System Change

Chapter 316: Dreams of the Past

Alanah woke from a nightmare with a start. No, it wasnt a nightmare she was having; it was her dreams taking her down memory lane. She didnt know how long shed been out of it, but it was long enough for her mind to force her to relive every aspect of her former life. She tried to not think about those memories, but now, after using that skill, she couldnt stop.

Her dream started with her small villageher mother and herself being isolated and hated ever since she was bornno, ever since her mother became pregnant. Her small village, and her country in general, was very biased and discriminate against humans and every other non-elf species. In that sense, it was about like Indria, maybe even worse.

Her father wasnt exactly the personification of a good human, either. No, he was just about as bad as they come. But that didnt matter to the village. What mattered was that her mother was carrying a child fathered by a human. Her dream took her through that entire pitiful childhood existenceone she only wished she could put behind her.

Flashes of images played through her mind as she remembered other parts of the dream. Of her village being raided by a band of angry humansones that probably had a reason for their hatred, to be honest. Images of her mother dying in front of her. Then, of her escaping to what would become her home for the next decades: The Echoing Abyss.

The Abyss was a danger area that nobody from her part of the country dared to enter. It was a place that few of even the strongest made it out alive. If the voices, vibrations, sounds, and overall lack of sleep because of them didnt drive you crazy or kill you outright, then the overwhelming amount of rabid beasts with their minds long gone from living in the valley would.

And when she entered the valley to escape from the human raid, she wasnt even old enough to have access to a class yet. She shook as she remembered going crazy and coming back to on multiple occasions, only to somehow still be alivethe hunger and starvation she felt on a regular basis when she wasnt hiding or on the runnot knowing how to escape.

She remembered finally getting a class that allowed her to dampen the noise, then somehow living long enough to upgrade the class over and over until she had enough power to escape from The Echoing Abyss decades later.

Alanah also had some fond memories, short as they may have been. Memories of joining up with some teams and adventuringtaking the Cooking skill and learning as much as possible about it so she never had to experience the hunger and starvation again. But those memories didnt last long because of another class upgrade.

She already had some control through sounds and vibrations, but that class upgrade had taken that control away from her. You couldnt get a power like she had gotten without terrible side effects. After that, she was no longer welcome in parties. She was forced to adventure on her own. With that isolation came the flashes of her she had grown up.

With that isolation came anger and violence. In Cydaria, she was known for her recipe to turn Void Beasts into permanent stat boosts. But she hadnt been the creator of that recipe, and she wasnt proud of the way she got her hands on it. But that was something she refused to think about. Others had done things much worse than her, but that part of her life was an embarrassment.

She really didnt even have a want or need to use the recipe. She had no way of finding Void Beasts, and she wasnt strong enough to think she could handle it if a powerful one was to appear. No, she just wanted the recipe because she found it interesting. So, she took it.

That recipe did become vital later on, after her final class upgradethe one that had given her the legendary class, and that skill. She had been ecstatic seeing a legendary class appear. With the extra stats and skills, she thought she may be able to find a way to control her passive effects. She would be able to talk with people again.

But that couldnt have been any further from the truth. With the Dawn Siren class, came even less control. Her passive effects became even stronger. And when she used the skill, she was met with an all too familiar feelingone that brought her back to when she was young and living in The Echoing Abyss.

When she used that skill, she would go crazy, and wouldnt come to for days. She could barely remember what she did when it was activated, but from what she did remember, she didnt go completely berserk. She didnt kill anyone and anything she saw, just the ones who tried to stop her. She wasnt exactly fun to be around.

But with a skill so powerful, there were multiple occasions where it saved her life. And the higher the skill leveled, the more she could remember, and the more control she felt she had. That could have been a placeboshe was still uncertain.

What she did realize was that her wisdom stat did increase her control, and her legendary class gave her all the free skill points she needed for that stat and controlbut only if she completely ignored her other stats.

That was where the recipe she had stolen came in. That was also when she went looking for a black market Portal skill that paired well with a Deathsworn. Like that, she spent decades of her life alone. Summoning and fighting Void Beast after Void Beast. There were so many of them.

She chuckled at that thought. At the time, there seemed to be so many of them, but then Derek Hunt had brought to her in days what it took her almost a century to farm herself. She couldnt help but chuckle at the irony.

But she was able to drop all of those stat points in wisdom because of the recipe. She used it to shore up her weaknesses, even if she did have to run away from more than a few Void Beasts she couldnt handle. Then, she left her homeland to explore the continent. Unfortunately, her reputation proceeded her. Everyone on the continent knew about the beastly Dawn Siren.

Her half-elf appearance, radiant emerald hair and eyes, and her beauty made her very easy to recognize. So, she was back to being isolated once again, even though it had been decades since her last use of that skill. In fact, she hadnt used that skill since well before she capped her wisdom stat at 1500. Thats why she didnt know what would happen if she used it again.

But she was tired of the isolation, so she chose to go overseas. The journey took ages and wasnt safeat least for those she met on the way. Her endurance was high enough to see her through almost any situation. But, after all that time traveling, she finally made it to another continent.

First, she visited Astrus. It was a breath of fresh air being somewhere where nobody knew who you were. She didnt stay in that country long, and eventually moved on to Indria, the kingdom of elves. She left that country even fasterit reminded her too much of her home.

After that, she visited Vallum. The dwarves were rude, but not in a discriminate way. They talked to everyone like that, even their own kin. They didnt treat anyone differently. She actually ended up staying there for some time. She also met some dwarves that managed to withstand her passive control, and she made friends.

She came out of Vallum with her beautifully crafted armor and weapon. After that, Alanah moved on to Cydaria. She enjoyed the blend of different cultures, and the fact that the royal family didnt put any one race above the other, even if the elves she met were snobbish.

She settled down there. She chose to create a business there with all the recipes she hadobviously, she hadnt taken just the Void Beast recipe. That was where she met a young bumbling prince that pestered her to no end, even though he couldnt withstand her talking with him at the time. And that was where she met a young orphan boy and a young girl many years later. The rest was history.

So, even though most of the memories were bad or outright terrible, she still had a few good ones. Because of that, she couldnt call what she had just had a nightmare. It was just a very unpleasant dream of things that happened.

While Alanah was deep in thought, the door to her room opened. Speaking of the young girl, Stella stuck her head in. Before Alanah could utter a word to the woman, the butcher was already beside her bed, enveloping her in a massive hug. She even saw a few tears fall from Stellas eyes.

Im okay. Im okay, reassured Alanah, her hand gently tracing circles in the middle of Stellas back in a comforting manner.

Stella pulled herself back and gave Alanah a evaluating look. I wasnt sure how long you were going to be out. What did you do? Ive asked Natalie, but she refused to give me any information about what happened.

Alanah shrugged. She was thankful that Natalie hadnt said anything about her use of her Dawn Siren power. It would be something she would prefer to personally explain to Stella and Avery now that she had to. But, with the thought of the power, she smiled. She had been able to control it fully.

There were some bestial inclinations during her use of it, and her personality was still a bit shifted in the form, but she didnt black out. She didnt forget anything. And most importantly, she hadnt been taken over by the ability. She was even able to shift back using her own will when the army had retreated, though that took a lot of effort, and drained whatever reserves she had at that moment.

It was a pretty draining skill, Alanah answered. Its one I dont like to talk about because it turns me into something I hate. It was a skill I havent used for decades, maybe longer. But Im glad everything worked out. Alanah looked up at Stella. It did work out, didnt it? How long have I been out?

Stella waved away her concerns. Its been a little under two days. Everything has been fine now that Edgars back with his dragon.

Well, thats another thing I dont have to be concerned with, Alanah thought. The dragon I briefly saw was real. Im glad I wasnt hallucinating. What about the enemy army?

We dont know the full details yet, but they havent made any moves. You you hit them pretty hard. Its probably going to take them a long time to recover. And thats if they choose to continue their attack after seeing what you can do, and hearing the rumors that Edgars back with a dragon.

Alanah chuckled. Stella was having a really hard time admitting that the young prince had somehow managed to come out of a dungeon with a dragon. What about the rest of the raid team?

Uh Stella looked as if she didnt know how to explain something.

What is it?

Well, Edgar used an escape scroll. The rest of the dungeon is still there. Apparently Avery was currently leading a trialits a trial dungeon by the wayand theres one more and the final boss fight after that. Edgar passed lead to Derek and left when Stella let out a deep breath. When Silvi showed up in the Time Distortion Raid Dungeon out of nowhere and asked if it was okay to cook and eat an elf.

Alanah stared at Stella in shock. She didnt know what to say. For the first time in a very, very, long time, there were no words that wanted to leave her mouth.