Tier 3+ - Accidental Champion (Book 7) - Chapter 6 - He Would Not Be Broken

The energy seeped out of Xavier’s body almost the moment it had entered. When he’d felt it flow into him, he’d opened his eyes and smiled, reflexively pulling his hands from Justin’s to pump his fists.

The elation he felt was intense, far stronger than he’d expected, but the action rocked him out of his calm, focused state, allowing the Celestial Energy to flow straight back out of him before he’d even released it was going.

The burst of energy he’d received had felt incredibly strong. As the energy left him, he realised it had actually been a small amount, only feeling strong because he’d been without it for so long.

The others stared at his sudden outburst. That was when Xavier realised the sun was no longer high in the sky. It wasn’t full dark yet, but it was creeping closer toward it. He’d known he’d sat there a while, but hadn’t realised it had been quite that long.

Howard was cooking something at the fire that smelled delicious, and Xavier’s stomach was grumbling again.

I must have fallen into a deeper focus than I realised.

He was heartened to see Howard and Siobhan were still there, and that Justin hadn’t moved from where he sat the entire time. He must have had to cultivate more energy into himself to keep the flow going for so long.

Xavier was glad for the patience they had in him. Another day was already ending, and yet they’d all stayed here. They hadn’t knocked him out of his focus. They hadn’t asked him why he was taking so long. They’d simply waited.

As patient as he was, he wasn’t sure he could just sit there for that long while others worked on something, especially outside a time dilation field.

Almost lost another day…

He hated to think about what was going on as he remained in this clearing. Hated to think what the Collector was getting together for him, or how much closer the World Destroyer had come.

Pushing those thoughts away, he told the others what he’d done as he dug into a dinner of steak, potatoes, and an assortment of fried vegetables Howard had passed over to him.

When his plate was clean, he put it aside and looked at Justin. “Let’s do that again.”

Justin didn’t hesitate or ask for a break. He just nodded and they got into position, each closing their eyes once more.

Xavier, Justin, Siobhan, and Howard spent a month inside that clearing.

The days passed like hours as he trained his body, mind, and spirit. It wasn’t only Justin funnelling Celestial Energy into him. The others soon became proficient enough at cultivating and maintaining it that they were able to take turns.

At first, Xavier grew frustrated by his glacial progress. What he was doing wasn’t just like relearning how to walk. It was like learning how to breathe, to think, how to move at all, all over again.

Like starting from zero. Less than zero.

Like starting from minus one million.

But slowly, Xavier was able to hold onto the Celestial Energy that was transferred into him, though he could only do so with a tremendous amount of concentration and will, forcing the energy through his channels, pushing it as hard as he could.

The process was painful.

It felt like pushing a centimetre wide pebble through a millimetre wide tunnel, and like that tunnel was his very veins.

The pain hadn’t been evident at the start, when he’d first took in the energy from Justin. The elation he’d felt at having energy inside him again after so long blocked out the sensation of pain so much that he hadn’t even noticed he’d felt it.

The feeling of the energy had actually sent his body into shock, and by the time he’d calmed, the energy was gone, the pain not having lingered.

The second time he took in Celestial Energy, the pain did not go unnoticed.

Xavier pushed past it. With all his will, he shoved the pebble—the energy—through his channels, making them raw with a pain he’d never experienced before, never even knew could exist. The pain was in his hands, too, where he took that energy in.

His body had been closed off, shut down from all Celestial Energy by what had shattered his cores. When he’d sat there, meditating for hours as Justin tried to transfer energy into him, it had finally forced a small number of those channels to open. Justin had been directing that energy straight into him, and Xaiver had been pulling at it, wrenching his channels open with all his will.

And finally, their conjoined effort had pried open the pores in Xavier that received energy from the universe. Finally, they had been unlocked.

It was no wonder he hadn’t been able to cultivate on his own.

The burst of energy he’d initially gained from Justin hadn’t gone far down his channels before it had dissipated, only having reached to his forearms.

It turned out covering that distance in that amount of time was only something that was going to happen once to Xavier. When he first tried to push past the point the energy had initially reached, that was when the pain came.

And so, as the hours and days had passed, Xavier had sat there in the middle of that clearing, his old party members—his closest friends—taking turns feeding Celestial Energy into him as he stretching his channels. Slowly and with great agony, Xavier carved the tunnels, making them wider and wider. As he did, he couldn’t help but be reminded of the Arakashinai Queen’s chamber, that had been constantly carved into something larger as the queen had grown bigger.

The same thing was happening to his channels.

The frustration that he’d felt at first was replaced with an iron will, a steadfast determination. So what if he was having to relearn everything from scratch? So what if he was having to train his body to do things it should have done naturally?

He was able to do it. He was making progress.

He had told the others he would come back stronger, and he believed it. In the deep depths of himself, he believed it with everything he had.

What he didn’t know—and what he didn’t tell them—was how long it would take. With everything progressing so slowly, it was feeling less and less likely that he would be ready for the World Destroyer when it came.

But right now, that wasn’t something he allowed concern him. Or, at least, he did his best not to let it.

The pain never left, but he became used to it. Every time he felt the pain of the energy moving through channels, expanding them, going down them at a glacial pace, all it did was signal to him that he was making progress.

Even after those channels in his hand had opened enough to bring in the energy Justin had offered him, they hadn’t opened enough for Xavier to cultivate on his own. Xavier wasn’t sure why that process wasn’t working, but he did know that it wasn’t only the pores in his hands that had been locked—it was every single one of them in his body.

For a time, he had the others help him open those pores, unlock them enough that they, at least, could provide energy through them. Eventually, however, he learnt to do this on his own. Though he couldn’t bring energy into himself, he could release it. At first, it was impossible for him to stop the energy from being released from his hands, where his pores had originally opened. But step by agonising step, Xavier had pushed the energy to reach other pores along his skin.

He had pooled the Celestial Energy near the surface, and he had pushed.

The first time he’d done this, it had exploded a portion of his forearm. A chunk of flesh had disintegrated with the pressure of the energy pushing at it, creating a wound the same size as the face of a quarter.

At least my whole arm didn’t blow off.

Siobhan had offered to heal the wound the moment it had happened, but Xavier had waved her off. Even without his cores in operation, his body healed at a good speed as long as he was eating and drinking.

Besides, until that wound did heal, it would be a reminder of his mistake.

Though Xavier hadn’t been sure it was a mistake, because despite the small explosion and the pain and damage it caused, he’d felt the pore in his arm open.

Hopefully I can open the next more easily than that.

Xavier had tried again. And again. And again. Until his body was covered in small wounds. Bit by bit, with each attempt, the wounds grew smaller and smaller, until eventually only a pinprick of blood was produced by the process.

At the end of that month spent in the forest, Xavier had pushed Celestial Energy through every single one of his channels. He could hold more Celestial Energy in his body than Howard, Siobahn, or even Justin combined.

The three party members had to transfer energy into him all at the same time by then. Once this had been achieved, Xavier had begun cycling the energy through his body in old, familiar patterns. Though the energy could move through the channels without pain, it still required a conscious effort, and the energy moved sluggishly.

He tried to use the energy to reinforce his body and mind, the way he’d done before with Body Cultivation. In his mind, he knew exactly how to do it, but as hard as he tried, he couldn’t make it work—yet—and so he turned his attention toward cultivating.

With everyone of his pores now open, each of them able to receive energy from his old party members, or release the energy he held, he once more attempted to cultivate energy on his own.

To this end, he’d sent the others back to Collinsville. They were a month and a half into a six month break from the Tower of Champions, and as thankful as he was to have them with him, Xavier didn’t want to monopolise all of their time.

And though he’d learnt to accept help, even cherish it, there were some things that required seclusion.

Xavier didn’t send them back to Collinsville without homework, however. When they’d returned to Earth after their fruitless visit with Empress Larona, the wheels in his mind had turned as plans formed for the three people in the universe that he trusted the most.

He had discovered a lot of things on his journey toward becoming stronger. Some of those things he was sure no one else—at least in this universe—knew. Xavier had always been of the mind that anyone could learn anything with enough time, patience, and persistence, and he didn’t doubt his old party members possessed all three.

And so, he wanted to impart some of the knowledge of what he’d learnt.

The first thing he’d taught them was something he had needed them to do—cultivate Celestial Energy without allowing it to be changed and taken into their cores. For the most part, the need for them to learn that was a selfish one for him, but he also knew it would help lay down a foundation that could be built upon in the future.

The second thing he’d taught them was how to draw runes. It was a small thing that they focused on while in the clearing, taking moments of rest to practice, not even using a stylus, simply drawing the runes with pencil on paper that Siobhan had taken from her Storage Ring.

When they headed back for Collinsville, Xavier tasked them each with gaining enough experience drawing runes to at least gain the Spell Quest for the Inscribing spell, and to each purchase a stylus of their own from the System Shop. Inscribing was one of several spells that could be attained by essentially any class as long as they practiced enough at it, resembling a skill in that way.

After a whole month had passed, Xavier still hadn’t completed the first part of his plan to draw the spell pattern for Otherworldly Communion. The more he’d worked on carving out his energy channels, the more he’d realised the danger of doing what he’d intended.

But it wasn’t only that—he was struggling to use the energy he took in.

He could cycle it and push it out of each and every one of his pores, but he couldn’t harness it. Couldn’t use it to enhance his body. Couldn’t push it through his stylus to draw runes in the air.

Something was still blocking him.

And so, he sat alone in that clearing. Or, mostly alone. Rhaalir drifted in and out from time to time, his ghostly presence felt. Bones, of course, was always there. The soulbound weapon had grown quiet since his return to Earth, almost as though he was dormant, but he’d responded whenever Xavier had spoken to him.

But during this time, Xavier didn’t speak.

He sat in the centre of the clearing and meditated for hours and hours. Villagers from Collinsville came to drop off food and water kept fresh in their spatial devices. They didn’t say anything. They’d been instructed not to. They simply left their offerings at the edge of the clearing, walking gently on quiet feet, before turning and heading away from the silent dragonkin.

Every now and then, Xavier pulled himself out of his meditation to eat. Sometimes, when his body demanded it, he would sleep. Though his body needed more sleep than it did than before his cores had shattered—then, he could go weeks, even months, without catching a single wink if he needed—it still didn’t require anywhere near as much as it did when he’d been an unenhanced human.

An hour or two a day was enough to keep him going.

Throughout this time, he struggled to hold onto the Celestial Energy given to him by his old party members. When he was awake, he could keep it cycling through his body. But he couldn’t cycle in his sleep. It didn’t flee his channels like it had when he’d first taken it in, but if he wasn’t actively cycling it, it still slowly dissipated. He calculated that he lost roughly ten percent of it per day.

As he woke on the tenth day of his secluded mediation, without having any luck cultivating whatsoever, he found the last of the Celestial Energy had left him as he’d slept. He sat up and released a sigh. It was dawn, and he smelled a bowl of hot oats waiting for him, with nuts and fruit cut up in it and drenched with a healthy helping of honey.

Beside that was a mug of steaming coffee.

Whoever had placed his breakfast there must have just left. Xavier ate the food slowly, sipping his coffee ponderously as he thought through his dilemma.

The progress he’d made expanding his channels had made him think he would keep making progress, day by day, until he got where he needed. A sudden ten-day progress draught was not something he’d anticipated. To his surprise, he didn’t feel frustrated. He didn’t even feel disheartened.

All he felt was a calm determination.

Every day since he’d first come to this clearing, he’d been systematically working on his inner calm. Working on controlling his emotions.

And it would be wrong to say he hadn’t made any progress at all in the past ten days, as ever since that first night, it wasn’t just his inner calm that he’d been working on. He hadn’t abandoned his project of recreating the rooms in his mind. Though the vast majority of his attention had been put toward taking in Celestial Energy and pushing it through his channels, he’d also been pushing his mind.

First, he’d done this when taking breaks from pushing energy through his channels. Then, he’d come to the point where even though expanding his channels was excruciatingly painful, it wasn’t the only thing he needed to focus on. He could hold two things going at once.

He practised that until he’d finally managed to split his mind for the first time since his cores had shattered. The first time he’d done that, it had hurt, and it had required every ounce of his energy to keep both parts of his mind calm and focused. This thus proved to him that it wasn’t only his spells that had been affected, but his skills too.

Unlike with his spells, however, he’d now found a way to regain those lost skills.

And it was as though using that skill had unlocked something within him. The power of his mind strengthened at a pace that didn’t seem natural. Juggling the two parts swiftly became easier and easier. His thoughts, too, came more easily and rapidly, making him remember that the Split Mind skill didn’t only allow him to split his mind—having the skill, like most other skills, offered him a boost to his attributes.

Split Mind affected two attributes—Intelligence and Willpower. It was supposed to boost each of them by 50 percent with how powerful the skill had become, but as it progressed each day Xavier realised it hadn’t been boosting them at all until he’d “reactivated” it.

This led him down the path of realising his attributes, while still strong, were nowhere near where they’d been before this had happened. If Split Mind hadn’t been boosting him at all, then he had to imagine that was the same for all his other skills.

Xavier had worked on reclaiming Split Mind while working on pushing Celestial Energy around his channels, then after the others left and he focused on cultivating, that work continued.

He didn’t do it throughout the entire time he cultivated—or, rather, attempted to cultivate. Instead, he worked on it while he ate.

And while he trained.

After he’d been at it for several weeks, with his Intelligence and Willpower being further boosted with each breakthrough he made with the skill, he found that even though the skill wasn’t where it used to be, he could once again split his mind into a hundred parts.

Rather than pushing it further down that path, Xavier tended to only have his mind split into three parts—sometimes four—when he wasn’t cultivating. One part worked on rebuilding those rooms inside himself, while another continued to cycle whatever Celestial Energy remained within his body.

Back when Xavier and his party members had been in the clearing for only a week and he’d discovered his skills hadn’t been boosting his attributes, he’d commenced training his body.

The training he was undergoing was primarily in physical combat.

When the others had been there, he’d trained for two hours in the evening and two hours in the morning. After finally testing Bones, his soul bound weapon, he’d been delighted to find he could still shift the weapon into anything he needed.

The first thing Xavier had done was turn Bones into a scythe-staff and go through a pattern of strikes, parries, and blocks with the weapon.

Instantly, he’d found that everything felt… off, and not because of his lack of strength.

His muscle memory, for the most part, remained, but the movements felt stiff and robotic to him, lacking the smooth grace that he’d earned over thousands upon thousands of hours of training and fighting with the weapon.

But as with Split Mind, the more he moved, trained, practised, slowly going through each and every strike, examining them in minute detail, perfecting each part of the art of wielding a scythe-staff, he felt his body get stronger and faster.

Xavier was rebuilding the Scythe-Staff Mastery skill.

His cores, his cultivation, his body, his mind, his spells, his skills, his very soul…

Everything Xavier had possessed had been shattered when his arrogance had made him draw and initiate those three hundred spell patterns. When he’d kept pushing despite the warnings, despite the pressure and pain, despite the obvious danger, and sent a million soul apparitions at the B Grade Arakashinai Queen to kill her in what had appeared as a single, powerful strike.

But Xavier himself?

He was not shattered. He would not backdown. He would not be broken.

And he would never stop.

I will rebuild it all.