Tier 3+ - Accidental Champion (Book 2) - Chapter 85 - This Isn’t How You Make Friends

Xavier stared at the communication stone for a long moment. Everything had been going so well. The tenth floor of the Tower of Champions, the last floor before they finally got to return to Earth, had been easy—he hadn’t even needed to kill anyone. It had been a piece of cake.

At least for him.

Justin, Siobhan, they’d come out of the arena without so much as a scratch.

But now Howard…

Xavier had told the man he wouldn’t kill him, that they would find a way to save him, and prevent anything bad from happening to Earth in the process, but he was worried. Worried he’d been wrong.

The contract let him tell the truth to us. Someone as powerful as whoever this Adranial was must know that was a foolish thing to do. They could have asked for anything in the contract, couldn’t they? All Howard needed to be was willing to sign, even if willing wasn’t really the right word.

This was bad.

After he’d taken the stone from Howard, he’d had the man describe everything that had happened. Had him describe Adranial, as well.

A white-robed, white-masked figure who didn’t so much as wield a weapon, yet caused everyone to attack her and took them down with ease. Also someone with the ability to read people’s thoughts and sift through their memories…

Inviting someone like that to Earth… honestly, he didn’t doubt that he would be able to defeat her. But odds are she came from an established, powerful planet. Who knew what kind of backing she had? If she were outside the Silver River sector, then her backer could be more powerful than the empress.

Stop worrying. Take this one step at a time.

Xavier needed to stop getting lost in his thoughts. Needed to stop delaying action. It might be okay to do that here, in the Staging Room, his break between floors, but very soon—once they’d opened their loot boxes, and had some time to look in the System Shop—they would return to Earth.

The notification had appeared a few minutes after Howard’s return. A countdown timer, ticking down from two hours, to when they would be teleported back to Earth. It also explained that they were not permitted to exit the Staging Room.

Which means I can’t go to the tavern and inform other Champions of the challenge that lies in wait for them on the tenth floor. There will be no way for me to warn my cohort, or countless other cohorts of Champions from Earth.

It was a difficult pill to swallow.

Howard sat in the far corner of the Staging Room. The big man, usually so stoic, only really showing emotion whenever he talked about his family, looked terrible. Alone. Depressed. His knees were tucked up to his chest.

He hated seeing the man look so… pitiful.

He thinks he’s betrayed me, betrayed Earth, but he hasn’t. Coming here, it was the only way he’d be sure that we would know who his family was, that we might know how to find them—and protect them.

Howard had offered to sacrifice his life, Xavier just hoped it wouldn’t come to that.

Now or never.

[Adranial, this is Xavier Collins from Earth, and you have made a terrible mistake.]

There was a long pause after his message had been sent. When he’d gone to do it, he’d had to will which Communication Stone he wished to use, as he now possessed two different ones. After a minute had passed, he shook the stone, as though that would help it work.

[Xavier Collins,] the voice was cool, milky, self-assured confidence leaking from it. A young woman—she must have been only sixteen—yet she sounded older. [It is such a pleasure to speak with you. My ancestor will be proud that I’ve made contact so soon.]

[A pleasure? You forced my friend into making a contract with you.]

[Oh, surely you can’t blame me for that. I had to make use of him somehow—it was either that or I kill him for Mastery Points, not to mention Participation Points. Killing and contracts are a part of life in the Greater Universe that you will have to get used to. Yes, yes, I’ve heard of those peaceful sectors out there in the Greater Universe. They may sound warm and fuzzy, but it would curdle your blood to hear how they got there in the first place. There is no peace without a war first, Xavier Collins.]

Xavier didn’t like the way she kept repeating his name, saying it slowly, emphasising each syllable.

[Is that what you wish to bring to Earth, Adranial? War?]

[There’s only so much I’m allowed to tell you, Xavier Collins. I’m bound by contracts of my own. But I promise you this, I mean you no harm—besides, I do not believe there would be any way for me to harm you, do you?]

Again, there she was, emphasising words, putting a lot of power in I when she explained she didn’t want to harm him.

[Who is this ancestor you mentioned?]

[Tsk, tsk, Xavier Collins, tsk, tsk. Don’t you know you need to offer a little something before I’m willing to give? You haven’t even taken me to dinner, and you want to ply me for all my secrets? Asking about my family? Isn’t that a little personal? Really, manners isn’t something you learn out there on the Edge, is it?]

Xavier blinked. This woman, the way she talked, it sounded as though this was all a joke to her. [You knew Howard would tell me about the contract, didn’t you?]

[I know a great many things… That was, however, something I’d merely guessed would happen. Or rather, something I’d hopedfor.]

Xavier was getting frustrated with this conversation. This woman hadn’t divulged a single bit of information about herself. [What do you want with me? And why do you want to come to Earth?]

[You are a curiosity, Xavier Collins of Earth. A powerful curiosity. I have been tasked with befriending you, and it is a task that I plan to take seriously.]

Xavier’s frustration turned to anger. [Befriending me? After what you did to Howard? You must be insane!]

[Insane… No, despite what some of my tutors have said, rumours of me being insane are highly exaggerated. I am merely eccentric.] There was a pause. [Are you going to kill him?]

Xavier blinked. He looked over at Howard. The man hadn’t moved from his spot in the corner. His mind was no doubt elsewhere, thinking of his family, hoping he would be able to see them. Xavier wondered if he should tell the woman the full truth. That he didn’t know what he was going to do. If Howard didn’t do as the woman asked within twenty-four hours of returning to Earth, he’d be a dead man anyway.

[Get him out of the contract,] Xavier demanded.

[Hmm. No. Try again.]

Xavier sighed. [This isn’t how you make friends, Adranial.]

[My mother always told me I came off a little… prickly. Something she said would only worsen once I gained the System.]

Xavier shut his eyes, touched his head. Was he getting a stress headache? He figured he’d be free of those, considering his massively high Toughness stat, but apparently this woman—this bloody teenager—brought them out in him.

What’s the worst that could happen if I brought her to Earth?

He almost hated having the thought. Would he really risk Earth over the fate of a single person? Howard was important to him, sure, but how could he put the value of one life over so many others?

Howard himself asked me to kill him. He would understand.

He cursed under his breath. When reading fantasy novels, he’d always enjoyed when characters faced dilemmas such as this. When they’d had to stare down a decision and choose a path when there was no right one. Some of those characters would choose to kill Howard. They would call that the hard path and do what needed to be done. But Xavier thought he knew better than them. Killing Howard wasn’t the hard path. In this situation, it was the easiest solution possible.

But it wasn’t the only one by far.

And a realisation came to Xavier, one he should have known. [You’re from a very powerful family, Adranial, aren’t you?]

[Well, I don’t like to brag…] There was nothing but humour in her words, telling him that she very much did like to brag.

Xavier was becoming sure of a few things. First, that one of the powerful presences he’d felt observing him was the Empress Larona, and that she was the weaker of the two. And second, that the other powerful presence—the first one he’d felt, the one that had made him feel like nothing more than a speck of dust—wasn’t going to stop at just lookingat him. It was clear now that he’d put the pieces together.

Adranial had said her ancestor would be pleased that she was in contact with him, but how could her ancestor know anything about him? Hadn’t she only just learnt of him from sifting through Howard’s memories?

Xavier bit his lip.

Whover that presence was, he was able to circumvent the System, able to spy on me in the Tower of Champions. Something like that shouldn’t be possible, but it was. And why was this woman looking through the memories of everyone in that arena? On the off chance she’d find a reason to make a contract? No. She was on a mission. If whoever her powerful ancestor was could observe him while he was inside the Tower of Champions, could he also somehow… alter the Tower of Champions?

That would be impossible, wouldn’t it? But hadn’t Xavier made it a matter of course to do the impossible?

Could he—or she—have somehow forced the arena match-up between Howard and Adranial?

He must be insane for even thinking in this way, but this just didn’t feel like a coincidence.

This would be the perfect time to gain some wisdom from the otherworld with my communion spell. If only I could use the damned thing.

[Xavier? Don’t tell me you’ve gotten all shy? Don’t you want to talk to me anymore?]

Xavier put all his thoughts together and came to a conclusion. Whether this woman was who he thought she was or not, she was clearly someone close to power. Before Xavier had even returned to Earth, this woman knew what level he was—she must know that he was E Grade, if she had access to Howard’s memories.

Her contract with Howard wasn’t the only way that she could mess with him. Wasn’t the only way that she could make trouble for him.

She could get this information out. I don’t doubt that she would have the means to contact the worlds and factions currently invading Earth and let them know what my level is. They could send E Grade enemies to Earth the moment I returned. There would be no way for me to hide my level…

He tapped his fingers against the Communication Stone resting in his left palm.

I need to make a contract with her myself. Something that prevents her from ruining Earth with her knowledge.

It was only then that another realisation dawned on him, and he identified the Communication stone he was holding.

{Communication Stone – Restriction: None}

A Communication Stone has the ability to form a mental connection with two people, allowing them to communicate telepathically over distances both great and small. Once a connection is established, the stone can be used while inside spatial storage.

The power of this Communication Stone bears no restrictions.

A Communication Stone is useless if it is not paired.

The Communication Stone wasn’t restricted to a single sector—it wasn’t restricted at all.

Where in the Greater Universe is this woman?