Tier 3+ - Accidental Champion - Chapter 67 - System-Damned Fool (Patreon)

Xavier snapped his eyes open. He was lying on the floor of the tavern, a stool overturned beside him, a candle tipped over, its wax leaking onto the floor though the flame had blown out.

Sam stood above him, a hand running through his hair, shaking his head. The bartender sighed. Turned away from Xavier without bothering to help him up, muttering to himself, “System-damned fool children from baby worlds trying to burn through their cores.”

Xavier tried to push himself up. He felt… weak. Tired. Like he hadn’t slept in a month. Like someone had drained all his blood. His limbs had pins and needles. Raising his arm felt like raising a wet noodle. He tried to make it to his feet, but he just didn’t have it in him.

How could he not stand, with how damned strong he’d become?

Available Spirit Energy: 0/21700

What? Is that why I feel like this? So damned weak?

He thought… thought he’d experienced having no Spirit Energy before. When he’d been facing the goblins. The first time he’d used his spells. It hadn’t felt like this. Far from it.

“Why am I weak?” His words came out mumbled, almost like he was drunk. “My Spirit Energy… isn’t recovering?”

“Because you’re a System-damned fool, that’s why.” Sam came back around the counter with, of all things, a bar of chocolate. “Eat this.”

“How do you even have this?”

“Same way I have whiskey from your planet. Now do as you’re told.” Sam thrust the chocolate into Xavier’s hand.

Xavier struggled just to get the food to his mouth. He couldn’t feel it in his hand. After taking a bite, he let out a contented sigh. The weakness inside of him disappeared, like it had never been there to begin with, and he was filled with a sudden warmth. He made it to his feet, not even a little unsteady, and took another bite of the chocolate. “I feel like I’ve just seen a Dementor,” he muttered.

“What?” Sam said, sounding annoyed. The man had made it back around the bar again and was leaning on the counter, a tired look on his face.

“Never mind.” Xavier looked at his Spirit Energy. There was a little bit in there now, and… yes, it was recovering on its own, after eating had kickstarted the process. Xavier sat back on the stool, finished eating his chocolate bar. “I still don’t understand what happened.”

“You burned through your core, that’s what happened.”

“But…” Xavier frowned. “I’ve used all of my Spirit Energy before. That… never happened.”

“You think that number you can see in your vision accurately reflects the exact amount of spiritual energy in your core at all times? You don’t think there might be a minuscule amount that always remains in there to keep the lights on, a percentage of a single point so small it isn’t reflected in your stats?”

Xavier sighed. “No. I suppose I never thought of it like that.”

“Of course you didn’t, because you’re—”

“A System-damned fool from a baby world?”

“—someone who doesn’t know any better.” Sam ran a hand down his face. “Maybe this was a bad idea.” His tone turned serious. His stare becoming blank. “Maybe I’m not supposed to talk to you about these things for a reason.”

Xavier stood. “But—”

“But nothing,” Sam said. “You’re pushing too hard at this. And if you push too hard at something it’s liable to break. I thought you were… that you could be…” He shook his head. “If I hadn’t been here, if you hadn’t done something to get your Spirit Energy back, your core would have reached for the next best thing, and burned through that instead.”

“My… my health?”

“Yes, your health. You don’t understand how”—he waved a hand—“any of this works. And that isn’t your fault, but it is your responsibility.” He grabbed the bottle of whiskey. “Now, you’re welcome to have another drink, order some food—which would be wise, given your current condition. But otherwise… we shouldn’t talk for a good while.” He stared hard at Xavier. “What’ll it be?”

Xavier put his head down. Part of him felt like he should be angry with the man, but he found no anger within him. Though his core was quickly recovering Spirit Energy, he was still recovering from what had just happened too.

From what he’d essentially done to himself.

He inclined his head. “Thank you for what you told me.” Xavier walked out of the tavern without glancing back at the man behind the bar. He headed straight for the Staging Room.

It was still a good while until he could go to the next floor of the Tower of Champions, but he figured if he were going to find the other members of his party anywhere, it would be there.

And if the bartender wasn’t going to help him break through and learn this skill, then he’d have to get help from somewhere else.

~

“So that’s what you’ve been doing locked up in your room for so long,” Siobhan said.

Xavier frowned at the woman. “What did you think I’d been doing?”

Siobhan smirked and shook her head.

They were sitting around their loot boxes in the Staging Room. When he’d walked in, he’d found Siobhan practising her earth elemental spell, Justin sprinting back and forth, touching opposite walls as he went, and Howard lifting the large, stone balls at one side of the room.

They’ve been training almost nonstop, Xavier thought. They may not be near as strong as me, but they aren’t slowing down. In that moment he’d felt proud of his party, glad they hadn’t taken these few days as an excuse to be lazy and slack off.

They’d all gathered about him and he’d told them about the Spirit Core, the 10 points in Spirit he’d gained, and the three Skill Quests.

“Maybe you should heed the man’s warning,” Siobhan said, her tone turning serious. “He clearly knows what he’s talking about.”

“But can we trust him?” Justin asked. “He isn’t from Earth. He’s part of the System.”

“We’re all part of the System now,” Siobhan put in.

“Well, sure, but…” Justin shook his head. “We’re also all from Earth, and all want the same thing.” He looked Xavier in the eye. “What does Sam want?”

Xavier thought about that for a moment. “If he wanted me dead, he wouldn’t have helped me off the floor.”

“Maybe. Or maybe Justin’s right. Could be the man’s giving you just enough rope to hang yourself with,” Howard said.

Siobhan sighed. “That’s a lovely way to put it.”

Howard shrugged. “Nothing lovely about everything that’s happening.”

“So, what, you’re thinking he’s telling me just enough that I do something stupid, get myself in danger, and he’s not liable for it because I wasn’t in his bar when it happened?” Xavier asked.

“Something tells me the System would be mighty disappointed is a Champion dropped dead in there when he could’ve prevented it,” Howard said.

“The System? The System doesn’t care about our lives at all,” Xavier said. “I… don’t know how much I trust the man.” He remembered the bartender stumbling over a few words, leaving the rest unsaid.

I thought you were… that you could be…

What did he think Xavier could be?

“But he didn’t feel like he was lying to me with that warning. That he was trying to set me up to do it by myself. He looked… genuinely concerned.” Xavier set his jaw. “That doesn’t mean he knows what I’m capable of. I’m not going to give up on something just because it could be a little bit dangerous.”

“Yeah.” Siobhan chuckled. “We’ve learned that about you already.”

Xavier’s mind was running a mile a minute. Once again, he felt like what he was learning was just a drop in the ocean that was the Greater Universe, but he ached to learn more.

He’d been doing a lot of thinking about what had happened to him, discovering his Spirit Core. Sam had been surprised to hear that he’d done it at level 10, which meant it shouldn’t be something someone was capable of doing until they were a much higher level.

And with the sheer number of stats he’d gotten from titles?

Xavier paused in the middle of their conversation, doing a few quick mental calculations as he fell into Meditation. Assuming someone began with the same number of stats at level 1 as he did—34—and gained 8 per level until level 10, then chose a common class and gained 13 per level… not accounting for titles, he had the stats of someone over level 60.

So, not as high as I’d originally thought, but still damned high.

Now, his Spirit attribute was one of his highest stats, probably higher than most. But let’s say someone needed over 190 points in Spirit—which was about how much he had when he’d discovered his Spirit Core—to make the discovery.

Maybe they need 180? That sounds like a better number…

He knew this was all just a wild guess, but all he had to go on right now were wild guesses.

If this all tracks, most Denizens probably don’t discover their core until somewhere between level 50 and 75.

Xavier, still meditating, was struck with an insight. Something that felt right and true.

Sam’s words replayed in his mind: You don’t understand how any of this works. And that isn’t your fault, but it is your responsibility.

Sam was right about that—it was his responsibility to understand. To learn.

“I think… I think I need to unlock these skills at least before we clear the tenth floor. Before we’re returned to Earth. Because I’ve got a feeling that’s where it will really matter.”

He looked over at the door to the Tower of Champions. The one that had been locked to them for far too long. Ached to walk over there. Rip the door open. To get to the next floor.

But he was glad there was still a little time, because that insight he’d gained? It told him something about what learning those skills, and mastering the use of his Spirit Core would do.

It told him that it would be his first step on his journey to becoming E Grade.