Tier 3+ - Accidental Champion (Book 2) - Chapter 58 - Charon (Patreon)

One of the Lord of the Endless Horde’s Storage Rings had broken, and all of its contents had been destroyed. Xavier ran a hand through his hair. He couldn’t begin to imagine how much wealth must have been stored in that one little ring. How many items. How many spirit coins.

And now it was all simply… gone.

“What happened?” Howard asked. The man had a raised eyebrow. Must have heard Xavier swear.

“I took six Storage Rings from the Lord of the Endless Horde.”

“Whoa,” Justin said. “That’s awesome. What’s inside them?”

“I don’t know.” Xavier took the broken ring off his finger. “When I tried to look in this one, it blocked me. I tried to push past it, and… the ring and everything within was destroyed.”

“The Lord must have put some sort of safeguard into it,” Siobhan muttered. “He mustn’t have wanted anyone to get their hands on his wealth. I didn’t even know such a thing was possible.”

“Anything’s possible,” Xavier whispered. He shut his eyes for a moment and sighed. “I suppose it’s not a big loss, in the grand scheme.” He looked at the other five rings. “I guess… I won’t be able to open these.”

“Not yet,” Siobhan said. “But you might be able to open them in the future. Surely you’re not the only one who’s ever tried to get to the contents of another Denizen’s Storage Ring.”

Xavier nodded. He hadn’t gotten that far, but she was right. “I guess I’ll have to hold onto them. Keep them safe.” He raised a hand. “But I can’t put them in my ring, and I’d rather not wear them like this.”

Siobhan put her hand onto the System Shop’s crystal. A moment later, she held a looped chain in her hand, one with a small clasp. She opened the clasp. “You could wear them beneath your robes, like a necklace.”

Xavier looked at the rings again, contemplating all the wealth within them. It felt a little like giving up, not trying to open them now. But who knew what opportunities would arise in the future? Besides, he had plenty of spirit coins after selling off that D Grade equipment.

He slid the rings off his fingers and onto the chain she offered him, then put it on around his neck, tucking it under his robes where it couldn’t be seen. He felt the weight of them. It was oddly comforting.

What treasures lie within…

Xavier shook his head. It was time to stop daydreaming. He needed to buy some new robes, and most of all, he needed a new scythe-staff. Which made him wonder whether the System would buy back his broken one. Surely there would be a crafter or blacksmith of some sort out there who could repair it.

He opened the System Shop and looked at what was available to him. Last time he’d done this, he’d filtered the items so it showed him the most expensive ones he could afford, restricting it to scythe-staffs he was able to equip.

The last weapon he had bought had cost 240,000 Lesser Spirit Coins. He couldn’t help but wonder how much the next weapon might cost. Considering his considerable wealth, it would be foolish to spend it all on a single weapon. He imagined it might be a little while until he was able to gather a similar amount of wealth again.

It’s not every day I kill a D Grade Denizen… at least, not yet.

He restricted his purchasing power for his scythe-staff to 2,500,000 Minor Spirit Coins. He had to imagine that would be more than enough to outfit him with a powerful weapon for his level and grade. He could have allowed himself to spend more—a lot more—but something told him that money would come in handy.

Especially since it wasn’t only his party he wanted to outfit with weapons.

One step at a time.

Xavier restricted himself to looking at the top three most expensive items within his chosen criteria.

As he had in the past, he intended to look at the last item first, working his way up from the cheapest to the most expensive. He figured it would give him an idea of how powerful the weapons in this price range were, and how they might vary.

Though before he did that, he looked at the description for his own scythe-staff.

Soultaker

Warning: This scythe-staff has been broken and must be repaired. The benefits to the wielder will disappear within 24 hours of its breaking.

This scythe-staff requires 150 Intelligence, 150 Spirit, 100 Willpower, and 100 Strength to wield.

+30 Intelligence

+35 Spirit

+15 Speed

+20 Strength

+30% Spirit Energy recovery

+35% magical damage dealt

+35% physical damage dealt

Xavier frowned when he read the warning at the top of the scythe-staff’s description. He hadn’t realised the weapon was still offering him any attributes at all. Even when I’m not wielding it, I benefit from its stats even when it’s in my Storage Ring—I know that, I’ve tested it in the past.

But he didn’t realise that would have a lasting effect afterit broke.

It hasn’t even been twenty hours yet…

He looked at the cheapest of the three scythe-staffs in the System Store.

Wisdomous Scythe of the Umbral

This scythe-staff requires 1,000 Intelligence, 1,000 Spirit, 1,000 Willpower, and 1,000 Strength to wield.

+300 Intelligence

+350 Spirit

+200 Willpower

+100 Speed

+100 Strength

+100% Spirit Energy recovery

+100% magical damage dealt

+100% physical damage dealt

Imbued ability: When this scythe-staff is in the hand of its wielder, it bestows upon them the Soul Target ability. Soul Target allows the wielder to tag an enemy and know their whereabouts until that enemy is untagged, or they have tagged another.

Distance restriction: Sector Wide

This item costs 2,000,000 Minor Spirit Coins

Xavier’s mouth fell open a little as he read the first scythe-staff’s description. The number of attributes it offered felt… rather incredible, at least compared to what he was used to. They offered more than his most powerful titles, except for the titles that offered percentage modified boosts.

The imbued ability drew his attention even more than the attributes did. He didn’t know abilities could be imbued into weapons or other equipment. That knowledge would definitely come in handy, and made him wonder what other equipment he should try and arm himself with.

I wonder if there’s equipment with defensive enchantments that I could buy. Something that could spring up a shield if I’m in danger. If there are, why didn’t the Lord of the Endless Horde have such things?

The reason came to him instantly: arrogance. The man never expected he would need one. Not while he was the most powerful Denizen in his entire sector.

I must make sure that I never think I’m too powerful to be beaten. That I never think myself so high above others that it’s no longer possible for me to fall.

The imbued ability, Soul Target, was very intriguing. He could certainly see how it could come in handy, but he also didn’t feel as though it would be beneficial to him on a regular basis. If the weapon he wielded had an imbued ability, he wanted it to be something that he could use regularly during encounters.

He moved onto the next weapon.

Spirit Scythe of Darkest Night

This scythe-staff requires 500 Intelligence, 1,500 Spirit, 500 Willpower, and 500 Strength to wield.

+200 Intelligence

+500 Spirit

+100 Willpower

+100 Speed

+100 Strength

+110% Spirit Energy recovery

+100% magical damage dealt

+100% physical damage dealt

Imbued ability: When this scythe-staff is in the hand of its wielder, it bestows upon them the Restorative Spirit ability. For half of the wielders Spirit Energy reserve, it can restore a single spell from cooldown.

Time restriction: This ability can only be used once every 12 hours.

This item costs 2,250,000 Minor Spirit Coins

Xavier frowned. This scythe-staff was intriguing, even if the name reminded him of something out of Green Lantern. It didn’t require as many attribute points in most attributes as the last one, yet required more in Spirit. Though none of these requirements were anywhere near what he had.

For the most part, if offered less attributes, yes it added five hundred Spirit. That kind of advantage would make a huge difference.

And the imbued ability was indeed intriguing. In fact, he’d only recently been thinking it would be able to restore his spells from cooldown. Though this would only allow him to use it on a single spell, it was only Soul Strike that he would need it for.

I have so much Spirit Energy. I can’t imagine when losing half of my Spirit Energy would do my any real damage…

It could only be used once every twelve hours. Quite a long time to wait, but if he were to use every single soul in his reserve, harvest the souls of those that strike killed, than re-cast Soul Strike in almost an instant?

That could very well safe his life.

He tilted his head up. Part of him wanted to buy the scythe-staff based on that ability alone and not even look at the next option, but he knew that would be foolish.

So he moved on.

Charon’s Scythe

This scythe-staff requires 2,000 Intelligence, 2,000 Spirit, 2,000 Willpower, and 2,000 Strength to wield.

+300 Intelligence

+500 Spirit

+300 Willpower

+200 Speed

+200 Strength

+120% Spirit Energy recovery

+110% magical damage dealt

+110% physical damage dealt

Imbued ability: When this scythe-staff is in the hand of its wielder, it bestows upon them the ability to Soul Step. Soul Stepallows the user to latch onto the soul of any newly deceased Denizen or beast and move through the Otherworld to transport to the location of the soul instantaneously.

Time restriction: This ability can only be used once per minute.

Distance restriction: This ability is restricted based upon how far away a user can sense souls.

This item costs 2,500,000 Minor Spirit Coins

Holy crap!

Xavier grinned, reading the description. This scythe-staff required considerably more attribute points than the past two scythe-staffs, but the number of attributes it offered was far superior.

And it still offers five hundred points in Spirit!

This made him bite his lip and wonder if he should look at weapons that were more expensive than this one. He could afford it, after all, couldn’t he? But again, he knew it might be a long while before he saw this kind of money a second time, which meant he needed to spend it wisely.

Right now, he didn’t need to buy the most powerful weapon that he could find. Though he’d told himself not to be arrogant, he didn’t think he wasbeing arrogant when he looked at the challenges he would soon face.

Those challenges didn’t require a weapon that cost over fifteen million Minor Spirit Coins.

The imbued ability interested him as well. It dealt with the Otherworld—something specific to his new class—and it would allow him to teleport. He’d been wishing for a better way to move around the battlefield for a long while now. Of course, this required that someone be recently deadfor him to travel toward them, and it could only be used once per minute, but it still seemed plenty powerful to him.

It would also more than double his damage, both physical and magical. That added 10 percent over the other scythe-staffs would make a very big difference.

Though the temptation to look at more expensive weapons hadn’t left him, Xavier knew he should stick with his decision.

He couldn’t help but linger on the scythe-staff’s name for a moment. It begged many questions. Charon. He knew that name. The ferryman who transported the dead to the underworld. A Greek myth, yet here the name was, as though this scythe-staff belonged to him—or was named after him.

Was Charon real? Is he still? If he is, how do we know of him, just like we know of elves, demons, and other races I’ve encountered that humans have been dreaming about for years?

He shook his head. Maybe one day he’d learn the answer to that, but right now it wasn’t important.

Xavier purchased Charon’s Staff.