Tier 3+ - Accidental Champion (Book 7) - Chapter 14 - Just Plain Absurd

“Another System!?” Justin had been sipping tea and did a spit take. He wiped his mouth after his outburst. “Wait… So… You’re telling me you advanced in another System? What… What does that even mean?”

Siobhan, wide-eyed, shook her head. “That’s insane, Xavier. Like, a totally new level of insane for you.” Her voice sounded calm, but Xavier sensed the amount of control she was forcing on it.

“How the hell do you keep doing crap like this?” Justin asked. “You have a Reality Core, a core no one else in this universe possesses? That’s not just insane, that’s… That’s… Crazy!”

“It’s mad,” Siobhan added.

“Totally nutty,” Justin said.

“Absolutely deranged!”

“Just plain absurd!”

“And what does it even do?” Siobhan asked. “The Reality Core. Can you use its energy to repair your other cores?”

Justin leant forward. “How much did this improve your stats? You said you’re stronger now. How much? Ten percent? Fifty? A hundred!?”

“And what does Tier 2 mean? If you’re Tier 2 now, when exactly where you Tier 1?”

“If you can do this, can someone else?”

“Can you cast spells again?”

“Can you use the energy to enhance your strength, like Body Cultivation?”

Xavier raised his hands. “Guys, guys! I know about as much as I’ve told you! This all literally just happened.”

Justin stood. “Then what the hell are you doing slacking off here?” He pointed toward the door. “Get back out there and train, man!”

Siobhan nodded enthusiastically. “Yes. Train. Test. Experiment!”

Xavier kept the laugh that threatened to burst forth at bay and stopped himself from smiling. Instead, he pointed a blank, serious expression at the two of them and raised an eyebrow as his chin rose.

His reaction made the two compose themselves. Justin cleared his throat and sat back down. Siobhan idly sipped her coffee and pretended to be looking out at the other patrons.

“I’ve been training with barely a break for…” Xavier thought for a moment, though only a fraction of a second passed. “Two and half years, since I entered that clearing. The last year and seven months of that I didn’t break to sleep, eat, or even sit down.” He tilted his head to the side. “And my body doesn’t need to…” He waved a hand. “You know, do its business, anymore. Like, at all.” He brought his mug of coffee to his lips, drank the last of it, and motioned to the young waitress for another. “I think I’ve earned a little time to digest all this.”

Justin dipped his head. “Right. Sorry. Just got a bit excited, is all.”

Siobhan pursed her lips. “Yeah. Me too. Sorry.”

Xavier shrugged, then smiled. “I’m excited, too. I really am. I still don’t know what this means. I’m itching to get back to it and experiment. I just didn’t want to burn out. Even deranged, nutty people like me need a break from time to time.”

“Hey, we weren’t saying you were insane,” Siobhan said. “Just, you know, the things you do.”

“Speak for yourself.” Justin grinned. “I think he’s insane.”

Xaiver chuckled. “Hell, you might be right.”

They chatted idly for a little after that. Xavier wrapped his fingers around his second mug of coffee that was brought over, nodding his thanks to the young waitress. Eventually, he glanced at the tavern’s entrance and asked what he’d been wondering. “So, where’s Howard?”

“He’s spending the day with his family,” Siobhan said. “We would have told him you were here, but he doesn’t like to be interrupted unless it’s an emergency. The man doesn’t get nearly enough time with them.”

Xavier nodded. He struggled to imagine what it must be like having a family with the way things were right now, especially when Howard was whisked away to the Tower of Champions for undetermined amounts of time, and then when he was on Earth, was being sent all around the world to bridge alliances and expand their territory.

Not for the first time, he wondered what it would be like to have a family. It didn’t seem like something that was in his future. Not his near future, anyway. Not with all the responsibilities that were already on his shoulders. Besides, he would want to be in a serious relationship for the prospect of children to even come into the picture, and it wasn’t as though he’d taken time out for romance in, well…

A very, very long time.

It made him wonder if Denizens out there, especially powerful ones, took time out of their training and battling while raising children. After all, what was a couple of decades here or there when your lifespan measured in the hundreds, thousands, if not millions and billions or years?

“Should we let Howard know you’re here?” Justin asked.

Xavier shook his head. “No. Let the man have time with his family. He deserves it.” He sipped his coffee. “I’m going to spend the rest of the day in town, then get some sleep in my quarters. I’m not really sure if I need sleep anymore, but… I have to admit, I am feeling a little weary.” He peered at the two of them, a smirk playing on his lips. “That is, assuming me taking a break is all right with the two of you?”

Justin grinned. “It’ll be nice to have you around!”

Siobhan smiled. “Justin’s right. Things haven’t been the same since you went off on your own.”

You’re making a good choice, Bones said in his mind. It’s good to spend time with people. You know, on occasion.

I spend time with people, Xavier replied. I mean, you’re people, aren’t you? And Rhaalir is too. Even if, you know, you’re both technically dead…

While I’m sure time with a wise sentient weapon and a grumpy elven ghost counts for something, it really isn’t what I’m talking about, Xavier. Besides, it’s not as if you talk with the two of us much, either.

Xavier smiled to himself. Bones had a point.

He looked at the others. “Though, there is one thing I’ve been meaning to try.” He raised his right hand, showing them his Storage Ring. It wasn’t as though he hadn’t tried using it before after he’d started being able to cultivate Celestial Energy, but that type of energy simply didn’t work on this item.

Xavier didn’t merely have one Storage Ring. He had plenty of others that he’d gathered in his time in the Greater Universe. He wasn’t able to hold other Storage Rings within his own Storage Ring—though he’d heard there were upgraded, advanced rings with that ability—so most of the rings he’d gathered were either back in his quarters, given to others, or he had someone trying to crack through their protections to get to what was inside.

I should probably check on the progress of that…

On his right hand, however, he had only two rings. On his ring finger was his main Storage Ring. Within that were all his spirit coins and… Basically all his worldly possessions.

The second Storage Ring was for excess items that he wanted to sell off to the System Shop—mostly beast parts that he’d used Dismantle on, or other interesting items he’d gathered while on the tower floors. It also held the majority of the rewards from the loot boxes from clearing the floors.

He hadn’t spent a great deal of time bothering to gather items to sell, but he still had a building’s worth of items in the second ring. The second Storage Ring was actually larger than his main Storage Ring so it could fulfil that purpose. He’d been meaning to get an upgraded ring for his main storage, but this set up had been working for him so far, and it hadn’t exactly been a top priority, even if it was something he could afford.

Between clearing floors in his most recent stint in the Tower of Champions, he’d had both his main and secondary Storage Rings locked to his energies. Now, no one else but him was able to access either ring without breaking through their protections and risking every item inside.

While Xavier figured if he lost his Storage Rings it would likely mean he was dead, he’d decided to get them locked on the off chance they were ever stolen from him while he remained alive, even if he couldn’t imagine how such a thing might happen. Whoever stole them would be unlikely to simply break them, so it would give him a chance to retrieve the rings with all of his items still remaining within them.

It had seemed like a good idea at the time.

What he hadn’t foreseen, of course, was being locked out of them himself. But he was no seer. How could he have ever seen that coming? That stray thought almost sent him down a tangent—could the outside influence on his body, mind, and spirit be the reason his strand of fate no longer existed? The reason Empress Larona was no longer able to see any futures related to him?

That posed many interesting questions, but now was not the time to explore them, so he pulled his thoughts back to the moment.

Xavier removed his secondary Storage Ring from where he wore it on his middle finger. He looked down at it curiously. Both of these rings were activated by Spirit Energy, something he didn’t have access to. He also couldn’t receive Spirit Energy from another and simply circulate it through his channels—that was something they’d already tried, on the off chance that it would work, or even that it might jumpstart his Spirit Core into repairing itself.

Even if I could receive Spirit Energy from another Denizen, it would need to cycle through my core, not just my channels, to be keyed to me. It would allow me to use other items that weren’t locked, but not my Storage Rings.

Justin frowned. “You’re going to use Reality Energy to try to open that? What if it breaks?”

Xavier shrugged. “Then it breaks. There’s nothing truly valuable to me in this one.”

He closed his eyes and focused, looking inward at the core that was bursting with energy within him. Now it had been revealed, the core was lit up like a beacon, burning bright. To his spiritual sense, that light was almost blinding. Though perhaps that was simply because it had been so dark within him for so long.

For the first time since discovering this strange new core and its alien energy, Xavier pulled a bit or Reality Energy out from it. The energy flowed out from the core through the channel connected to it. The moment it did, he felt a burst of, well… energy.

His mind suddenly became more alert, as though he was enhancing it with Body Cultivation. The muscles in his body felt stronger, tensing and relaxing at the sensation. It was as though a bolt of lightning flowed through his veins. He sat upright, eyes widening, becoming as jittery as an unenhanced human who’d just downed ten cups of coffee then snorted cocaine. His spiritual sense shot outward, expanding farther than he’d ever managed, showing him the auras of low-level beasts miles and miles away. He could even sense people around town—not just the low-level Denizens who’d yet to learn how to veil their cores, whom he’d already been able to sense, but the humans who’d yet to reach System age. Despite not being integrated yet, their bodies held small amounts of energy. Energy that he’d never sensed in non-integrated humans before.

Curiously, there were other things he could feel. The ghosts of presences. There were two before him, exactly where Justin and Siobhan sat.

Is that… Is that their cores?

He shouldn’t have been able to feel energy from anyone with a veiled core at all, yet he sensed that if he applied just a little bit of pressure, he might be able to—

“Uh, Xavier, are you okay?” Justin asked.

Siobhan’s forehead creased. The way she folded her hands in front of her, it looked as though she was stopping herself from leaning across the table to check on him.

Xavier blinked. The flash of alertness, energy, and strength disappeared almost as fast as it came. His shoulders slumped and he slouched slightly in his chair. He ignored the others as he closed his eyes again, once more looking inward.

The small amount Reality Energy he’d pulled from his core was gone. Bringing it into his channels hadn’t had the effect he’d expected. He’d intended to cycle it through his body, down his arm, into his hand, and finally out of the fingers that held his secondary Storage Ring.

Instead, the moment the energy was pulled out of his core his body had harnessed it. No, not only his body. His body, mind, and spirit.

This energy, my body fed off it like it was fuel, and it did it instinctively.

Body Cultivation gave him a similar ability, but that required a tremendous amount of effort to get the foundations of the process down. This had been instantaneous and entirely unintended.

“Xavier?” Siobhan asked with a raised voice. Clearly, it wasn’t the first time she’d said his name.

Xavier snapped his eyes open. He almost glared at the woman for interrupting him, then remembered himself as he looked at the expressions on his friends’ faces.

They’re worried about me. That’s all.

The kneejerk reaction he’d prevented just showed how little time he’d spent around people lately. He’d suddenly gone quiet and unresponsive—of course they would try to get his attention.

“I’m fine. I pulled some Reality Energy from the new core. It did something unexpected.” At Siobhan’s look, Xavier added, “Nothing dangerous. I’m not hurt. I just need to concentrate.”

Justin and Siobhan exchanged a worried glance, but they didn’t say anything more.

Xavier looked inward at his Reality Core and all the energy inside it. He wasn’t really sure what to expect from the energy, but that hadn’t been it. The notification he’d received when he’d advanced to Tier 2 told him to keep cultivating the energy to receive further enhancements. He expected to be able to cycle that energy through his core and his channels, too, and didn’t understand why that hadn’t worked.

He attained a state of inner calm, pushing his attention and focus entirely on the problem before him. Doing so was natural and didn’t require much effort beyond pointing himself in that direction. He might have told himself he was going to take a break today, get some rest, but he didn’t want to wait.

He’d never been good at taking breaks. Not since the System came to Earth, at least. And he knew he’d only gotten worse since his cores shattered.

After Xavier experimented with the Reality Energy for what felt like a short time, discovering some very interesting things, he forced himself to open his eyes. He should at least try to be present with his friends while he was here.

The tavern was dark.

The fires in the hearths had been extinguished. The candles on all the tables had been snuffed out. The mugs and plates on the table he sat at had been cleared. All the patrons and staff had gone home.

Only one other person remained in the tavern, sitting across from him. Justin had his arms wrapped about his knees, his feet on the chair, his head hanging backward, resting at an uncomfortable, contorted angle. His breathing was soft and slow. The young swordsman had fallen asleep.

“Justin?” Xavier whispered.

The man’s eyes flashed open, and he almost fell out of his chair, righting himself on the table at the last moment. He blinked at Xavier, looking a little drowsy. “I was having a very nice dream. There was this girl, and she was polishing my—” Justin cut himself off, rubbed his eyes, and coughed. “My sword.”

The young swordsman blushed furiously at Xavier’s raised eyebrow.

“That does sound like a nice dream.” That only made Justin blush more. Xavier shifted in his seat. “You stayed to watch over me?”

Justin shrugged. “Siobhan and I took shifts. Must be close to dawn, now.”

Xavier inclined his head. “I didn’t mean to lose myself.”

“It’s not like it’s the first time. We figured you didn’t need us around, but one of us wanted to be here when you came out of it.” He yawned. “What were you doing, anyway? You said the Reality Energy did something strange?”

Xavier grinned. “It did do something strange. When I pulled it out of my core, my body, mind, and spirit burned the energy like it was fuel. For a short time, it provided a triple buff to each part of me.”

“Nice. That sounds awesome, especially with how strong you already are. Were there any notifications to reflect how much power it gave?”

“No. The System seems to have trouble recognising the changes, even after it translated those notifications. I’m going to have to figure things out on my own unless I find another way to quantify it.”

Justin nodded, then narrowed his eyes. “So, why are you grinning like a fool?” He leant forward. “You discovered something else, didn’t you?”

“Oh, I most certainly did.”