Free Tier - Accidental Champion (Book 6) - Chapter 66 - No More Navel Gazing

The king lowered his head. “We ventured to a new world. We were not looking to conquer. The universe is far larger than we could have imagined. There must be places we could go. Our world was riddled with beasts. They almost destroyed us. Surely, there were worlds where that happened. Beasts, I have no qualm clearing out to make way for my own people. They are savage things, after all.” The king spat on the stones. “We encountered the Araks the moment we stepped out of the portal. They attacked us before we could do anything. From the look of them, we thought they were beasts. Even if they weren’t, they were trying to kill us. So we fought. Defended ourselves, as we have always done.

“When I realised what we’d done, that they must have simply seen us as a threat when we arrived, that they’d been defending their own, I tried to make amends. I tried to stop a war before it started. And, truly, I felt intense guilt at the number of them we’d slain in that initial conflict. A conflict that should never have been. Peace has always been the way with our peoples, and though the Araks looked different to us humans, they had a society. Culture. They had homes. Children. That gave me hope. Hope that they wouldn’t needlessly throw their lives away once they realised we never wished for such harm to come to them.”

Xavier raised an eyebrow. Since he’d began talking to the man, he couldn’t help but feel as though he was too genuine. He’d admired what the king had said of his people, but it had been hard to truly believe.

Now, Xavier knew it all to be true.

This place, this world… Being here, hearing the story, it only made him hate the System’s actions all the more. Though he’d never encountered a culture that had held such ideals—let alone held onto them once the System had come—he knew there would be a near infinite number of worlds out there that never wished for the conflict the System brought them.

All to achieve one goal—all to create… Well, me.

“The Arakashinai did not want peace,” the king said. “They would not be negotiated with. They would not be bargained with. I do not know how they found the coordinates to our planet, but it didn’t take them long. Part of me believes it was the System who gave it to them. Such a thing would not come as a surprise to me.

“I only managed to speak to them once, in all my efforts. One of their foot soldiers, who appeared under some spell, as though another were communicating through them—they were the last of their number to survive an assault on a fortification that no longer exists. They told me that in no uncertain terms the only way the conflict between our peoples would end would be with the death of everyone on my world.”

The king gazed out at the amassed enemy armies. He looked tired, then, and in that moment, Xavier could believe he had lived for hundreds of years, for those years seemed to weigh him down all at once. “They have almost made good on that.”

“How?” Xavier asked. “How do they continue to send so many?” He had his suspicions, but he needed to know. This war had been going for centuries, and for the past ten years the Eldaarn Kingdom had held these walls. Xavier had seen how swiftly they killed their enemies.

Thousands upon thousands of Araks died each hour.

How could they possibly still be coming? How could the enemy’s armies not have been expended? He would have thought sustaining an assault like this would be impossible.

It also made absolutely no sense from a cost-benefit analysis perspective, but it was clear the Arakashinai weren’t concerned about that. The soldiers must know they would die when they threw themselves at the walls, yet they kept coming.

Xavier didn’t think that was because of a contract, either.

That isn’t bravery. It is lunacy.

Xavier expanded the time dilation field a little, carving a path to the low wall at the end of the battlements. He walked toward it, leaning against it.

The king came to stand by his side. “I do not fully understand it myself. It is a strange concept. The Araks have hives, and a single leader. A queen. I think they must only have a single hive remaining on their entire world, though I feel it must have been different in the past, until one came to hold more power than all the others. I believe this queen is significantly larger than the other Arakashinai. I also believe it is a queen that I spoke to, through that foot soldier, all those years ago. From what information I can glean from the System, these soldiers are what are called clones. Copies created by the queen.

“When this conflict began, the Arak soldiers were significantly weaker than they are now. All their levels were exactly the same as one another, too, as they still are now. I think their strength is reliant on the strength of their queen. I think she can only produce soldiers of a certain power, unless her ability increases. That ability increased as she tore through our world. She must have gained a great deal of Mastery Points as she conquered our cities.

“We, too, were less powerful. As we grew in strength defending other cities that ultimately got destroyed, we did it at the cost of not having both our main Defender spells active. We lost…” King Elric trailed off. Shook his head. “Then, we came here. Held this place. Not allowing her to harm us for many years, not allowing her to gain Mastery Points. Since then, the Arak soldiers have remained static in power, as we have remained. Though the reasons are different.”

“A true stalemate,” Xavier said, awe in his voice.

He was glad he’d brought the king into his time dilation field. Glad he’d asked to hear the story of this place. Not just because of what he now planned to do on this floor, but because he knew he’d be poorer for not knowing it. He’d seen much, in his own universe and others, but he’d never imagined something like this. Such a unique situation that only the perfect storm of factors could ever produce.

“Now tell me, Champion, what will you do with this information?” the king asked, once it was clear he had nothing more to say.

Xavier’s grip tightened on the stone of the battlements’ wall as he looked out at the Araks. If what the king believed was true, every single one of these soldiers was controlled by a single Arakashinai queen. Xavier couldn’t find flaw in the man’s logic. He had scanned the Araks, used Identify on them. Everything the descriptions had told him corroborated the man’s theories.

The soldiers were clones. Not even clones, really—more like drones. They didn’t have minds of their own, or at least, they didn’t have their own will. He wondered what would happen if he cast Willpower Infusion and snaked that purple mist out to one of the Araks.

Would he feel a collective consciousness, like that of The Nightmare? This being clearly wasn’t the same as that demon, but if the Arakashinai queen could expand her presence through them, it made Xavier doubt whether he’d be able to control the Arak drones. He didn’t know how powerful the queen herself was. That was something he wouldn’t be able to know until he laid eyes on her. But if her mind’s power was improved by that of her drones, like a network of computers all drawing processing power to one powerful hub, then he doubted even his strength of mind would be able to pierce hers.

Perhaps I’m thinking too far ahead.

Xavier simply stood there a long moment. That ice cold rage that flowed through his veins had flared as the man had spoken of the System’s prompts and quests. The System had even been the one who’d encouraged the man to summon a Champion. A sliver of something occurred to Xavier as he thought on that. His forehead creased.

Could the System have done that, because it wanted to put me here?

The thought felt like a ludicrous one. With all the System’s interference lately, Xavier was probably starting to jump at shadows. Starting to see patterns in the universe where there was, in reality, nothing.

This floor had been around since the beginning of time for his universe. How could the System have chosen to do that for him?

Then again, the System created an infinite number of universes with different variables in order to further its goal. If there had been a version of Xavier that was much like him, but never had this floor, the System might have seen this as a possible opportunity for growth—or even simply as an experiment.

The king, beside him, seemed to be becoming antsy once more. His weapon was drawn—though not aimed anywhere near Xavier—and he had that slightly frantic, extra alert look about him that soldiers got when they were expecting danger, the grip on his short sword hilt tightening and loosening in a constant cycle.

To his credit, however, King Elric didn’t prompt Xavier further. He looked to be schooling his frustration and waited with as much patience as he could muster.

Xavier shook his head. Shut his eyes. Another long moment passed as he worked on clearing his mind. Ever since what had happened after the floor where he’d forced peace between the Bright City of Aethisa and the Phoenix Empire, if he wasn’t clearing floors, he was stuck navel gazing. Stuck in long tangents of thought about what the System may or may not have done, what its intentions were in doing it, and how it may or may not affect his actions.

Hell, he’d been experiencing it long before that floor. That particular floor and the consequences of what he’d done had simply thrown it into overdrive.

It was becoming a problem.

No… It was a problem.

He’d known it was, and yet he continued to indulge it. He couldn’t keep moving forward with these streams of thought stuck in his mind. His thoughts, his doubts, more than anything, were what influenced his actions. It didn’t matter what an infinite number of other Xaviers had done, how they’d succeeded, where they’d failed. It didn’t matter if the System chose to change this or that because of them or on a whim.

One day, he was sure he would meet more versions of himself. They could trade information. Learn about one another. Maybe even talk about this very thing that was bothering him. And one day, he would gain more insights about the System and its reasons for doing things. Maybe he’d even achieve the new, insane goal he’d set for himself, of tearing the whole damned thing down.

But for the foreseeable future, he had to put it all behind him. He had to stop jumping at shadows and focus on the present. On his individual goals—not the System’s plan for him.

Xavier opened his eyes. The world around him came into a sort of focus that it had lacked since he’d stepped onto this floor. His mind felt freer than it had since he’d been pulled back early to the Tower of Champions. He’d been holding onto so much, and finally, he was allowing himself to if not let it go, then it least put it down for now.

A smile slipped onto his lips, one that made the man beside him frown. Xavier inclined his head, feeling resolved in his next course of action.

No more navel gazing. It was time to act.

He turned to the king. He figured a dose of honestly was appropriate in this moment. That was something he quite enjoyed about interacting with people on the different tower floors. The fact that this was a different universe. And, as far as he knew, whatever he said here wouldn’t follow him back to his own.

He didn’t need to be careful with his words. If he wished, he could bare his soul. Not that he’d indulged in such a thing.

“You have decided,” the king said. It wasn’t a question.

“I have.” Xavier released a puff of air from his nose. “Whenever I enter a new floor, I do it with the intention of scouting the area, the objectives, first. I gather information, test a few theories… Then, if the System allows it, I leave the floor and start it anew.”

The king was about to say something, rage burning in his gaze, the point of his short sword now angled toward Xavier. Xavier raised his hand. With what must have been a great force of will, King Elric swallowed his words and clamped his mouth shut, sword shaking in his grip.

“That is not what I am going to do here. You have endeared yourself to me, King Elric, along with the plight of your people. Never before, within the Greater Universe, have I encountered a culture like yours. Even before my world was integrated.” Xavier shook his head. “My world was not a peaceful one. And that, well, that’s an understatement.” He waved a dismissive hand, continued on. “I’m not going to abandon you and start this floor again. Not now I’ve spoken to you. Now I know you. Instead, I’m going to help.”

Xavier faced the Araks. “More than that. I’m not merely going to tip the balance back in your favour. I’m going to eradicate your enemy.” His forehead lined, gaze narrowing on some distant spot he couldn’t truly see. The Arakashinai queen on her home planet, somewhere in her hive, no doubt surrounded by drones and security measures.

Thinking she was untouchable.

“I am going to kill the Arakashinai queen.”