Free Tier - Accidental Champion (Book 7) - Chapter 24 - Subspace

In the frozen pocket of time, experiencing the Universal Pressure of holding the spell pattern for Pocket Time Stream active, Xavier stared across at a serious-looking man in blue robes that had eyes that could pierce solid stone.

The spirit didn’t utter a single word as Xavier explained how the pressure was presently pushing down on him.

He did not stop there, either.

For the first time, he explained the events that happened inside the Arakashinai Queen’s chamber to someone who might actually have some insight.

Though the spirit remained silent through, his reaction to it all was not hidden. When the spirit had arrived, Xavier had the impression that this was a man who could not be ruffled. A man who could not be surprised. That notion had fled fairly quickly.

I am compelled to speak the truth to you, and I must say if not for the contract that we signed, coupled with the damage I read on so many parts of you, I would be standing here and calling you a liar. I have seen much in my time. You, child, cannot fathom how long I have been around. The stars in your sky weren’t birthed for billions of years long after I was already dead. From my vantage in the Otherworld, I have seen a thousand thousand different versions of myself. The spirit paused. And though I am not compelled to say this, I must admit that I have seen perhaps just as many versions of you, Xavier Collins. Yes, I know who you are. Not all spirits from the Otherworld do, but I know you. Hell, in my universe, we—

The blue-robed spirit—a man Xavier had been thinking of as a monk, but now wasn’t quite so sure—cut himself off with a frown.

No. He shook his head. That is too much information. Best not say that. Best not. He paused again. Nodded to himself. I have seen much, Xavier Collins. I have seen others attempt similar things to what you are doing. You are not the first Denizen, nor even the first Xavier, to have learnt the art of drawing spell patterns. Nor even the first to have etched one into your mind. Yes, I know about that. I can read it in that head of yours.

Xavier couldn’t stop himself from widening his eyes at that little bit of information. Did that mean the spirit could read his mind? He was about to ask this question when the monk raised a hand.

I do not know your thoughts, nor your memories. But there are certain marks in your spirit that point toward what you have done. Now, what was I saying?

You’re very old and you’ve seen it all.

Hah, yes, I am old. Older than dirt. Older than dirt’s great-great-great-grandfather. But I have not seen it all. In fact, that is the very point I am so swiftly and succinctly coming to.

Succinctly, Xavier interjected with a raised eyebrow.

When you have as much time at your disposal as me then yes, this is considered succinct. Now please, try not to interrupt. His face became serious once more. Twenty thousand years I studied The Weight of Reality that Pushed on the Soul and the Mind and the Body and never did I encounter it so strongly as I see it in you right now—not even after my death have I ever encountered such thing. And yet here you stand, telling me this is a mere fraction of what you have experienced in the past. You stand here, alive, telling me such things that my brain cannot fathom to be truths and yet plainly are.

The spirit took a visible breath. Not that he was even speaking through his mouth, nor needed to breathe.

The Weight of Reality that Pushed on the Soul and the Mind and the Body has killed stronger Denizens than you. The blue-robed spirit paused. It has killed you, Xavier. A shattering of the mind and soul and core, a rending of the energy channels, these are not things one recovers from. A drop of the pressure you are currently enduring should have put you in a coma with you active cores shattered and you mind broken with no way to claw yourself back to strength, let alone awaken without the powers of a great healer. Three drops would have you dead. And yet you have the gall to freeze yourself in time with this.

Xavier frowned and had to remind himself that just because this spirit knew only these things, that didn’t mean other spirits wouldn’t know more. It only meant he would need to be more powerful to summon them.

The blue-robed spirit seemed to read his mind.

I see where your thoughts are going. You will not find a spirit from the Otherworld more knowledgeable than me on this, Xavier.

Xavier gritted his teeth. Are you saying you can’t help me?

The spirit considered this. I am inclined to believe you have more experience with The Weight of— The spirit sighed. With Universal Pressure—that does roll off the tongue more easily—than I. Yet I sense how young you still are. Another oddity, I must add, without delving deeper. Given what you have called this phenomena, you understand where the energy for your spell patterns comes from.

The universe itself.

Indeed. Though that answer is a very limited one. A version of you once told me of the knowledge of your world before the integration. That knowledge may very well be different in your universe, though I suspect it is not. If this remains true for your universe, there is a law on your world that states that energy can neither be created nor destroyed, only converted. I do not know where you stand with your understanding of the universe now. Perhaps, with all that you have seen, and all the new information you have been exposed to, you believe this law no longer holds to be true.

Xavier tilted his head to one side. I’ll admit that I haven’t given it a great deal of thought, though the question has crossed my mind.

There is no need for you to think of an answer. The answer is that it remains true. Energy cannot be created, nor destroyed. Even the energy of a soul, when it is destroyed, goes somewhere. You of all people should know that.

Xavier didn’t reply.

While energy cannot be created nor destroyed, it can be brought into and out of a universe. Though this, as you might imagine, can have unforeseen consequences and is not something to be done lightly. The System does this with the Tower of Champion’s floors. It maintains a strict balance.

Okay. I hear what you are saying, but I’m not sure what you’re trying to tell me.

Runes, and spell patterns—the ones not etched in your mind, either by yourself or the system—draw upon the energy of the universe. And that energy has to come from somewhere. The energy is not pulled from the ambient Celestial Energy in the area. So, where does it come from?

Xavier blinked. The void? He’d encountered a Void Being before. If more energy pulled through runes from the universe caused the walls of reality to fracture… Well, it was the only answer that made sense to him.

The blue-robed spirit’s eyes became so wide it would have been comical if not for how serious the man managed to still look.

The void! My good friend, if that were so, then no matter what kind of insane wonder you appear to be you would most certainly be dead. The spirit shook his head wildly. The void! Gods, no, child. Gods no. You’d be best to heed my warning and never give another thought to the void. Knowing you, however, simply telling you that has likely already sparked your interest.

Xavier thoughts turned to the void. He withheld a smirk. The spirit certainly had a point about him.

The energy is taken from subspace, the spirit continued.  Subspace is something that would take me a very, very long time to explain. Technically, it’s not even the right term for it, but the term I would use would only require further explanation. An incredibly rudimentary explanation of subspace would be to say that it is much like the energy channels that run through a Denizen’s body.

The universe has energy channels?

Of course! Where do you think all that ambient Celestial Energy comes from? It doesn’t just burst back into existence all by itself. Celestial Energy radiates from the very centre of the universe—okay, not the centre. The universe doesn’t technically have a centre. But it does have a start… The spirit shook his head. Not important. It radiates out from where the universe began, constantly pushing and pushing until eventually… He trailed off. No. I shouldn’t talk about that. Definitely not. Probably already said too much…

Xavier allowed himself an audible sigh. If some version of him had been friends with the blue-robed spirit when he’d been alive, he figured he could relax on his attempt at diplomacy.

You were talking about subspace.

Right. Right. Subspace. The universe’s energy channels. Except not all energy channels are created equally. The way these ones work is quite different to how they work for you or how they worked for me when I was alive. The universe itself has far more power than any one Denizen could ever wield, and yet it offers that power to Denizens through certain mechanisms.

Runes, Xavier supplied.

Yes, Runes. But not only with runes.

Xavier tilted his head to the side. Cultivation.

Indeed! And what happens when a Denizen takes in more energy than they can handle?

It can injure them.

The spirit nodded. When a Denizen uses runes and by extension spell patterns, the power of these relies not only on the universe’s energy, but on the strength of the Denizen to channel and control that energy. This is far less obvious and more external than when a spell originates from a Denizen.

Xavier frowned. He had assumed several of these things as he’d gotten more familiar with spell patterns and confirmed some of them too. But it was nice to have someone explain them to him.

That’s why when I use a spell pattern, its power is limited to my attributes, and its rank my grade.

Yes! That’s correct. You have surmised much of this already. That is good. Well, let me ask you a question. The spell pattern you are holding active as we speak, is that something your energy channels could handle right now?

Xavier looked inward. He thought the answer to that question would be Yes, his energy channels were robust, powerful. Especially since he had Reality Energy to strengthen them.

But then… It wasn’t quite that simple. The reason Xavier had to use a spell pattern and wasn’t able to cast the spell—even though he now possessed the spell—was because he didn’t have access to his last two cores, and by extension the energy he needed from them for the spell to function.

Well, technically, he didn’t have access to any of his original cores. He had artificial cores in place of his Spirit, Willpower, Speed, and Intelligence Cores—but that wasn’t important when it came to this.

His energy channels were used to handling those energies. He’d cultivated all four of those energies and cycled them through his body countless times.

But when it came to Strength and Toughness Energy, he had never felt those move through his channels. He suspected those energies did move through his channels, but at very minute amounts. A tiny, infinitesimal amount of Celestial Energy would even now be entering those two cores, ever so slowly being transformed into the respective energies the cores held and pooling over time.

Assuming those two cores hadn’t been shattered like the others, that is, and that was something he believed even if he hadn’t been able to confirm it.

Xavier had dropped his head in thought and raised it to look at the blue-robed spirit. I suspect my energy channels wouldn’t be able to handle that much Toughness and Strength energy. Not as they are now, at least.

The spirit clapped his hands together. No sound was produced from the movement, as the man was incorporeal, but Xaiver heard the clap echo in his mind.

Indeed! And that is what produces the pressure you are experiencing!

Xavier ran a hand through his hair. No.

The spirit blinked. No? What do you mean, no?

I mean, that doesn’t make sense. I have taught several others how to use spell patterns. At the time, one of them was an E Grade tank who lacked access to their Speed Core, and yet they were able to use the spell pattern for Time Alteration. Time Alteration requires Speed Energy.

Ah. I see now why you never came to this conclusion in your own studies. Tell me, how many different energies do the spell patterns you’ve created tend to utilise?

Xavier thought on that. One. Perhaps two—sometimes a spell pattern will require Spirit Energy and another type along with it.

Spirit Energy was the default energy spells learnt at F Grade used. It was possible to gain access to different energy types without unlocking a core, but that was very, very rare, and the amount of energy one would gain would be very small compared to when that core was unlocked.

Denizens always gained access to Spirit Energy before they uncovered their core, but he distinctly recalled Howard gaining access to Toughness Energy early on when he was F Grade. Later, when he’d had a moment to think on that, it had confused him until he’d found out that was quite standard for many classes. Xavier hadn’t experienced that because he’d chosen the Soul Reaper class, which required Spirit Energy.

What happened when a Denizen chose to become a Tank class was that they unlocked Toughness Energy right away, but then that meant they would always uncover their Toughness Core before they advanced to E Grade. It became inevitable—a self-fulfilling prophecy. This was the same for other classes or spells that unlocked a specific type of energy.

Xavier had never encountered a situation where a Denizen could have access to more energy types than their grade would normally allow.

Exactly, the spirit replied. Your friend whom you taught how to use spell patterns—at E Grade, which is no small feat, I might add. Unheard of, at least by me… Until now. The spirit shook his head. Your friend may not have had Speed Energy, or energy channels that were hardened in the use of that energy, but his channels could handle the strain of using it because it was one unusual energy type. Tell me, have you compared his experience to your own, or another Denizen’s, when using spell patterns that require energies they are as yet unfamiliar with?

Xavier’s forehead creased, deepening his frown. No. I didn’t think to do that. But I did notice each of my students struggled to control different patterns in different ways. I thought that came down to personal aptitude and practice. But this… explains a lot. His eyes widened. Does this mean they have been experiencing Universal Pressure? Is this slowly damaging them?

No. I shall set you mind at ease. They won’t experience Universal Pressure, and they will still be able to get a great deal of power from these spell patterns—depending on their attributes—but it will strain their concentration more than it would yours.

The energy never enters my energy channels, so why is the strength of them relevant? I thought it was only the strength of my attributes…

It is not merely the strength of your attributes that helps you control a spell pattern, is it?

Well, no. That requires something else. Concentration. Will…

Xavier had spent a lot of time learning to better his control over spell patterns, especially when he was trying to use the Willpower Infusion spell pattern on the Arak drones. His attributes had no bearing on how easily they were to control, only how much he would eventually be able to control them.

Attributes are important, but they are not everything. Other things must be taken into consideration. Energy channels are one of them. Yours must be quite robust to handle keeping this spell active at all, considering it uses every energy type. The spirit shook his head yet again. Has anyone told you you’re a little bit insane?

Xavier smiled. I may have heard that once or twice.

Now, recall what you did in the Arakashinai Queen’s chambers.