Free Tier - Accidental Champion (Book 7) - Chapter 2 - That’ll Just Be Your Next Story to Tell

The notification loomed in front of Xavier’s vision as he stood a few feet from the Tower of Champions’ tavern doors.

I don’t meet the requirements to remain within the tower?

Xavier didn’t even know the tower had requirements he needed to meet for him to remain. Though through all he’d been through, he’d barely given a thought to the fact that the System hadn’t prompted him to go to the next floor. Champions usually couldn’t take this long of a break between stepping on a floor. They could re-enter the same one seemingly endlessly, but they couldn’t just dawdle in the tavern for three months—or in a coma, lying on the ground in their Staging Room.

There were consequences for doing such things, but he’d had more pressing things to worry about than that.

Is that why the System is kicking me from the tower? Because I haven’t stepped onto a floor for so long? Or is it because of my cores?

He’d recently entered the tower after he’d been at Areildon, the second Hell Moon of Demonica. When he’d received the notification alerting him that he would be returned to the tower early, he’d travelled to world of Laracon within the same sector as the Hell Moons. He’d been at a System Shop pedestal in Ravni, the world’s capital, looking at the stats for the story he’d uploaded, when he’d been teleported to the Tower of Champions.

That had been by design. So he could return to that sector and the Hell Moons to continue farming titles.

Now, it was returning him to Earth.

But without being able to access his Storage Ring—which he’d finally had locked to his energy, so it would be very difficult for someone else to open without risking it being broken—he couldn’t retrieve his Sector Travel Key or his Universal Travel Key.

I would have been stuck on Ravni, and I wouldn’t have been able to contact Yarien and her party without accessing my Communication Stones anyway…

As these thoughts raced through Xavier’s head, the System plucked him from the Tower of Champions and plopped him back in Collinsville on Earth. No more notifications followed. No reasoning for why he’d been taken away was given.

The notification said, “System Error.” The reason mustn’t be a standard one.

He arrived in the town’s main square, feeling more than a little dazed. It was the middle of the day, noon by the look of the sun. The square was bustling with people, most of whom he didn’t recognise. His sudden appearance caused a wave of shock and panic to ripple through those around him, until three people came running into the square, the tallest and broadest of them calling out, calming the crowd. It wasn’t long before the surprised people became curious onlookers.

The three stopped running when they neared him. Each had beaming smiles on their faces.

It was his old party: Howard, Justin, and Siobhan.

“Xavier! You’re here! We weren’t expecting you back on Earth,” Justin said. “What stories have you returned with? What insane things have you been up to? You haven’t completed the thousandth floor of the tower already, have you?” The young swordsman looked positively giddy.

Siobhan, a little more subdued but beaming all the same, nudged Xavier’s shoulder. “It’s good to see you outside the tower. Feels like it’s been a while.” She glanced around. “It will be good for the people of Earth to see their leader.”

Leader…

Xavier didn’t respond to that. In fact, he hadn’t said a word.

The smile fell from Howard first. The old, former cop and current tank frowned as he looked at Xavier’s face. “Something’s happened, hasn’t it? Something bad?”

Xavier lowered his head in a nod. “We should have this conversation somewhere more private.”

They adjourned to the war room at the bottom of Collinsville’s main tower. There were a few people inside when they arrived. One of them, Alexic Kalcav—a former spy for the Collector—gave Xavier a very curious look as he left.

Only Xavier and his old party remained in the room. He sat at the head of the table. The room was locked down for sound. He didn’t want word of what had happened to him getting out. He doubted the information would get off-planet, but his strength was what kept his world safe from invaders. If the rest of the sector, and those neighbouring it, like the Collector, knew about his shattered cores, it wouldn’t only endanger him.

It would endanger the whole planet.

Even if only those on Earth knew, it could very well cause a panic.

It took Xavier a while to order his thoughts. His mind was in chaos. He’d had a plan. Contact Adranial’s ancestor. Ask him for help. It wasn’t a plan he’d liked, but at least he’d known his next step.

Now, he’d been put adrift.

The words of Marcus Aurelius that had flashed through his mind on the way to the tavern just minutes ago came to him once more. A mantra he would need to hold onto.

If its endurable, then endure it. If it’s unendurable, then stop complaining. Your destruction will mean its end as well.

Deep breaths helped centre him. Xavier’s old party looked increasingly worried the longer he went without speaking. He hadn’t wanted to tell them what he was going through, back at the tower. He’d been glad to find Adranial in the tavern instead. Telling these three, who’d been a part of his journey since the first floor, made it all the more real.

But he had to get on with it. And so, he told the three of them what had happened on the one-hundred-and-fifty-fourth floor, and how it had shattered his cores.

“You… You can’t cast any spells?” Justin asked, incredulous. He looked to Siobhan. “Heal him!”

The redhead’s eyes went glassy as she pushed her senses toward him. Her head drooped. “His health is full. There’s… nothing I can do.

“A simple heal won’t fix this.” Xavier sighed. “Adranial said this cripples Denizens. Stops them from progressing. And that’s with one core.”

Howard raised his chin, stared hard into Xavier’s eyes. “So, what are you doing to do?”

Xavier opened his hands. He’d accepted what had happened to him. Or, well, he was trying to. But he was still at a loss as to how to move forward. “I—I don’t know.” He felt vulnerable, saying those words. But he wasn’t going to lie to these people.

“Adranial can’t know everything,” Siobhan said. “Just because she says it can’t be fixed, doesn’t mean she’s right.”

Howard grunted at Siobhan’s words, probably agreeing most with that woman not knowing everything—he had good reason not to get along with Adranial.

Justin nodded emphatically. “You do the impossible all the time. Fixing this? That’ll just be your next story to tell!” The confidence in his voice sounded genuine.

Xavier gave the younger man a weak smile. “I’m sure you’re right.”

They believe in you, Xavier, Bones said in his mind. Listen to them.

Xavier didn’t respond to the soulbound weapon. Honestly, he wasn’t really sure what telling these three had accomplished. They didn’t have connections. They couldn’t contact Adranial’s ancestor.

Now that he was back on Earth, back in the Silver River sector, there was only one person he knew of who might have some answers for him.

Empress Larona.

He could travel to Mareketh. Go to the bookstore she’d had there under her alias, Elitsa Flian. If she was there, maybe she would know what he needed to do.

God, he didn’t like having to ask for help. For so long, he’d been doing things by himself. He may have joined with Yarien’s party, but that exchange had been mutually beneficial. He’d accepted the help of his old party, in the past, when they’d given him much of their rewards at the end of tower floors he’d cleared.

But even then, he hadn’t leaned on them. Hadn’t truly needed their help, even if he had it.

Howard, Justin, and Siobhan were each looking at him expectantly, as though waiting for him to spontaneously come up with a plan, with answers, with a way to fix all this. Maybe that was why he’d told them. Maybe he needed that push.

“I’ll travel to Mareketh and see if I can contact Empress Larona,” Xavier said. “She, more than anyone in this sector, has a vested interest in me returning to power.”

“It’s not only her who has that interest.” Howard’s eyes were still hard. “You’re the sector’s only hope at survival, Xavier. Earth’s only hope. If you can’t regain your power…” The man left the rest unsaid. He didn’t need to spell it out.

Xavier could already see Howard’s mind working on contingency plans—maybe he already had contingency plans. He would want to ensure his family, and others close to him, got out of the sector alive when the World Destroyer came.

 He nodded at the man. What he was going through, what he needed to do, it was all so much bigger than himself. He couldn’t let his pride get in his way, and he couldn’t let his sense of hope diminish, as he’d already felt it done.

It was Justin’s words that helped him the most.

You do the impossible all the time. Fixing this? That’ll just be your next story to tell!

A genuine smile, the first one since Xavier had woken from his three-month coma, slipped onto his face. He looked at Howard, Justin, and Siobhan, his gaze settling on each of them. “Don’t worry. I know what’s at stake. I’ll fix this.”

His words still sounded weak to his own ears. He shook his head.

“No.” Xavier’s voice came out stronger this time. “I won’t merely fix this.” He stood. “I’ll came back stronger.”

Justin practically jumped out of his seat, pumping his fist into the air. “Yes! You’re going to kick this problem’s ass!”

Siobhan beamed. “That sounds more like the Xavier we know.”

Howard smiled, a spark in his eyes returning as he gave Xavier a sharp nod.

Xavier was about to make his way out of the war room when the others all stood to follow. He turned and looked at them.

“You didn’t think you were going alone, did you?” Siobhan asked.

“You’re not ditching us this time,” Justin said.

Howard simply raised his chin, giving Xavier a defiant look.

Xavier considered telling them to stay. Hell, he could command them. As strong as they’d become since he’d left the party, they were still only E Grade. Even without spells or access to his cores, he was sure he was more powerful than all three of them.

What help could they really be?

But… He wanted them to come along.

He wasn’t going to Mareketh to fight. He was going there for answers.

You should let them come, Bones said.

“Well, I suppose those no harm if the three of you tag along,” Xavier said with a sigh, though his smile betrayed his true feelings on the subject.

As he walked out of the war room with his old party members trailing behind him, headed for the portal that had been permanently set up to connect them to Famarial’s portal in the elf’s compound over in Fronton, he was reminded of something he’d thought he’d learnt early on, but had clearly forgotten.

He didn’t have to do everything on his own.