Tier 3+ - Accidental Champion (Book 2) - Chapter 59 - Anointed Robes

Xavier stood in the Staging Room, a hand on the glowing crystal atop the pedestal that was the System Shop’s terminal. Charon’s Scythe appeared in his hand in an instant.

“Whoa.”

The change was miraculous. The second the scythe staff was within his hand, two of his attribute’s reached new thresholds of power. His willpower and his spirit. They were already his two most powerful attributes, powering his two most powerful spells… To have them reach a new height of power just from his selection of weapon? That felt kind of insane to him.

He let out a breath, and savoured the moment. God, it always felt so thrilling whenever his power grew. He knew that weapons and equipment were how many Denizens improved their strength. It was how the Denizens from long-integrated worlds were able to keep their leads in the Tower of Champions. Wealth. Money. And power. It was how the old ones remained in charge.

If this weapon, which wasn’t even the most expensive he could afford, offered him this much power… How much power would he be able to buy with the rest of his money?

He put those thoughts out of his mind, and examined the new weapon he’d just received.

The weapon wasn’t what he’d expected. The haft’s wood was different to the smoothness of Soultaker’s. It wasn’t perfectly straight like Soultaker’s had been. There was an unevenness to it, like the haft had been made from a fallen branch rather than wood honed for the purpose.

Like it was more… natural.

Except it was anything but natural. It weighed more than Soultaker had. A lot more. The weight was the first thing he’d felt when he’d summoned it. It certainly didn’t weigh too much for him. It required two thousand Strength while he had over two and a half thousand.

The heft to it was comforting. He remembered a time when Soultaker had felt heavy, now it was like picking up a feather.

Hitting someone with any part of this is liable to send them flying…

The blade was unique, too. It wasn’t the solid black of Soultaker. It was silver, the same silver that his eyes glowed. Though he was sure the actual metal wasn’t silver.

The blade was also longer. While Soultaker’s blade had been as long as his forearm, this was as long as his arm. It almost looked absurd. There was another difference with the blade, too. Whereas Soultaker’s blade looked like a more traditional scythe, with the blade almost at a ninety-degree angle to the haft, this was more reminiscent of a polearm. The blade was slightly curved, but it followed the line of the haft, making it look more like a war scythe than an agricultural scythe.

Xavier could instantly see the advantage to this.

He stepped into an open area of the Staging Room and held the weapon before him, admiring it for a moment. Then, he tested its swing. Tested its thrust. Its heft.

It took a moment for the weapon to feel right. He’d been wielding Soultaker for so long that picking up anything different was always going to be a transition.

But once he got used to the feel of the weapon, he knew it was far superior to anything he’d held before. The haft wasn’t as long as Soultaker’s had been—it was only about seven feet, where the last one had been nine feet—but the blade itself made up for that length.

He moved like the wind. His Speed, his Strength, made him whirl around the Staging Room like a dervish. He performed strikes, flips, swings, and sweeps that would bring a pre-integration martial artist to tears.

When he finished, he found that the others were staring at him.

Justin’s mouth was agape. “You… you move so fast!” He shook his head in disbelief. “I couldn’t even make out your attacks. It’s like you have superspeed!”

Xavier smirked. “What, seeing me practice doesn’t make you want to spar me?”

Justin put his hands up defensively. “No. No no no. Definitely not. Sparring you would be suicide.”

“Suicide? You think I would kill you?”

“Well, no… But it would certainly kill my confidence.”

Xavier chuckled. He couldn’t help himself. “Don’t worry about that. After I buy some more equipment, and the three of you get outfitted, we’re going to be doing a bit of power-levelling.” He rubbed his hands together evilly. “It’s about time the three of you got strong.”

Howard raised an eyebrow, but a hint of a smirk played on his lips. Siobhan raised her chin and smiled. Justin put a hand on the hilt his sword and grinned.

“Finally!” Siobhan said. “Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that I don’t like being cooped up in the library and reading books for days on end, in fact it’s one of my favourite things to do… But when it’s the onlything, it does grow a bit tiresome.”

“Tiresome. That’s definitely putting it mildly.” Justin drew his sword. He did a few practice thrusts at the air. “It’s been far too long since I fought something!”

Howard crossed his arms at his chest. “I’m inclined to agree. Though I do wonder… how long do you plan on remaining here? You should be able to clear the last few floors rather quickly, without losing out on any titles. What’s your priority? Returning to Earth is certainly mine.”

Xavier tossed Charon’s Scythe to his left as he stepped forward. He placed a hand on Howard’s shoulder, gave it a gentle squeeze. “I know you want to get back to your children. To your wife.” He looked to the others. “We each have loved ones to return to. People we want to protect. But we don’t know how long we’ll have back there. I, for one, want to be prepared.”

Siobhan nodded. “I’m nowhere near as strong as I thought I would be when it came time to return.”

Justin sheathed his sword. “I still have a long way to go too.”

Howard grunted. “How much do you think you can do for us in two days?”

Xavier stepped back, looked at his new weapon. “Two days? I think we can do quite a lot.”

~

Xavier didn’t spend a great deal of time selecting his equipment. Perhaps he should have, but he felt as though there were more important things to do.

He provided each of the others with 500,000 Minor Spirit Coins. A substantial sum, especially when converted into Lesser Spirit Coins.

Justin bought a new sword and some new armour. Now, he wore ringmail, what looked to be leather gloves—but from what beast that leather came from, Xavier didn’t know—and a long, slim sword. The sword reminded Xavier of the Lord of the Endless Horde’s sword, except the scabbard was nowhere near as fancy.

Howard went a different route. His armour was full plate. And he had discarded his sword for a double-bearded axe. The blades on the thing were huge, and Xavier knew a normal human wouldn’t be able to wield such a thing. Too much metal. Too much weight. He also had a helm, gauntlets and grieves.

He looked like the picture of a traditional knight.

His new tower shield was absurdly large—as tall as himself. He could place it in front of him and not a single part of him was exposed to a frontal attack.

Siobhan acquired new robes. Purple ones that were cinched in at the waist and went well with her red hair. Her new staff looked much the same as her old one, except for the crystal at its top. Like her robes, it was purple. And also massive. It looked like it could brain a goblin quite effectively, though he knew the Divine Beacon would never use it for such things.

Xavier had outfitted himself with a new set of robes.

The robes looked remarkably similar to his old ones, but the attributes they endowed him with were far superior. And, just like with Charon’s Scythe, they came with an imbued ability. One he knew would come in handy.

Anointed Robes of Umbral

These robes require 1,000 Intelligence, 1,000 Spirit, and 1,000 Willpower to wear.

+200 Intelligence

+200 Spirit

+200 Willpower

+60% Spirit Energy recovery

+60% magical damage resistance

Imbued ability: When these robes are worn, they bestow upon the wearer the ability to Otherworld Phase. Otherworld Phaseallows the user to phase into the Otherworld for a period of two seconds, effectively making them incorporeal.

Time Restriction: This ability can only be used once every 10 minutes.

These robes have a self-repair feature fuelled by Spirit Energy.

The Anointed Robes of Umbral had cost him 2,000,000 Minor Spirit Coins, and they’d been worth every one of them for the attribute boost alone. The robes shot his Willpower and Spirit attributes through yet another threshold. God, they made him feel powerful. His percentage modifiers… they were absolutely insane, offering him more power than he’d ever imagined.

And I’m still merely a child in the Greater Universe.

The imbued ability intrigued him. Otherworld Phase. Xavier didn’t know when such a defence would be needed—certainly not in the next five floors of the Tower of Champions—but he didn’t want to grow so overconfident that he neglected his defensive capabilities. Having the ability to shift out of phase into the Otherworld when being attacked could likely save his life in the future.

It intrigued him that both his new scythe-staff and his new set of robes had skills related to the Otherworld. He knew that knowledge of this place was rare among Denizens. Yet both of his main pieces of equipment referenced it?

Perhaps it was because the System Shop contained items from all over the Greater Universe, and he’d filtered his search preferences to weapons and equipment that were suitable to him.

Xavier looked at the last piece of equipment he’d bought.

Dark Steel Bracer

This bracer requires 1,000 Toughness to wear.

+100 Toughness

+20% health recovery

+20% physical damage resistance

Imbued ability: When this bracer is worn, its bestows upon the wearer the ability to Buffer. Buffer allows the user to push all enemies in close proximity twenty feet away from them for ten seconds.

Time Restriction: This ability can only be used once every 24 hours.

These robes have a self-repair feature fuelled by Spirit Energy.

He hadn’t bought the Dark Steel Bracer for the stats. Though, he would never say no to more stats—especially since Toughness was his weakest one. He had bought it for its imbued abilities. The ability was nowhere near as powerful as the abilities his new scythe-staff and robes gave him, but he was sure it would come in handy.

Buffer, at first glance, didn’t seem all that helpful to him. He had his Heavy Telekinesis. Couldn’t that push his enemies away?

In theory…

But he had to take into account the situations he might find himself in when back on Earth. Though his accuracy with Heavy Telekinesis had improved dramatically, he would not be able to distinguish between friend or foe with a violent push to create space for himself. If he were protecting an ally, the Buffer ability would only target his enemies.

Besides, if he were to be honest, there simply weren’t a great many imbued abilities for him to choose from with this kind of equipment. Maybe it was the price ranges he was looking in, but all of the other imbued abilities seemed inadequate, giving temporary boosts to his Toughness, or creating limited floating shields, or Bulwark-type barriers.

None of those options seemed suitable to him. The defences simply wouldn’t be enough. If anything were to put him in real danger, the flimsy imbued abilities that he had seen would do nothing against a threat that could get past his relatively high level of Toughness. That wasn’t his arrogance speaking—as far as he knew—it was simply practicality.

Happy with his equipment choices for the moment, Xavier walked up to the door. The door that would take him to the next floor.

Finally, it was time to keep moving forward.

He wondered what the sixth floor of the Tower of Champions would have in store for them.