Tier 3+ - Accidental Champion (Book 8) - Chapter 22 - That Shouldn’t Be Much of a Problem for You

Xavier and Adranial looked through the different sections in the Empire Building Menu for several hours, maybe even several days. He lost track of time easily when he was talking to her. Xavier discovered a lot of interesting things as he went through the different sections. He wasn’t really sure what to expect when looking at the Empire Building Menu. He didn’t know much about how The Collector had run the Ventorin sector, only that he’d run it with an iron fist.

The first thing Adranial pointed out to him as they went through the different submenus was that the taxation System was terrible and exploitative. The Collector, having contracted every citizen in the sector, ruling through power and fear, didn’t need to worry about his Denizens rising up against him or leaving his sector in droves. There were no little rebellions, let alone big ones.

And so, he had taxed them as much as he possibly could. And those tax dollars hadn’t gone to back to supporting the people. They’d gone straight into The Collector’s pocket. From what Adranial explained, the people would be living on the knife’s edge of poverty, with many of them shoved straight into it.

Xavier hadn’t even thought about taxation when he’d decided to become the ruler of a sector with billions of worlds. He should have, but he hadn’t. It hadn’t been on his mind at all.

“Is that why there are so many Empire Building Credits?” Xavier asked.

Adranial smiled at him as though he’d just said something cute. “Empire Building Credits aren’t transferable with spirit coins. They run on an entirely different system.”

Xavier inclined his head. “Right. So where is all that tax money going?”

Adranial’s smile fell. Her forehead creased. “In his vault, of course. You didn’t check? It should have been somewhere in his castle. Probably connected to his throne room or quarters. It’s a System-created vault, something rulers can buy once they hit a certain population level.”

“I never encountered that at Collinsville,” Xavier muttered.

She chuckled. “That’s because Collinsville is tiny. Besides, you never actually run that place. They probably have the option to create one now.”

Xavier was starting to feel a bit foolish about this whole “running an entire sector” thing. But he was heartened by the fact that he didn’t intend to do all the running himself. He had people for that. Though he was now wondering just how much the B and C Grades he’d left behind knew about such things—or even Palini himself.

“I think I have a lot to learn.”

Adranial put a hand on his arm. “Yes. Yes, you do.” She patted him a little patronisingly, then smiled. “But you are a quick learner.”

Yes. Xavier was a quick learner—in combat. Governing was an entirely different story.

“There’s a record here,” Adranial said, “stating how many spirit coins are in the vault.”

Adranial and Xavier weren’t looking at the exact same screen. When he’d given her access, it allowed her to look at any of the submenus, even though she couldn’t action anything. She showed him what she was looking at.

Had his lower jaw not been thoroughly connected to the rest of his face it would have fallen with a clatter onto the table below. “That’s…” Xavier swallowed. He’d thought he was rich before taking over the Ventorin sector. But now. “God, that’s a hell of a lot of money.”

For some reason, despite how much power he wielded, looking at that number made him feel nervous. His hair stood on end for a moment, his heart beating faster. He let out a long breath, thinking about what having that much money would mean for him.

And… well, it would mean a lot, but it wouldn’t change his plans. It might not even change his trajectory all that much. Being incredibly wealthy and being incredibly powerful weren’t always the same thing. The Collector had had this kind of money, and it hadn’t helped him one bit when Xavier had come waltzing into his throne room looking for a fight.

“So, what are you going to do with it all?” Adranial asked.

Xavier nodded as he thought, his head bobbing up and down for who knew how long while he simply stared at the number. “Well.” He paused. “Uh.”

She patted him on the shoulder. “Why don’t you take a minute to digest that number.”

Xavier did as the woman suggested. When he came out of his daze, he cleared his throat. “I know what to do with the money.”

“You do?”

“These people The Collector has been ruling over… They’ve been living their lives having their will controlled by another, not being able to follow the paths they want to follow. They’ve lived in fear for so long, and likely squalor.” Xavier dropped his head. “I’ve seen the good that so many of them can do, and the bad, too.” He sighed. Drummed his fingers on the table. From the moment he knew he wanted to rule, he’d wanted to be able to give people the freedom to choose their own paths, as long as those paths didn’t hurt others or cause undue suffering.

The reality of the Greater Universe, however, made giving everyone the freedom to just do what they wanted a difficult thing. If he was going to expand his rule, he needed fighters. If he was going to save the universe by uniting it, then he needed the average Denizen living in that universe to be powerful. Very powerful. Else how would they manage it?

Still, there was something about Xavier that everyone said he was that was very true—idealistic.

Now, he could act on those ideals in a way he’d never been able to before.

“I want every single citizen in the entirety of the Ventorin sector to be able to choose their own path. To be able to live their lives the way they want to live their lives, even if that means not fighting, or not even contributing to the support of the fighting. People deserve a chance to live for the sake of living, not just live for the sake of fighting.” Xavier paused after his stream of words had stopped. Adranial didn’t say anything in reply, and he kept going. “I want to give the money back to the people. I don’t need it. I don’t need any of it.”

Adranial pursed her lips. “I know it might not feel this way, Xavier, but you need an army. You can’t protect the Ventorin sector all by yourself. There are too many worlds. You need those worlds to have the power to protect themselves, at least to a degree. If you give everyone freedom…” She trailed off.

“They deserve freedom, Adranial.”

She nodded slowly, though she didn’t look entirely convinced.

“I won’t hide things from them, however. They’ll know what’s at stake.” He thought of the Denizens back in the throne room. After he’d killed The Collector, he’d given every single one of them the chance to walk away and live whatever life they wanted to live. None of them had taken him up on that. Instead, they’d each pledged their loyalty to him.

If given the choice, he was sure that enough of the people would decide to fight. And those that wanted to fight would be given the tools to do so. That process would be starting soon. With the things he’d taught those loyal to him, they would be able to create time dilation fields to cover entire worlds. They could spend decades training those Denizens who wished to fight for their worlds, their sector—their universe—and barely any time will have passed outside those fields.

And by the time another sector ruler came knocking on the Ventorin sectors doors, they would find an army of monsters impossible to contend with.

Xavier’s rule would spread.

“I trust that I’ll have enough soldiers.”

Adranial tilted her head. “I hope you’re right, Xavier. I’ve given up a lot to follow you.”

“Follow me?” Xavier blinked. “Is that what you’ve decided?” He’d given her a clean slate by erasing all of her contracts, but she hadn’t yet given him her loyalty. He’d hoped for it, but he hadn’t expected it to happen all at once.

Adranial nodded. Smiled. “Yes. It’s what I’ve decided. And…” She looked away from him. “Those memories you’re holding for me.” She bit her lip. “I’m not ready to take them back. Not yet.”

Xavier hadn’t expected that. He’d thought she would take them back at the earliest opportunity. Then again, he hadn’t taken the liberty to get to know her mind. He would have taken back the memories; he was sure of it. But just because it was something he would do didn’t mean it was something she would do.

“That’s all right,” he replied. “I’ll keep them safe. They’ll still be here when you want them.”

“I know they will be.”

They talked about many things at that table, going through all the different sections in the Empire Building Menu. One thing he found quite interesting was that the Empire Building Credits could be used anywhere under his control—including the “Outposts” he had control over on Earth. That meant he could make some powerful upgrades to the base in Collinsville. Though he wasn’t even sure if that was something he wanted, nor something he truly needed. He intended to spread his rule over the entirety of Earth, and in fact the plan for that was already in action.

Howard and the others would be spreading his rule over Earth in his stead. The only reason they hadn’t taken over the entire planet for him since he’d parted ways with them was because not much “real” time had actually passed.

The Denizens back in the throne room would be handling much of the Ventorin sector, but there was a lot he could do from the Empire Building Menu that he hadn’t even realised. For one, it allowed him to communicate with his people from the Tower of Champions. This was something that would usually require a Communication Stone—and a strong one, depending on where he was when he was taken to the tower.

Adranial told him that this was an upgrade The Collector must have bought. Xavier could execute text or audio and visual communication with his people, though it wasn’t in real time. It was basically like email or an instant messaging service. He had encountered similar things like this in the System Shop. It made sense that he would be able to use it here. When he selected the different Outposts on Earth, for instance, it showed him the designated leader of each of those bases, towns, or cities. If he selected that leader, he could send a message to them.

“Does that work from a tower floor?” Xavier asked Adranial.

Adranial shook her head. “Unfortunately, no. It doesn’t work from a different universe. My classes covered that. It’s important to leave qualified rulers behind in your stead. Stepping into the Tower of Champions can be a dangerous thing for a ruler’s territory. There have been some rulers who stepped onto a floor then came out to find their entire empire in ruins.”

Xavier inclined his head. “Yes, that has been one of my worries.”

“That shouldn’t be much of a problem for you, however.”

“No?”

“You intend to use a time dilation field on the different floors, I imagine. I doubt much time will pass at all. And those sector rulers you spoke of, the ones in the arena audience, more than one of them are surely to have designs on the Orin sector, but I doubt many will have their eye on Ventorin. Even those who intend to invade the Orin sector won’t move as fast as you imagine. Do you know how long it takes to plan an invasion of a different sector?”

Xavier opened his mouth to respond, then closed it and shook his head. He only had guesses.

“Anywhere from several months to several hundred years.”

Xavier frowned. “Several hundred yeaars? That doesn’t make any sense. Surely it wouldn’t take that long to get an army together.”

“The Greater Universe does not work on the same time scale that you do, Xavier Collins. At least it hasn’t in the past. Denizens, especially those who have come to rule a sector, are used to working on much longer timelines. They see far into the future. They make decisions that will affect their empires hundreds or even thousands of years from now.”

Xavier felt his entire body relax. He might not understand how it could take that long for these people to move, but even so it was reassuring. Adranial had been schooled on how the Greater Universe worked since she could talk. He’d spoken to Palini about these things, and the other Denizens from the throne room, but their experiences—even though they’d lived far longer than Adranial and had far more experience than Xavier—were centred around their own sectors.

Sectors that hadn’t performed large-scale invasions of other sectors. This was not the side of the universe where such things were common. In fact, to Palini’s knowledge, there wasn’t a single ruler within a hundred sectors of the Orin sector that held more than one sector.

There had been border clashes. Armies had been sent to fight in the void between galaxies. Raids had been performed. Worlds had been lost. But no true invasion had happened.

These places were still young by the standards of the entire Greater Universe.

“That’s actually a relief,” Xavier replied after he’d let her words sink in. “Wait, doesn’t that mean these rulers you mentioned stepping on tower floors were gone for a while?”

“Some of the later floors are—” Adranial’s mouth seemed to shut of its own volition. She frowned, then glanced up at the ceiling. “Your restrictions.” She shut her eyes. “They’re strong. The System isn’t allowing me to say anything more.”

“I think I can gather a few things from what you’ve said. I know you can’t reply, but something tells me the later floors can take a long time to complete. Years, even.”

Adranial just stared at him.

He raised an eyebrow. “Centuries?”

The woman just shrugged, unable to reply.

Hundreds of years to complete a single tower floor didn’t sound real to him. Then again, the idea of passing hundreds of years… Well, it wasn’t merely an idea anymore.

It was something he’d experienced.

Xavier and Adranial spent another few hours at that table talking. For much of the time they weren’t even talking about the Empire Building Menu. The conversation kept shifting. Each of them went off on tangents. Xavier discovered a few things about the woman he hadn’t known before—like what kind of entertainment she was interested in.

To his surprise and delight, it turned out she—much like him—was a voracious reader. She quickly mentioned roughly two dozen different series she was in the middle of. Xavier hadn’t heard of a single one of them, which ended up making a lot of sense when her face reddened a bit and she mentioned they were predominantly romance stories, which reminded him of when he’d been in that time dilation field on the hundredth floor with Liana. She’d always been reading something like that.

They each opened up a bit about their upbringings. Xavier was fascinated to learn how someone like Adranial was raised. Adranial with equally fascinated about his life. Though she’d been around people from Earth for a while now she still knew little about their culture and hadn’t had all that many deep conversations about how things were pre-System.

“We’re taught that those without the System are basically primitive barbarians,” she’d said at one point. “It isn’t the only opinion people hold, but it’s incredibly prevalent.”

“I suppose I can understand that. We’ve been locked off from what’s really going on for a long time, and the lives we lead… or, well, led, end within a blink of an eye compared with Denizens.” He shrugged. “Well, compared to most Denizens, at least.”

“But you have had novels on your world? Stories?”

Xavier smiled. “Yes. We did. A lot of them. We had movies, too.”

The woman frowned. “Movies?”

“Audio and visual story-based entertainment.” He leant over the table. “I’ll have to show you some time.” He tilted his head to one side. “I should be able to find access to some old devices and get them to work… Maybe we could watch the Harry Potter movies.”

Her eyebrows came together. “What’s Harry Potter?”

Xavier laughed and tried to explain. After a little while the woman’s eyes brightened.

“Oh, you had wizards on Earth before the System? I didn’t know your people could use Celestial Energy before integration! That’s such a rare thing! You didn’t mention anything about that in your schooling. I suppose you didn’t go to this Hogwarts, then?”

Xavier shut his eyes, then restarted his explanation.

When they finally stood up to leave the tavern, as they were both eager to see how the System had changed the rules around the Tower of Champions, Xavier hadn’t taken any action with the Empire Building Menu. Things were still in the early days of his rule over the Ventorin sector, and none of the options seemed necessary at that moment. The one thing he had done, however, was adjust the taxes to something far more reasonable—something that would come into effect instantly.

Adranial looked a little unsure as they parted ways. Her party were in their Staging Room. She said she needed to talk to them before she made any other decisions about what she’d do next on her path. She seemed to look a little guilty about that, and Xavier wondered if she felt bad for not having spoken to them before deciding to have her contracts erased. The reality of what she’d done seemed to hit her once more as they left the tavern, Xavier keeping her within his time dilation field until they’d gotten to the door.

“You can give them the same offer, you know,” Xavier said before they parted ways. “I can erase all of their contracts, too.”

Adranial tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “I don’t think they’ll go for that, but I’ll see what they think.”

Xavier inclined his head. He glanced over at Sam. The man had questions, and he had questions straight back—though those would be better directed toward Empress Larona herself—but those questions could wait. He wanted to make his way to the Staging Room before addressing any of that.

“How long will you need?” Xavier asked. “In real time.”

Adranial cocked her head to one side. “Why don’t we meet back in the tavern tomorrow? I’ll have a better idea of what my path will look like then.”

They parted ways after that. Xavier headed up the stairs in silence, a lot of things on his mind.