Xavier stood on a tall platform in the middle of Garster’s capital city, Mareketh. The platform floated high up in the air. When Xavier looked over the side of the railing, he wasn’t able to see anything holding the platform up.

  The platform was huge, a few miles long. There were thousands of different portals on the platform, with humans, dwarves, elves, orcs, lizardmen, and all manner of different races stepping in and out of them.

  As Famarial was an elf, Xavier had expected the city to be an elven city, but it looked to be a melting pot of different races. In all of his journeys to different worlds on the floors of the Tower of Champions, he’d never encountered this many races mingling with one another.

  Unless he counted the Champions back in Hunter’s Home on the hundredth floor. Or even the waves of the Endless Horde on the fifth…

  Xavier pushed those floors from his mind and gazed around at the city. There didn’t appear to be a way off the platform, though Xavier did notice that some of the portals were smaller than others. Some portals were guarded, others unguarded, and there was one that looked to be guarded by the Mareketh city watch, for the Denizens who stood beside that portal had patches on their shoulders with a triple-sun symbol, and the sky above Mareketh had three suns blaring down on him.

  “So many people,” Xavier muttered.

  It was strange to walk past so many Denizens out in the open and not feel as though any of them were about to attack him. He’d made his way to the railing at the edge of the platform so he could get a better view of the city, walking past thousands of strangers who barely gave him a glance. He hadn’t bothered scanning any of them. Something told him that scanning others in public might be considered rude, though he wasn’t sure.

  Xavier’s eyes had widened the moment he’d reached that railing.

  The city was like nothing he had ever seen, though it reminded him of many things. Xavier had never been to London, but he couldn’t help but see something akin to that city in this place. There were buildings here built of stone that looked to be ancient, though Xavier knew they couldn’t be more than a thousand years old—the entire integrated part of the sector had been wiped out by a catastrophe a thousand years ago, after all. It was a good thing Earth had not yet been integrated, as it managed to avoid that catastrophe.

  Along with the ancient-looking building of stone, there were buildings that looked oddly modern, though completely different in style to anything he had seen before. There was a dome that looked to be made entirely of glass, and there were other such structures dotted around the city. Inside those domes were great gardens surrounding stark white buildings that looked like mansions.

  The mixing of the old and new was the only thing that reminded him of London and other cities like it. Otherwise, this city was wholly unique—at least to his eyes.

  “Lords and ladies’ residences,” Famarial said, coming to stand by Xavier’s side at the railing. The elf nodded at the domes. “Many powerful people from around the sector have a home here on Mareketh, and most of those people are powerful enough to secure large plots of land, or they’ve been here long enough that the city grew around their properties.”

  “What are those domes made out of?” Xavier asked.

  “They’re protective shields, powered by magical generators. None can enter them without permission, not even city officials would have the might to break through those.”

  Xavier tilted his head to the side. “What of the Empress Larona?”

  The elf’s eyes widened. He looked at Xavier. “She has never come here.”

  Xavier nodded, leaving off more questions about the empress. He had asked the elf about her before, but he’d gotten all squirrely, apparently uncomfortable talking about the most powerful Denizen in the sector.

  “She sees things,” Famarial had said. “I don’t want her seeing me.”

  Xavier turned back to all the different portals. “I thought travel from one world to another was prohibitively expensive.”

  Famarial raised an eyebrow. “It is supremely expensive, though I don’t know about prohibitive. Still, each one of these portals costs a fortune to operate. It was a gamble for me to open one to Earth. Much of my revenue goes toward simply keeping it open.”

  Xavier waved a hand at the other portals. “But what of all these already established portals? Could I not simply step through one of them to another world?”

  “Not without paying a fee.”

  Xavier smirked at him. “Are you sure about that? I can be rather convincing. I might even be able to move fast enough that none of them notice my passing.” Especially if he froze time to do it.

  Famarial creased his forehead. “I do not doubt that. However, do you notice how most of these portals are not guarded?”

  Xavier had noticed that.

  “They do not need guards. Portals like these, there is a way to bar entry to them. A way to only allow those with permission to pass through, else they will simply walk straight through the portal and appear on the other side of it.”

  Xavier frowned. “I’ve moved through another’s portal before. That was how I dealt with certain threats to Earth.”

  “Some do not think it necessary to put these safeguards in place, and they cannot be done after a portal has already been established. I imagine invaders to Earth did not think that anyone could ever pass back through their portal. Tell me, was the portal you exited on the other side in a military base?”

  The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  Xavier nodded.

  “Then why would they need extra protections?” Famarial asked. He waved a hand. “They could not have anticipated someone like you, though I dare say people might approach the next world to be integrated with a little more caution after what you’ve done. The portals here have the requirement of the protections I speak of. This is a private portal platform, and while anyone is allowed to create a portal here, they must adhere to the guidelines if they wish to keep it open.” Famarial pointed out several different guards that were walking around the platform, each of them with the same triple-sun symbol patch on their shoulders. The guards wore different armour or robes, but they looked uniform in their colours. Some carried staffs or wands, others swords, axes or spears. One guard even had what looked like a bullwhip at his hip. “The guards have the ability to scan a portal, and shut it down if necessary.”

  “What stops someone from opening a portal in their basement?” Xavier asked. “Or out somewhere in the woods?”

  “A portal lock,” Famarial said. “A ritual performed to protect an entire planet from unwanted portals.”

  Xavier blinked. He hadn’t known about that. He thought of the Portal Stone he had left back in Collinsville. Did this mean he wouldn’t be able to actually use it? At least, not from this world?

  And what of the Sector Travel Key?

  “Is there any way to circumvent that lock?” Xavier asked.

  Famarial stared at him. “Not a question one should ask in public. Mareketh is a free city. Travel to this place is not as heavily restricted like most places in the sector—as long as one uses their portal platform—that’s what makes it such a valuable hub of trade. But talk like that is bound to get one noticed by city officials.”

  Xavier likely had enough money to pay whatever transport fee necessary, but the fact that he likely wouldn’t be able to use his Portal Stone, or even his Sector Travel Key—or perhaps even his Universal Travel Key—made him uncomfortable.

  I’ll have to ask Famarial when we’re somewhere a little more private. Maybe I can figure out how to use one of those privacy bubbles…

  Perhaps all he would need to do was a visit a tavern. They seemed to be the likeliest place to have privacy bubbles, especially a place like this that hosted so much trade. There were doubtless plenty of deals done out in public that people didn’t want overheard.

  Xavier couldn’t help but smile down at the alien city. It wasn’t the first time he had stepped off Earth, but it felt entirely different to every other time. This was his own universe, and it wasn’t somewhere he’d come to fight off invaders.

  He was simply a visitor here.

  Xavier turned to Famarial. “Are there any good hunting grounds near the city?” He grinned, resting a hand on the Companion Cube.

  Famarial raised an eyebrow. “Hunting grounds? I thought you came here to make alliances. To gain support for Earth from other worlds.”

  Xavier blinked. “Why would you think that?”

  Famarial frowned. The elf looked a little lost for words. “Why… Why exactly are you here?”

  Xavier wondered how much he should tell this elf. He was growing more fond of Famarial the more time he spent with him, if he were honest. He liked the elf’s excitable nature, and he was a good source of knowledge. But they weren’t exactly friends. They weren’t even allies, really—this man was contracted to him.

  Besides, how much would he want to say out in the open like this? Would it create conflict if he said he wished to gain an audience with Empress Larona?

  “I’m here to expand my horizons, Famarial,” Xavier said, being vague. “I’ve outgrown the current challenges on Earth, and I wish to see what the Silver River sector has to offer.”

  “Expand your horizons.” The sides of Famarial’s lips came up in a small smile, though it quickly faded away. “And your first visit is to be somewhere to train?” The elf shook his head. “You haven’t even stepped down into the city proper, and you already wish to leave the remarkable place that is the city of Mareketh on the planet of Garster?” The elf shook his head a second time, more forcefully. “No, no, no. That won’t do. I’d heard Progenitors and other elites never think they have time except to train, but there is more to life.” He clapped his hands. “Come! Let me show you what Mareketh has to offer!”

  Xavier did little more than raise his eyebrows at the elf as a silent reply. He almost told Famarial, in no uncertain terms, that he didn’t have time to galivant around some alien city, sightseeing instead of getting out there to train. He had only been given six months before he returned to the tower, and he’d already used up some of that time back on Earth. If he didn’t make the most of every moment that he had, he might never become strong enough to be the Weapon of the System…

  But then he took a moment to really think about where he was. He stepped back to the railing, leaving Famarial simply frowning at him, waiting for a response, the elf looking more and more awkward the longer he went without receiving one.

  The city was one of the most beautiful sights Xavier had ever seen.

  Did he truly want to miss out on this, because the only thing he could think to do was train? He knew that his obsession with becoming more powerful was warranted, but did it have to take precedence over literally everything else?

  He had wondered about this more than once. His lifespan was such that he would live for more years than he’d ever thought possible, yet there were seldom times he didn’t feel like he needed to rush through every single thing so that he could get to the next thing faster.

  I’m going to be on this journey for… well, a hell of a long time. Will I spend every one of those minutes simply moving forward toward my ultimate goals?

  Or should he pause and take a moment to appreciate what it was he was trying to save?

  Xavier looked back at the elf and smiled. “All right, Famarial. Show me around the city.”

  “Hah!” Famarial beamed back at Xavier. He rubbed his hands together. “All right, first we just need to get down to ground. There’s a portal down here—” Famarial was pointing toward a portal flanked by two of those city guards.

  But as he did, Xavier had stepped up onto the railing. When he had first seen Famarial, the man hadn’t deemed to comment on Xavier’s claws or his new look. Xavier, at the time, had had his wings retracted into his back, invisible to the naked eye.

  Now, he spread them wide and leapt straight of the platform, soaring down to the city below.

  [What the hell are you doing? And where did those wings come from? Great System, you can’t just fly down like that!] Famarial spoke inside of Xavier’s mind through the use of a Communication Stone. It had been Famarial himself who had provided it. The elf seemed to think that they would come in handy, and Xavier had agreed. They were world-restricted, so they wouldn’t work if Xavier left this planet without the elf, but at least they’d be able to communicate while they were in the same area.

  [Is that so? I didn’t see that written anywhere. I’ll meet you down on the ground.]

  Xavier couldn’t wipe the smile off his face as he flew over the alien city that looked like something straight out of one of the fantasy books he loved reading back before the integration.

  Thinking of those books made him wonder about something. Ever since he’d been integrated, he’d wondered what the rest of the universe was like. Yes, he’d ventured out into the universe already. Seen more than he’d ever imagined seeing. He’d even come across a wonderful tower library in Queen Alastea’s castle. But there was so much more that he’d yet to see—so much more that he wanted to see.

  And he found he didn’t want to see things only on the other end of a blade. He didn’t want to travel somewhere only to fight and kill.

  He wanted the chance to explore the sector, and the universe, not just while he was fighting.

  Accidental Champion!

  my patreon has 29 ADVANCED CHAPTERS to enjoy!

  https://www.patreon.com/posts/free-tier-book-4-116513628

  https://discord.gg/nsgnbpWJ7S