark room to talk instead of sending messages through the system? Always making things more difficult… He then frowned. At least I think… what if he actually can’t do that anymore since I hit 251? Wait! Did I actually hit level 251? The level-up notification never completed.

Derek completely disregarded the two messages from the Davenresh System, then moved to pull up the ones he knew were the true meat and potatoes.

…

Congratulations!

Two out of two requirements met for advancement!

Evolution already complete!

Prepare for ascension!

Time Remaining: 6 Months

Would you like to ascend now?

…

“There it is!” Derek shouted out loud. It was the notification that he’d been waiting for. He could finally ascend, and perhaps, he could finally go and find out where Alanah was sent. At least, hopefully. He knew that her ascension was very different from his own. Derek mentally said ‘no’ to move on to the other notifications, however, a notification popped up right after, so he read that one.

…

You have chosen not to ascend straight away.

Ascension awaits those who achieve it.

If you do not choose to ascend within six months, your ascension will be completed forcefully.

…

Derek shrugged. That was pretty much what he had expected, anyway. Alanah had told him that she’d had a time limit. Dave had told him that there would be a time limit. It was only natural that once the limit was up, it would happen whether he wanted it to or not. Though, he wasn’t sure if the time limit that Alanah had was the same as the one he had. She’d never mentioned the actual specifics. After dismissing the notification, he moved on to the next.

…

As you have outgrown its use and functionality, you have been forcefully disconnected from the Davenresh System. While you are inside the system’s domain, it will continue to be able to communicate with you, but no assistance may be provided.

…

“Yeah…” Derek said. “That’s pretty much how it was already.” He chuckled. Already, there were a lot of things that the system had stopped helping him with before. He wasn’t sure what kind of difference the further disconnect from the Davenresh System would make. So far, the only difference was that he wasn’t able to view his status sheet.

Derek shrugged his shoulders once again, then moved on to the next one.

…

Current system world unable to support complete growth. The quality of essence provided is minimal. Ascension is required to unlock further growth potential.

…

Ah… Derek thought. I bet that’s why it took so long and so many kills and experience points to get to the next level. The ‘essence’ around here isn’t strong enough to go much higher. That would explain the level 250 cap on everything, too. It is funny to think about it that way, seeing how Dave always said that the Davenresh System was a quality system and the Universal System is quantity. I guess I outgrew the quality.

Derek chuckled at his thoughts. So far, nothing he’d read had surprised him. In fact, more than anything, it had been answering some of the questions that had been piling up. On to the next!

…

Detected bond with companion has grown stronger. Consider absolving the bond to companion to allow growth in its own Affinity.

New Title unlocked.

User cannot currently receive Titles. Titles will be stored until usable.

Initiate ascension to obtain stored Titles?

…

Derek looked at the notification with a frown. It wasn’t only the Origin System that had suggested removing the bond with Silvi… it was something that Dave had done as well. It was also something that had been in the back of his mind for a long time. Currently, Silvi piggybacked off of his void affinity, but clearly, her real affinity was for cooking… or at least… battle cooking.

The problem was that he wasn’t sure what would happen if they did sever that connection. Well, he wasn’t sure what would happen to her. In reality, he was almost certain that he would be fine physically and mentally, but she shared his stats, not the other way around. Sure, he would most likely lose Void Lightning and Active Void Shift, but would she lose both the skills and the stats?

The way the system and Dave made it sound, at the current point in their bond, it was possible that their bond was actually hindering her growth instead of helping it. There was also the Achievement—or Title—situation. He had no clue if she would continue to have the same ones that he did. Actually, he had no clue if he would continue to have his current Achievements once he chose to ascend.

Oh well, he thought. That is something to think about later. The Origin System didn’t offer any assistance in severing the bond this time, after all. If it is something that needs to be done, then we can discuss it and do it once we ascend, if we can figure out how. Derek gulped. The biggest problem there is that she would no longer have my command to not eat elves… but surely, she wouldn’t do that, right? It’s always just been a joke… right?

Derek pushed the thoughts out of his head, then moved on to the next notification.

…

Due to disconnection from the Davenresh System and failure to ascend, access to status sheet has been temporarily lost. A temporary status sheet will be provided until ascension. Full status and customization will be provided once you have ascended.

…

Oh, good! Derek thought. Maybe my connection with the Origin System has grown stronger since the disconnect from the other, and that’s why it’s providing me with a temporary status sheet? Derek furrowed his brow as he tried to command his status open, but only received the error messages from the Davenresh System. How do I do it? he thought, but he couldn’t figure it out. So, he moved to the next message.

…

Use command ‘Temporary Status’ to view temporary status sheet.

…

Oh… I’m dumb, he thought. Then, he commanded, Temporary Status Sheet.

…

Status: Temporary

Name: Derek Hunt
Age: ???
Level: 251 (Ascend for Better Essence Growth)
Essence: 0%
Affinity: Void (Ascend to Learn More)
Class: Mythical Void Monarch
Race: Void Human

Health: 45,000
Mana: 42,375
Stamina: 45,000

Strength: 1,650
Dexterity: 1,650
Endurance: 1,800
Vitality: 1,800
Intelligence: 1,695
Wisdom: 1,695

Stat Points Remaining: 216

Skills: Ascend for Better Understanding

Titles: Multiple Titles Awaiting Ascension

…

That’s… a lot to unpack, Derek thought. At least I didn’t lose my stat points, and I even gained the 35 extra stats from the level, so that’s a relief. But a lot of the other stuff…

First, Derek couldn’t help but stare at his age. If he remembered correctly, the Davenresh System had used his actual body age because Dave had no clue how long he was stuck inside the void. It seemed that the Origin System did not do that, yet it was also unsure of how long he was stuck inside there. To be completely honest, though… Derek really didn’t care about what his age said.

According to everything that he’d gathered, his own age was something that he wasn’t going to have to worry about for a very, very long time after his evolution. Who knows? He could live hundreds or even thousands of years now. So, him being 31 years old really didn’t matter all too much, and he was sure that birthdays became much less important as a person’s longevity went up. I guess it would be cool to celebrate your hundredth or thousandth birthday, but I already don’t celebrate mine…

With a snort, he moved on to the next thing that stuck out to him: his level.

I’m just happy that my level did increase, and I got the stat points, he thought. However, the message beside his level essentially confirmed his thoughts about essence in the Davenresh System, and why Dave decided it was important enough to stress about his favor once again. The essence absorption or quality or something along those lines will definitely get better once I ascend, and probably by a lot.

And that was important based on the next line of his temporary status sheet. It looks like my experience was replaced by percentage of essence to the next level? That was just about the only thing he could think of—seeing it in the place of where his experience used to be. That, and the fact that it was at zero percent and he’d literally just leveled. He wondered if it only showed whole percentages, or if the few golems that he and Silvi had destroyed after leveling just weren’t enough for even a tenth or hundredth of a percent.

I guess it doesn’t matter, he thought. Percentage to one hundred is a whole lot easier to track than trillions and quadrillions of experience points. If he’d been able to choose such a thing before, he would have definitely chosen it. Though, I guess essence and affinity aren’t really revealed or worried about until the system user reaches a certain point in their growth, he thought, which led him to the next line, and the one which, according to Dave, would be the most important part when it came to his future growth.

I finally got a line that shows my affinity. It was unfortunate that it didn’t exactly show how high his affinity was, but just seeing the message next to it gave him hope that the Origin System would allow him to really look into it once he ascended. He was very eager to know exactly how high his affinity for the void was.

It also changed my race and class up a little, Derek thought. It really wasn’t much of a change—at least he didn’t think. Though, Void Human did seem a tad bit more concerning to him than Human (Void). I bet they’re pretty much exactly the same thing, though.

All of his stats were essentially the exact same as they were through the Davenresh System, so he didn’t bother to focus much on those. Though, he did make a note to go ahead and try to spend the stat points once he finished going over all his notifications. He wanted to make sure that he could still do so. At least it doesn’t say ‘ascend to use stat points,’ he thought. However, the next line did say something like that.

I certainly didn’t lose any of my skills, he thought. But it’s not showing them to me right now. I wonder what kind of better understanding it’s talking about. Honestly, he would very much like it if the system went into greater detail about his skills. However, it seemed like that would have to wait.

Finally, he made it to his Achievements, or his lack of Achievements. I didn’t feel any weird losses or anything, so I’m sure I still have my current Achievements. I wonder if they will move with me like my previous Titles did from the Universal System. He certainly knew that he had new Titles waiting for him to collect, and the Origin System certainly did not fail to try to use them in an attempt to get him to ascend.

Derek chuckled at the thought, then gave his temporary status sheet one more cursory glance. My contracts with the people from the Davenresh System are gone… I wonder if they’re really gone or not. He shrugged. That’s actually something I can find out pretty easily. I can just ask Rudy if he still has the one he made with me.

But… I don’t see Silvi’s stats sheet anywhere, he thought. He then tried to command it forward. When that didn’t work, he tried to command a temporary one forward, but that didn’t work either. “Can you see your status?” he asked Silvi.

“Mhm,” she nodded in affirmation. “Temporary.”

“That’s good,” Derek said. “Is there anything weird about it?”

“Affinity,” Silvi said.

“Oh?” Derek’s eyes widened. “What does it say?”

“Void Cooking (Void),” she said.

“That… is odd,” Derek said. “So… your actual affinity is void cooking, then? And a pure void affinity is being forced on you by our bond. That’s why Dave said that our bond won’t hurt your growth much, and it may even help you… at least, the first time we met. But I think your cooking affinity is being left behind by our void affinity, and without both, your actual bond may stall out.”

“Maybe,” Silvi said. “Don’t know. Probably.”

“Silvi…” Derek said. “When we ascend… it may be best to find a way to sever the bond so you can grow your own way.”

“Maybe…” Silvi said again. “But I still stay with you?”

“Always,” Derek said.

“And you still bring me ingredients?”

“Yes, Silvi,” Derek smiled. “Always.”