Tier 3+ - Accidental Champion (Book 2) - Chapter 9 - Change The Game

Two weeks had passed since Xavier, Howard, Siobhan and Justin had entered the fifth floor of the Tower of Champions.

Xavier, sitting upon the cold stone of the battlements, opened his mind to the world. To the universe. Sinking into a deep meditative state, he opened himself up to everything. Whenever he did this, the power of the millions of auras outside the walls—those limitless waves of the Endless Horde—threatened to overwhelm his mind.

But it was easy for him to look past them. Easy for him to block them out, or at least dull their existence.

Celestial Energy. It was in the air. Everywhere. It was a difficult thing to describe what it looked like in his mind’s eyes. Like describing what radiation or gravity waves looked like.

He only knew what they felt like.

Taking a deep breath, he drew on the strands of energy, tugging it toward him—toward his core. This task was close to natural for him now. It did not take a great amount of conscious effort for him to maintain. But maintaining it helped him in several ways.

At first, he’d been dubious. Though the three skills around his Spirit Core appeared important, all they really seemed to do was give him a few bonuses to his Spirit attribute and its recovery. All bonuses were welcome, but how useful was it in the grand scheme of his training?

Turns out—incredibly so.

The three skills were interconnected. Drawing in Celestial Energy boosted his Spirit Energy’s recovery, which was already absurdly high. Having more Spirit Energy enter his core meant he was able to cycle it through his core more effectively—as he found he couldn’t cycle the sameSpirit Energy through his core over and over. Each unit of Spirit Energy could only be cycled a single time.

Xavier was glad he had someone here to explain that to him. Were he training completely on his own, it likely would have taken him an embarrassing amount of time to realise it. Time that would have been wasted.

Then there was his Aura Control. Whenever he gained a new rank in his other two skills, he had to shift the burning of his Spirit Energy to balance it within his core. There was a constant synergy to maintain.

But that synergy wasn’t the only reason this was an important path. Each of the skills helped him increase his awareness of not only himself, but the world and universe around him. The skill descriptions said something vague about his knowledge of the Greater Universe only being a seed in damp earth, one that would soon grow roots and break through to the surface. Those descriptions had yet to change the more ranks he gained in each of the three skills, but he was sure they one day would—Kalren had confirmed as much, after all.

And as his awareness of self increased, along with his use of meditation, his journey toward E Grade shortened. The more aware he became, the easier it would be for him to discover what his secondary core would be. When he asked Kalren which attribute his second core would manifest as, the man’s forehead had bunched up in a frown. He’d stared off into the distance and thought for a long time, then simply shook his head.

“I have no clue.”

Kalren, unfortunately, did not know everything.

The secondary core which Denizens manifested, or discovered—the terminology in the books the other members of his party had shown him seemed to use the words interchangeably—tended to be based on what someone’s most powerful attribute was.

If their most powerful attribute was Spirit, then it went to their second most powerful attribute. The only problem with this advice was it was constantly contradicted. There were many cases cited where someone manifested a core for their weakest attribute—like a Mage gaining a Strength Core as their secondary core. This was theorised as a natural way the System helped balance certain classes. Though other Denizens theorised that it was more about sabotage than balance.

Xavier didn’t know what to believe, and he honestly didn’t care which was true. If everything went to plan, he would one day manifest every core there was to manifest. Considering he was a true Progenitor, he found that to be the most likely scenario.

He also considered it to be his goal: to become one of the strongest Denizens in the Greater Universe. To rise through the different Grades until he was strong enough to defend Earth from any threat.

And he felt confident that it was possible. That he could make it happen. Unless, of course, he ended up getting himself killed on this floor or another—or during the invasion of Earth.

Highly unlikely.

As he didn’t mind which of his cores he unlocked next, he wasn’t focusing on any one particular attribute. He simply searched within himself for the core, waiting for it to manifest itself. Of course if he hadto choose, he knew what that choice would be: Intelligence.

He could only imagine how much stronger it would make his spells if he were able to infuse Soultaker with Intelligence Energy. Not only that, he would likely gain more skills that would boost his Intelligence as well.

War drums sounded outside the walls. He’d lost track of what wave this was now, though he knew that Kalren and Queen Alastea had tallied each wave up on a sheaf of parchment. Though Xavier wasn’t able to find time to sleep, the queen and her loyal adviser did. They took shifts sitting at the wall, watching and taking note of his achievements.

Howard, Siobhan and Justin still sifted through the library. Queen Alastea had been kind enough to offer them any books they wished to keep. They were prioritising which ones they took, looking for basic manuals that would be able to help others back at the Tower of Champions on top of any they could use to help Xavier and themselves.

Xavier snapped his eyes open as the war horns began to sound along with the drums. He released a sigh and picked himself up off the stone. He could have snapped to his feet in a split second, but he didn’t feel the need. He summoned Soultaker from his Storage Ring, infusing it with Spirit Energy. It thrummed with power, just as he did.

The waves had long ago become monotonous. There wasn’t anything newabout them. The Endless Horde, consuming half of the sector, was surprisingly uniform.

Xavier delivered nothing but death to his enemies, and all he could think of was how bored he was doing this. He wanted to push through as many of these waves as he could. Wanted to use this opportunity to push himself as far forward as possible. To gain as many advantages as he could out of this floor, especially as it paused time back in his own universe—an opportunity he didn’t know he would ever have again.

And there was still that part of him that wondered if he could defeat the entirety of the Endless Horde.

But something about what he was doing felt… off. The Tower of Champions had become too easy for him.

No challenge. That’s what it is.

Half an hour, maybe forty minutes, passed before the entirety of the wave was dead around the castle. The waves of enemies wereincreasing in difficulty, but they were increasing too slow. And getting a nerfed amount of Mastery Points made him wonder how worth it each wave even was. Though the waves took longer for him to clear, he still hadn’t needed to use the health potions within his Storage Ring.

In his mind, he saw himself going through all nine-hundred and fifty-five floors after this one and he couldn’t believe how he felt about it. Xavier shouldhave felt excited. Maybe daunted, by how large the task ahead of him would be.

But it just felt… exhausting.

The System wants to control my every move. Wants to push me on a singular path, from one floor to the next. Though he was taking full advantage of that path, trying to squeeze out everything from it he could, he still didn’t feel in control.

He wanted more. And that feeling of wanting more seized his heart, clenching it. He remembered feeling this exact same way before the System had come—always moving through life wanting more. And hadn’t he gotten exactly what he wished for? Not only was he on another world, he was in another universe, fighting an endless wave of enemies. Humans, beasts, fantasy races of all kinds that were no longer mere fantasies but realities.

And here he was, still wanting more?

A challenge.

That’s what he was missing. That’swhy it was boring.

When he returned to the battlements and sat cross-legged on the stone, he pulled out the Sector Travel Key from his Storage Ring. A frown creased his forehead as he had an absurd thought.

Could this work here?

He glanced behind him. He couldn’t see through the wall to the castle, where inside the portal still remained open, awaiting Kalren eventually stepping through it. But holding that Sector Travel Key in his hand, and thinking about that portal, it made him wonder how long the System would allow him to stay in this universe.

The floor has already been cleared. I cleared the fifth wave on the first day. The only way this floor ends is if I die or return through the door to the Staging Room from the Safe Zone.

At least, so he thought.

He clutched the key, wondering if it would even work. He was sure Sam had said something about it not being able to work while in the tower. But did that rule apply here?

Besides, I don’t even need to use this. I could simply step through that portal in the castle. I could live free in this universe, for as long as I wished. For years. Decades. Hell, I could remain here for centuries if the System let me. And when I returned from my adventures, I could step into that Safe Zone and return home and only an hour would have passed in my universe.

Xavier shook his head and sighed. He deposited the Sector Travel Key back into his Storage Ring. No. Abandoning this floor wasn’t the answer. Abandoning his plan wasn’t the answer. Whether he’d made the choice to follow this path, or the System had steered him toward it, he didn’t know.

But he couldn’t simply run off while Earth was in peril. He couldn’t put pause on everything that was happening—even if he technically could, he’d never truly be able to relax while Earth was in danger.

Instead of falling back into a deep meditation, Xavier stood. He stepped back over to the parapet and looked over at those endless waves.

“What is it?” Kiralla asked. She looked up from the parchment with a yawn.

Xavier motioned at the enemy with a dismissive wave. “I hate how they just stand there.”

The queen raised an eyebrow. “You wish they would all attack at once?”

He crossed his arms, wondering how selfish he might sound. “It’s the stop and start nature of this floor… it’s starting to get to me.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “I’m wondering if there’s another way to deal with the enemy.” He looked over at her. “How far away do you think I am from reaching E Grade?”

Queen Alastea ran a hand through her hair. After the first week he’d been here, she’d taken off her golden crown. Now, her hair was no longer intricately braided atop her head. She let it hang down and frame her face. She didn’t sit quite as straight either. It wasn’t that she’d grown lazy, or even weary—which she had every right to be—it simply felt as though she’d grown more comfortable around him. “I’ve never heard of anyone reaching E Grade until they gained level 100, Xavier. You should be proud of yourself for being halfway there after such a short time.”

He lowered his head. That was exactly what Kalren had told him. And he supposed she was right. He should be proud of what he’d achieved. These last few weeks on this floor had brought his level all the way up to 50 now.

But still, it never felt like enough.

And the insights Xavier gained from his meditation were telling him a very different story about reaching E Grade. Not the full story. He just had a feeling—an inkling—that he could reach it much earlier than level 100.

The facts that Kalren had told him were that a Denizen needed to unlock both his Spirit Core and his secondary core—whatever core that ended up being—before they were able to reach E Grade. And that this tended to happen after the Denizen had attained level 100.

He also told Xavier that people usually didn’t unlock their Spirit Core until they were well over level 60, 70 and sometimes even level 80. And there were even some Denizens who didn’t achieve E Grade until they were level 120—even higher, if they got a particularly poor class.

Xavier had discovered his Spirit Core at level 10.

“Siobhan told me of some legends in your books,” Xavier said softly, “of great Denizens achieving E Grade before level 100.”

Queen Alastea looked at the enemy waves. “I’ve never found much comfort in legends. Legends are outliers, and it is the legends who get to write their own history for they are always the victors. The strongest. No one can see their level. No one knows when they achieved something. They could simply be lying to bolster their reputation.”

Xavier didn’t think she was right. If they were the strongest, why would they need to bolster their reputation? But instead of tellingher she was wrong, he would simply prove it was possible. Because the moment he achieved E Grade rank, he was going to turn things on this floor around. He wasn’t simply going to sit on this damned wall and wait for the next wave to come to him. He was going to change the game. Walk down a path the System hadn’t set out for him. Walk down a path that no other Denizen had ever walked before him.

He was going to take the fight to the enemy.

And he wasn’t going to wait until level 100 to make that happen.