Free Tier - Accidental Champion (Book 6) - Chapter 68 - Territory

Xavier smiled at the description of his newly acquired temporary spell.

He froze the world around him, stepping back farther along the battlements of Eldaarn’s last remaining stronghold. He took in the long, clear space around him, free of defenders, as none were in reserve. As he did, he had an intense feeling of déjà vu. The first time he’d done what he was about to do was on battlements much like these, under four suns blaring down.

Though much was similar, the situation he was in was wildly different. For one, he was confident in the actions he was about to take. Confident in his ability to permanently learn the temporary spell he’d just gained with Recursive Analysis.

It was what he was going to do afterward he was unsure of. The difficulty of the goal he wished to complete on this floor was a mystery. How powerful was the Arakashinai hive queen? Had the promise he made to King Elric been a foolish one? Would achieving this goal push Xavier farther along on his path, or be but a momentary blip?

He shook his mind free of those thoughts, and they fell away, allowing him to focus on his present goal.

Xavier sat back down on the stones cross-legged. His breath attained a steady rhythm as he closed his eyes once more. He’d been in this position for hours during this world’s night, awaiting this. The silence around him brought a calm to his mind that he’d been missing, one that had been difficult to find with the battle constantly raging around him. For perhaps the millionth time, Xavier felt a great sense of appreciation and gratitude toward his Time Alteration spell.

It brought him so much more than he’d ever known it could.

Xavier stepped into the centre room in his mind, taking it all in, ignoring the doors that led out from it. What he needed was inside this room. The temporary spell he gained from Recursive Analysis always ended up here.

The pattern of runes was directly in the middle of the room. It wasn’t always this way, but Xavier imagined it appeared there when it was his main focus. Moving his mental apparition, the avatar of himself that he used to navigate these spaces, he came to stand before it.

The spell pattern was for Territory Defence, one of the two main spells from the Defender line of classes. One of the spells the Kingdom of Eldaarn relied upon to eke out another day of survival in the castle that was their last bastion.

Xavier took the pattern in as a whole, seeing where the edges were.

While every spell pattern he’d examined was completely unique, there seemed to be different categories of them that Xavier had encountered. The pattern itself often took on a recognisable 2D geometric shape. Xavier had pondered whether the shapes of more advanced patterns—if there was such a thing—would take on more of a 3D shape, but he hadn’t encountered one before.

Most patterns took the form of circles, their edges almost perfectly rounded. But there were others. Squares, rectangles, triangles.

This particular spell pattern was in the shape of a pentagram.

Xavier tilted his head, wondering on the significance of that—if there was any significance to it at all.

Then, he got to work.

The work came more easily, this time. The vast majority of the runes within this pattern were ones he’d already drawn in the last pattern, even if they were still ones he lacked even so much as a name for—he already had a feel for them. Already knew their lines and curves so well he could draw them without sight.

But there were runes in this pattern that hadn’t been in the Untethered pattern. Some he’d seen in other spell patterns like Spiritual Trifecta. Others were new to him.

He didn’t know how long the process of taking in every single rune that made up the pattern took. When Xavier lost himself in such a deep level of concentration within the time dilation field, time was something that simply didn’t happen to him. Something he need not concern himself with.

When he was done, he opened his eyes. A warm smile twitched the sides of his lips as he stood and drew Bones, shifting the soul bound weapon into a stylus.

Before he drew this pattern within his mind—something he might not be able to take back, even if he made a mistake, the consequences of which could be anything—he drew the pattern in the air.

The first time he’d done something like this it had taken him until his fifteenth attempt to become successful. Xavier didn’t know how long this would take. He had learnt much, however, when drawing the Untethered pattern, so he was sure the process would go more smoothly.

In a way, he was right. It did go more smoothly. He certainly moved forward into the task with more confidence. But it didn’t go near as quickly as he imagined.

After he had finished drawing the Territory Defence pattern of runes for the tenth time, Xavier sighed in relief. While he hadn’t activated it yet, that didn’t matter. He was sure this one would work. Sure every line had been drawn perfectly.

Xavier alighted on the ground, wings curling behind him. All the little muscles in his wings and body that had helped stabilise him hovering in the air felt pleasingly tender. Those aches dissipated quickly as his body healed them, leaving them stronger than before, if minutely.

He smiled at the pattern. Like the one before it, this was a thing of beauty to his eyes.

Xavier tilted his head to the side. With his natural sight, he couldn’t take in the entire pattern. It was simply too large—even larger than the Untethered pattern had been, with more runes within it. Which had surprised Xavier. He’d thought it would be a simpler spell, despite it having the shape of a pentagram rather than a circle.

His Farscope allowed him to see it in its entirety, and on further reflection, he concluded this spell pattern was even more beautiful than the last. Though as he thought that, his forehead creased.

Is it more beautiful, or am I simply better able to appreciate it now that I’ve learnt more about runes?

Xavier dismissed the thought. He could contemplate such things later.

He didn’t stand looking at the pattern for long, even though he could have. Instead, the moment the muscles in his body and wings had healed and the tension he’d felt from holding such strong concentration for the length of time it took to draw the pattern had faded away, his wings flapped and he leapt back into the air until he was hovering directly in front of the pattern’s centre runes.

Xavier inched his soul bound weapon in the form of a stylus toward it until it touched.

Then, for the tenth time, Xavier attempted to activate the spell pattern. This time, as he knew would happen, the entire pattern glowed. A line of energy stretched through the air to the centre of that pattern—the line that would help him activate and control it properly.

Xavier alighted once more on the stones, his neck craning upward to take in the glow. He nodded, satisfied.

He would not activate the spell pattern. In its form, he was having trouble imagining what it might do. When he’d activated the Untethered spell pattern, he hadn’t been able to aim it. Whether that was a lack of skill on his part, or something that simply wasn’t possible to do, he hadn’t yet ascertained.

Here, now, was not the time to experiment.

What he imagined would happen if he were to activate this Territory Defence pattern, without the ability to control it, is that it would affect everyone in the area. Like a massive wave, the spell would wash over the Eldaarn defenders along the battlements, then continue to wash over the Arak armies attacking the walls and amassed in what looked like their millions out on the plains in front of the castle. It would also wash over Xavier.

Except, it wouldn’t do anything for Xavier. It wouldn’t do anything for the Araks, either. Neither of them were tied to this particular territory as the people of Eldaarn were. Though, that might not strictly be true.

The Eldaarn had only managed to hold onto this castle. That made him wonder what the System would do with that information. Was everything directly outside the castle walls considered the Araks territory, as they’d conquered this whole world?

Is it the System that even decides such a thing?

He shook that thought away. It didn’t really matter. Even if it did work like that, that wasn’t the reason Xavier stopped himself from fully activating the spell pattern.

If he activated this pattern and it worked as he imagined, it might very well double stack the Territory Defence spell onto the Eldaarn defenders. Not only that, the spell wouldn’t be at the same level of power as the one they were all using at this moment. It was the same rank, but it would use Xavier’s attributes to decide its power.

The Eldaarn defenders would become incredibly powerful. The balance of the fight would tip their way in an instant. Then Xavier would clear the floor, without him even having to harm a single Arak.

It wasn’t a terrible outcome. It was actually something that deeply interested him when it came to activating spell patterns in this way. If he could use them to double up on a spell, what impact would that have to his battle strategy?

A damned big impact, especially if I can direct the pattern where I wish it to go.

But testing that now would ruin his plans.

Xavier released a breath. He cut the line connecting him to the pattern, willing it to deactivate. The pentagram pattern flickered out of existence, leaving a slight feeling of loss inside him at its absence. But soon, the beautiful pattern would be within him, and he could carry it everywhere.

“And I’ll learn a new spell.” He smiled.

I’m still not sure why you want to learn Territory Defence, Bones said within Xavier’s mind. It has its advantages, but it will only work on Earth, won’t it?

Xavier inclined his head. The soul bound weapon made a good point. The fact that it only worked in a territory one was pledged to was a very important factor. He had a few ideas of how he was going to puzzle out a solution, however. He was also glad that he wouldn’t have to worry about advancing the spell from Rank 1.

He would gain it at Rank 150, as that was what the temporary spell was at.

Still, he could only imagine how much more powerful he would be with the spell active. If it made these Eldaarn D Grades as strong as they were now, the difference for him would be absolutely staggering.

Especially if he were able to double-stack with the spell pattern.

And the spell will be a higher rank by then. I’ll be C Grade.

But if Xavier were to fight the World Destroyer and its Soul Amalgamation in space above Earth, that would mean he’d failed to save much of the sector. What he’d experienced on the eightieth floor, where the other version of him had fought the powerful being…

That would not be his battlefield.

 Xavier would meet, and destroy, his enemy well before it got that far.

Well, Bones, I guess I’m just going to have to expand my territory and ensure that wherever the World Destroyer enters the Silver River sector, that place is under my control, Xavier replied to the soul bound weapon.

Bones went quiet after that, which Xavier was glad for. He still had work he needed to complete.

Xavier sat himself back down on the stones and shut his eyes, walking the rooms of his mind, finding one where he could draw the pattern and make the spell permanent.

As he stepped from one room to the other, he found that he was a little distracted. From the moment he’d discovered what the Territory Defence spell could do, thoughts of how to use it had swirled around in his head. The spell was too powerful for him not to take advantage of, but he knew taking a step forward and actually learning it would lock him into this course of action.

Xavier had contemplated officially becoming the ruler of Earth. He’d even contemplated expanding his influence to other planets within his sector. What had stopped him short was that he despised conquerors. He had thought of several ways that he could do it without simply invading and destroying everything in his path until his “enemies” pledged their loyalty to him, but even those required deaths and intimidation.

He’d never had a real reason to actually do it. To conquer. To become a ruler of so much. Hell, ruling over one world, let alone an entire sector, sounded like far too much work. He wasn’t even sure why he wanted to do it. Well, that wasn’t true…

He knew why.

Xavier thought he could do a better job than those already in control. He thought he could bring peace, unity, and strength. But like how he’d brought peace to the Bright City of Aethisa and the Phoenix Empire—by force—was that really a better way?

All conquerors justified themselves by saying they were doing the conquered a favour by ruling over them. The same thought kept slipping into his mind whenever this occurred to him, and it was a thought he was a little afraid of:

In my case, it would actually be true. I would be doing them a favour. Without me, the World Destroyer would eradicate them all from existence. I can make them safe.

Now Xavier had a reason to expand his territory, he couldn’t help but worry how that might change him.

And what lengths he would go to to accomplish his goals.