Tier 3+ - Accidental Champion (Book 2) - Chapter 26 - A Slap of Instant Clarity (Patreon)

Xavier dumped the corpse of the Bear King onto the battlement’s stone floor. The massive beastman lay on its back, wings splayed, reaching from one wall to the other. Its armour was dented, bloodied, and had massive rents through it where Xavier’s blade had cut through.

Kiralla stared at the corpse, then raised an eyebrow at Xavier. “Why, pray tell, did you bring this specimen here?”

Xavier nudged the dead beastman with a foot. He faced Howard. “I know the three of you have not been idle while I’ve been defeating these waves.”

Howard crossed his arms at his chest. “We’ve kept busy. Not so busy as you.”

“Which one of you learnt the Dismantle skill?”

Justin stepped forward. He rubbed the back of his head. “I did. It’s a bit gruesome, but it seemed like it might come in handy. I’ve been practising on some of the wolven corpses you’ve brought us.”

Xavier motioned toward the dead E Grade wave boss. “Are you able to dismantle this?”

Justin frowned, knelt by the Bear King. His gaze moved up and down the corpse. “I’m not sure. I’ve never worked on an E Grade before. The skill topped out at Rank 50. I haven’t been able to push it beyond that.”

“Really?” Xavier asked. “You got a skill to Rank 50?”

“Does that surprise you? Aren’t most of your skills at that rank?”

“No, I guess it shouldn’t surprise me.” To be honest, it didsurprise him. But he supposed there’d been a lot of corpses for the Airborne Duellist to practise on. He just hadn’t realised the teenager had done so much of it.

He’s had a lot of spare time over these six weeks.

“Why do you want to dismantle it?” Siobhan asked. “You didn’t bring back the corpses of the other E Grades.”

Xavier crinkled his nose. “It… didn’t feel right. Dismantling humanoid races. Not that all of them were.” He scratched at stubble that had formed on his chin. He hadn’t exactly spent a great deal of time shaving over these last few weeks. Just enough so a beard hadn’t grown—though he’d contemplated growing one on a few occasions. “Then again, this Bear King could talk…”

“Beasts, even those that have grown into sapience, have different properties in their bodies than humanoid Denizens do,” Justin said. “Though a beast can eventually become as intelligent, or more intelligent, than a human, elf, dwarf, demonkin, or any other humanoid Denizen or naturally sapient Denizen, their bodies and minds fundamentally different because they got there through System evolution.”

Xavier frowned. “Are there books about this?”

Siobhan nodded. “Several! It’s quite an interesting topic, actually.”

Adviser Kalren had an odd look on his face. “It is strange what you and your people worry about.” He gestured out to the battlement. The fire mages flames, disposing of the Endless Horde’s dead, could be heard from here. “You defend us with all of this slaughter, then worry about gathering resources from those you’ve slain…”

Xavier shook his head. Suppose he’s right. It is an odd way of looking at things. He imagined he still had a lot of beliefs and ideas that he’d grown up with back on Earth. Things that would be challenged in this new reality they’d all found themselves in.

“And this tangent meant you didn’t answer my question.” Siobhan nudged him on the shoulder. “Are you… thinking of getting ingredients to assimilate with that skill of yours?”

Xavier grunted his affirmation—a little habit he’d picked up from Howard. “I’ve no idea if it will work. But this beastman is… incredibly strong. I wondered if…” He sighed. “It might be a foolish idea.”

Adviser Kalren ran a hand through his beard. “It is not a foolish idea at all. In fact, I think this puts you on the right track.”

Justin rose to his feet. “I’ll do what I can. It might take a while. But, before you try to use anything from the beastman, you could try using other things I’ve dismantled from all the wolven you’ve brought back.”

Xavier raised his chin. “Good idea.”

Justin raised both his hands, palm up. A dozen wolven fangs appeared in one hand, a dozen claws in the other.

“And you’re planning on… ingesting those?” Howard asked.

Xavier took the fangs and claws. “If I have to. Why?”

Howard shuddered. “No reason.”

Xavier scrunched his face up, looking at what he’d just taken from Justin. It wasn’t as though he wanted to swallow these things. It certainly wasn’t his first choice. But if he were going to really get this skill to work for him—assuming he could get it to work at all—he would need to assimilate more than just metal and stone.

That made him wonder if there was any sort of limit to the amount of things he could use with Assimilate Properties. I’m getting ahead of myself.

“You have fifteen minutes remaining before your next wave.” Adviser Kalren folded his hands in front of him. “If you wish for time to work on your skill, you should take it.”

“Before I do that, I have a question. When I defeated this beast, the kill notification had ‘Epic’ at the end of its name. Was it referring to the beast’s class?”

“Epic?” The bearded adviser raised both brows. “Well, I have not heard of that happening in a long while. Yes, it does indeed refer to the enemy’s class rarity.”

“How come it doesn’t show other class rarities? I’ve never seen ‘Common,’ ‘Uncommon,’ or ‘Rare.’

“As far as I am aware, it only appears when one defeats an Epic class.” Kalren frowned. “Though I suppose it could appear for Legendary as well. Now that would be quite something.”

Epic class. No wonder the Bear King was so much more powerful than the other E Grades. He smiled to himself. And yet I defeated it.

“All the more reason to dismantle materials from it,” Justin said. “Though my blade may not be strong enough to work on this.” He looked at Xavier. “May I borrow Soultaker for a time? That blade certainly did damage against this thing.”

Xavier summoned his scythe-staff. He infused Spirit Energy into it, then was about to pass it to Justin when Howard stepped over.

“Let me put Toughness Energy into that. He’s needed it for his blade to cut through even the lower-level foot soldiers and beasts. It’s defensive Toughness Energy—stops the blade from bending and breaking under strain.” Howard said.

“Doesn’t help me cut easier, though,” Jutin muttered.

Xavier nodded. “Infusing Soultaker with Spirit Energy is probably the only reason it’s been strong enough to still use.” He was honestly surprised the blade hadn’t shattered when fighting higher-level enemies. “It’s a shame we aren’t able to access the System Shop here. We’d all be able to upgrade our equipment.”

He’d grown attached to Soultaker. It was by far his favourite weapon so far. But he’d also gotten it a lot of levels ago—it didn’t really make sense for him to keep using it.

“Were the castle’s smith still here, I would have her craft you a weapon fit for a king,” Queen Alastea said.

Xavier smiled. “That would have been greatly appreciated,” he said, thinking, fit for a king…

Honestly, he thought he would make a terrible king. A protector? Maybe. But a King? No. He spent far too much time fighting.

He glanced over at the castle. He could see its grand double doors from here. The portal, the one all Queen Alastea’s citizens had left through during the exodus, was still open inside of it.

Not for the first time, he wondered what would happen if he or one of the members of his party were to step through it. They would be able to purchase new equipment and other supplies…

But would the System stop them from doing that? Or would they simply be able to walk straight through it with no consequences?

He shook the thought away. The System would stop us.

Besides—it was a one-way portal. Getting back here would be very difficult, and very expensive. Even if he, say, sent through Adviser Kalren, he’d probably have to empty all the coin from his Storage Ring to get him back here.

Either that, or he’d have to use Xavier’s Sector Travel Key to get back. Assuming it would even work here.

“Ten minutes,” Adviser Kalren said.

The man’s words brought Xavier out of his reverie. He walked a little ways away from the others—and Justin, kneeling down with Soultaker, about to carve through the Bear King—and sat with his back against the parapet.

He’d deposited the wolven claws and fangs into his Storage Ring. He brought a single fang out to rest on his palm, scrunching up his nose as he glared at it. Was he really going to swallow one of these, just for a skill he hadn’t even learnt to use yet?

I’m probably going to swallow much more than one of these…

Xavier released a long sigh, then tossed it into his mouth. He pretended it was just like a pill he was swallowing. It couldn’t be much worse than swallowing stone, could it?

Gulp.

Xavier winced. Gripped his neck. The stone had hurt his throat a little, but his skin had been more than tough enough to deal with it. This, however, was a fang from a beast of a higher level than his own. And inside of his body, his high Toughness didn’t seem to make enough difference.

He’d swallowed it wrong. The fang had gone down his throat sideways. He tasted the blood flowing from the wound. Though it wouldn’t take long to heal, it wasn’t the most pleasant feeling.

Ah, the things I do for skills.

Just like the stones he’d ingested, he was able to feel this one inside his stomach. However, somehow, it felt as though it had… more weight. Which, considering it was lighter, seemed strange.

Maybe because it has some sort of magical properties. Then again, the stone he’d ingested probably had some sort of magical properties, too. Just like the metal that had assimilated into him in the first place. He doubted they would have made the castle’s walls from ordinary stone, after all.

It didn’t take long for his body to notice the foreign material inside of him. Just like with the stones, it began to break it down. But again, it was like he could feel it more. He could see more clearly what was going on. As though before he’d been wearing glasses in a dark room, and now he’d taken them off and turned on a light.

Now all I need to do is control the process. Slow down the purging of these impurities.

He remembered the initial notification. It had said it was unable to purge impurities in an F Grade Denizen… yet the stones he’d ingested had been purged easily.

Xavier tilted his head to the side in thought.

The arrowheads must have been more significant than the stone. Either that, or the amount of Toughness I have has made it easier for these materials to be purged.

Though he did notice something. The purging of the fang that he’d ingested wasn’t just more noticeable within his mind. It was also taking longer, which he was sure was because it was a more powerful ingredient. If his Toughness attribute was lower, he might not be able to purge it at all…

Would it be forced to assimilate with me, then?

He focused on the process, taking deep belly breaths, trying to control it like he might control the different energies that flowed through him. He could feel more of the different lines that the dissolved fang flowed through, on its way to reaching the surface of his skin.

But this process was nothing like the cultivating, or cycling, energy through his Spirit and Willpower Lines. This was something his body wanted to dispel, not keep.

Energy flows toward me, this flows away from me…

That thought made something click within his mind, and he was hit with a slap of instant clarity.

I know what I need to do!