Tier 3+ - Accidental Champion - Chapter 68 - The Weight Of The World

For the next day before the Tower of Champions opened its floors to them once more, all Xavier did was Meditate, create Lesser Spirit Coins, and focus on unlocking Aura-Control.

He figured it would be too much to focus on all three Skill Quests at once, and was aiming to unlock one at a time while he grew his understanding of his Spirit Core, auras, and Spirit Energy in general.

In the hours that he practised all of this, he managed to up his Meditation skill all the way to Rank 10. He also created enough Lesser Spirit Coins to bring his total to over ninety-four thousand.

He’d been aiming for one hundred thousand, but as his focus was split, he took that as a win.

Xavier sat in the Staging Room, the others training around him, and keeping an eye on him whenever he tried to control his aura. A part of him wondered why he hadn’t been meditating here the whole time. He could have blamed it on the fact that the others would be a distraction, lessening his ability to concentrate and develop insights through meditation.

But when he was deep in meditation? It felt like he was the only one in the room.

I hid in my room because I like quiet and privacy and being on my own, he told himself.

But, as the hours passed, he couldn’t help but find some comfort in the fact that others were in the room with him. He was glad they were working on their own things and not trying to talk to him the entire time, but their general presence was somehow… soothing.

He shook those thoughts away whenever they sprang up, as they weren’t helping him reach his current goals, and pushed forward in what he needed to do.

Six more times, Xavier had tried to contain his aura within his Spirit Core and accidentally burned through his Spirit Energy. The feeling of weakness didn’t lessen. If anything, it felt worse.

The first time it had happened, Howard, Siobhan and Justin had huddled around him. Siobhan tilting his head up, getting him to eat something right away. The other members of his party remained wary after that, constantly glancing at him, making sure he hadn’t suddenly collapsed onto the floor.

But on the fourth try, even though he’d accidentally sped up his Spirit Core’s burning of his Spirit Energy, he’d actually managed to stopit.

The others had been looking at him. Staring at him with worry. And though they couldn’t yet see his aura, it was clear that they could, to some degree, feel it. His aura wasn’t as strong as Samericalian’s aura, but when he flared it the effects on the others were clearly visible.

Later, they told him that their heads would ache when his aura flared. Not migraine-level headaches, but the stinging, throbbing kind that shook your focus.

It made him wonder what would happen to someone with less Willpower—he imagined Willpower was the mental and magical defence one needed to successfully withstand another’s aura, though Spirit could have something to do with it to—like one of the level 4s that had been in the tavern on the day they’d returned after clearing the third floor.

Would my aura, when flaring, be strong enough to give them a migraine? Make their noses bleed?

Once he’d learnt how to spot the uncontrolled burning of his Spirit Energy, he felt as though he was on the right track. So far, he could speed up the burning, or bring it back to “normal” levels, but he couldn’t yet slow it down and bring it into a perfect balance—a balance that would not make his Spirit Core smoke and produce aura.

After the sixth time of causing his Spirit Core to burn through his Spirit Energy faster accidentally, he learned how to do it on purpose. It made him wonder what kind of utility that might have, being able to flare his aura.

The power that swept from Sam back in the tavern when he released his aura… even if it wasn’t strong enough to hurt me, I felt a pressure wanting to push me down. I felt an ounce of the man’s power.

He could certainly see how one could use their aura to intimidate others.

Would someone at, say, D Grade be able to kill someone at F Grade with their aura alone?

Unfortunately, though he felt he was gaining some control, flaring his aura wasn’t a necessary requirement of gaining Aura-Control’s Skill Quest.

When only an hour remained before the Tower of Champions let them move to the next floor, Xavier was starting to grow impatient. Or, well, moreimpatient. He was beginning to doubt himself. Though he’d managed to stop his core from burning through, he didn’t feel any closer to his actual goal.

Skill Quest: Aura-Control

To unlock Aura-Control, successfully contain the power of your aura with your will 10 times.

Progress: 0/10

Still zero progress.

Xavier sighed, stood and stretched. He wanted to take out Soultaker and kill something. No. Not just kill something. He wanted to reap. He wanted to finally harvest his first soul.

Maybe I should just look through the System Shop. Find some armour. Get ready for the next level.

He paced back and forth up the Staging Room. The others glanced over at them. Siobhan was practising her Summon spell, bringing Howard and Justin toward her. She was getting so good she was able to transport them to different places.

At one point, after the second floor, Xavier had asked her why she hadn’t used the Summon spell on him to get him out of the hole. She’d said she’d worried it would impact his ability to get a solo title for the floor.

They’d all been trying so hard not to strike out at the rat beasts from that floor. All been holding back so well.

Turned out she’d been right—just like healing another Denizen while in combat got her shared experience even if she didn’t attack the enemy, so did Summoning an ally in combat to her. The System saw that as cooperation and rewarded the supportive spell in kind.

Fortunately Bulwark, Howard’s defensive shield spell, didn’t have the same effect. Perhaps because it didn’t actively effect someone else, it simply protected what was inside its domain. If it improved the Toughness of those inside it, that would be a different story.

Xavier, in the moment, down in that cave… he wasn’t sure if he would have thought of that. If he would have realised the implications. Had he been in Siobhan’s shoes, he likely would have just used the Summon spell.

I need to think outside the box on this. I’m still trying to brute force my aura to be contained. Doing the first thing that comes to mind. That’s probably why I keep burning through my core—I’m applying pressure to it, like pushing down on the accelerator in a car.

So far, he’d learned how to ease off, but he didn’t know how to slow down. To put on the breaks.

The Spirit Core needs balance. Which means I need balance. I’m putting pressure on myself. Pressure to clear these floors faster and faster. To gain more and more power. To soar through the ranks until I’m strong enough to save Earth all by myself.

Should I take that pressure off?

Almost by reflex, Xavier fell into meditation, still pacing back and forth across the Staging Room.

I can’t take the pressure off. I can’t slow down. If I do, I might lose. The world might lose. There’s too much at stake and the pressure helps.

But did the amount of pressure he was putting on himself help? Or was it just making him… burn through his energy faster than he needed to? What if there was a better balance to be find here, with these floors?

He was already ahead of the game. Already had a strong lead. He’d ranked second on the top 100 ladder for the third floor. Not second in his cohort. Not second in this instance of the Tower of Champions that contained millions of Champions from five different worlds, all of which had been from established worlds except for theirs.

Second in the entire Greater Universe, where untold trillions of Champions would have gone through the exact levels he had.

And yet Xavier Collins had ranked second.

Perhaps he didn’t realise what position he was truly in.

We moved through the second floor too quickly, and for that, I didn’t get a spot in the top 100.

At first, he’d simply thought getting into the top 100 on the first floor had been luck. And, in a way, of course it was—luck in the titles he’d accrued, luck in not dying when he’d taken on too many Black Pumas at once.

But he’d come a long way from relying on luck.

We trained and farmed levels, spell and skill ranks on the third floor. I found out how to slay the enemy. I upped all my stats passed the 100-point threshold. I knew exactly what I needed to do when it came to clearing the floor in the end, and that… that got me to rank second in all the Greater Universe.

I can’t just think I’ll only get the solo and first-clear titles. The top 100 is +10 stats all around, and that could very well go up as I move through the floors. 60 extra stat points per floor… no, I can’t let that slip out of my fingers.

Yes, he needed to get back to Earth. But getting the top 100 spot for each of the next seven floors… it seemed like it could be more than just possible, but probable as long as he played his cards right.

And that would make a difference of 420 stat points.

He would be an absolute monster. And Earth? Earth would be defended, even if it took him an extra few days or weeks to return.

The odds of me getting in the top 100 for the Tower of Champions floors are millions and millions less than the odds Sam gave for Earth surviving. If I can do that, saving Earth should be easy.

Somehow, this realisation—this slight change of course—relaxed his shoulders. A tension that he’d been carrying since he’d gotten to the tower, since he’d realised the weight of the world rested on hisshoulders, eased.

It didn’t disappear. He still felt pressure to succeed. To save Earth. But now, he knew that if he could do what he needed to in the tower, there’s no way he couldn’t do what he needed to back on Earth.

One skill, one spell, one level, one rank, one floor at a time. Just focus on that, and I’ll get through all this.

Xavier took a long, calming breath. Still pacing back and forth, still deep in meditation, he examined his Spirit Core. In his mind’s eye, he saw it as a ball of burning blue fire. Though really, he didn’t know what it looked like—all he could do was feel it.

Take the pressure off.

He didn’t push at the core, like he had before when he’d set it to burning through his Spirit Energy. Instead, he… massaged it? He supposed that was the best word he could come up with. Despite the fact that he was a writer, he had difficultly putting the sensation into words.

Like a knot of tension in your shoulders suddenly releases. Or, after a long day of carrying a half-dozen heavy book in your backpack, you take the backpack off and go for a stroll.

No. He couldn’t describe the feeling.

All he knew was that it worked.

His Spirit Core still burned, but the flames flickered instead of flared. His core’s engine was a low, consistent hum instead of a revving growl.

Wisps of his aura still floated in the air—smoke from before he contained it. He could see the remnants drifting. The energy slowly dissipating into nothing.

Though he imagined the energy had to go somewhere.

In three seconds, any remnants of his aura disappeared, no longer visible to him. He glanced over at the others, wondered if, subconsciously, they’d been able to feel the shift in pressure.

He smiled, opening up the skill quest.

Skill Quest: Aura-Control

To unlock Aura-Control, successfully contain the power of your aura with your will 10 times.

Progress: 1/10

Once he’d figured it out, repeating the process was the easiest thing he’d ever done.