Xavier sat in the Stone Ways tavern, a warm mug of coffee rested in front of him along with a plate of food with something that approximated bacon. The book he was reading lay open on the table. He was already halfway through. Part of Xavier was absolutely thrilled that he now possessed the ability to speedread faster than anyone back on Earth, but he found he was trying to slow himself down so he wouldn’t go through the book too quickly.

  He didn’t want to run out of all the books he’d just purchased, and this was without using Time Alteration.

  The books were more interesting than he’d imagined. He couldn’t help but get swept away in the pages, just as he used to. And he found himself relating to the character more than he ever had with any book he’d read in the past, given how much his life had changed.

  Famarial was at the counter, enquiring about the woman they were to meet there. The bartender was a stocky, grizzled-looking half-orc, half-dwarf. Xavier wondered what the meeting of the man’s parents had been like.

  No one had given him a second glance. Xavier was keeping well aware of his surroundings. It was a well-honed habit, and the entire establishment easily fit inside of the radius of his Farscope ability. He wasn’t sure why he’d expected to get noticed in this place. It was a little arrogant to think the average Denizen on the street of a city that held over forty million people might have knowledge about a man from a newly integrated planet, let alone know what he looked like.

  Famarial soon returned to the table. The human and the elf drank and ate in silence. Famarial read one of the books he’d bought from the bookstore, hiding the cover by splaying it open on the table. Every now and then he gave a muttered “Oh,” then chuckled. Xavier briefly wondered if the elf would get along with Liana.

  Twenty minutes passed before the information broker entered the Stone Ways tavern. Xavier, despite trying to read the book slowly, was almost at the end of it. He had but a scant twenty pages left of the thousand-page tome. He briefly entertained the idea of creating a time dilation field around him and the book so he could finish it before she got there, but instead closed the book as she arrived.

  It would give him something to look forward to when this meeting concluded.

  He’d asked Famarial why they weren’t simply purchasing information packets from the System Shop. Famarial had looked sideways at him, saying it was far easier to find the information you truly needed when working with someone who sifted through it as their main profession. Xavier couldn’t help but cede the point. He supposed they were much like item brokers in that way.

  The woman was a gnome, which Xavier hadn’t expected. She was shorter than the dwarves encountered in the past. The gnome had a serious look on her face and wore what almost looked like ordinary spectacles, except that they glowed slightly. It was clear there was information on them that only she could see. Xavier wondered why they might be necessary.

  There were a lot of things in this world he’d not expected, this was just another thing on the list.

  “Kylina Rackle!” Famarial said with a beaming smile. The book he’d been reading disappeared into his inventory. “You look stunning.” Famarial glanced at Xavier. “Doesn’t she look stunning? Is that a new robe? It suits you.”

  Kylina gave Famarial a blank stare. “It’s the same one I wore the last time we spoke.” Her tone was as blank as her stare. She turned and looked at Xavier. The moment she set her gaze on him, her eyes widened, but she didn’t speak.

  Xavier was about to say something when she raised her hand, palm facing him. Then she withdrew an item from her Storage Ring and placed it onto the table. It looked like a normal wooden box, with runic symbols etched into it. She touched a finger to it, and it was clear she was putting Spirit Energy into the box.

  The box glowed, and a thin barrier erupted from it that encompassed the table the three of them sat it. Xavier looked at the bubble from outside with his Farscope ability, and found that everyone within was blurred.

  I imagine noise won’t be released from here either.

  He hadn’t seen a privacy bubble like this one. He wondered if he would be able to purchase one like it.

  The gnome, Kylina, resumed her wide-eyed stare at him. “Xavier Collins.” She looked at Famarial. “This is why you’re still able to operate on Earth.” She narrowed her eyes. “You didn’t tell me you had a relationship with the True Progenitor.”

  Famarial shrugged. “The contract forbid me from saying anything.”

  Kylina sighed. “Privacy contracts. Both the bane of my profession and a supremely important tool of it.” She shook her head, the shock from seeing Xavier across from her having seemingly disappeared, her expression became blank once more. “What can I help you with?”

  Xavier had been thinking about that on their way to the Stone Ways tavern. There was a lot of information that he wished to learn about the Silver River sector, even if he felt as though he’d outgrown it, but he also wished to know about the neighbouring sectors, and the main powers that resided in them. He could have asked Alexic—and he planned to get a detailed description of the B Grade that was after him—but he wanted a more general overview to begin with.

  That wasn’t all he was after though.

  He needed to know more about the Empress Larona. Where he might actually find her. Not only that, he wished to know about hunting grounds for Volkarin and the Spirit Golem. While he did wish for somewhere to train for himself, that wasn’t the immediate priority.

  Xavier discussed all of this with the gnome woman. The gnome, unlike Famarial, gave no visible reaction to his mention of the Empress Larona, which made Xavier wonder if the elf was simply being superstitious. As much as he was beginning to like Famarial, there was something odd about the guy.

  Kylina inclined her head then her gaze went a little blank. “I have stored information about each of these things.” She told him the cost. Famarial raised an eyebrow, but to Xavier it seemed perfectly reasonable. Famarial seemed as though he wanted to haggle with the woman, but Xavier waved him down.

  Something told him he might be getting fleeced, but he didn’t much care. After a quick scan, he found the gnome to be only Level 33. The type of money he could now make as a powerful D Grade made whatever she wished to charge him feel like chump change.

  The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

  Xavier paid the fee and was provided with the information packets. They weren’t actual packets—documents inside of folders or something like that. The information packets were in the form of small crystals. All he needed to do to gain the information was press a finger to them and will it.

  Xavier touched the one detailing the different hunting grounds available. Once he asserted his intention, a System notification popped up.

  Do you wish to consume the information in this Data Crystal?

  Xavier willed his answer as yes.

  The information came as System notifications, though they looked a little different to the notifications that he was used to, as though the font had changed. There was a list of different hunting grounds and when he selected one of them it showed him a description of the grounds, including what kinds of beasts could be found there, their levels and the spells they had at their disposal.

  There were even images of what the area looked like and what the beasts looked like, and how to access the different hunting grounds, including the fee to travel there from the city of Mareketh.

  Xavier couldn’t help but wonder what it would be like if people were able to get something like this for the Tower of Champion’s floors, but he knew the System forbid people from disseminating information about the different floors in any form other than speech. Besides, he wasn’t permitted to gain any information about the further tower floors, a restriction that as far as he was aware was only on him, and not on anyone else in the Greater Universe.

  He looked through the different training grounds on offer. He was trying to find somewhere that had beasts ranging from low F Grade all the way to Low D Grade.

  Xavier hastily looked through all the different locations. Kylina told him that the list wasn’t exhaustive, it was simply a list of hunting grounds that could be accessed from one of the portal platforms that floated above the city of Mareketh. There were countless worlds within the sector that she knew very little about, as it simply wasn’t possible to have a complete knowledge of everything that was out there.

  “If there is something more specific you wish to find, please inform me and I will do my best to get the information to you,” the gnome had said after passing him the packets.

  It didn’t take Xavier too long to find a hunting ground that looked like a viable candidate for what he was after.

  What he couldn’t find was anywhere that had C Grade beasts for him to fight. While he wasn’t surprised about that, he was disappointed.

  Once he’d found what he needed for Volkarin and the Spirit Golem, he looked over at the gnome. “Are there any hunting grounds or worlds you know of in our sector with C Grade beasts?

  The gnome, who usually managed to keep a blank expression, widened her eyes briefly. “C Grade beasts,” she muttered, though she did not remark on the question. She did not seem to offer her personal opinion on any of the information that he asked for. Her gaze went cloudy for a moment, then she shook her head. “I do not have that information. I can search for it.” She paused. “For a fee.”

  Xavier inclined his head. “Yes, that would be good.”

  “Was there anything else you wanted?” Kylina asked.

  Xavier absent-mindedly shook his head. He was examining the different beasts in the hunting grounds he’d found. “No, I think that’s all for now.” He flicked off the text and images so he could look at the gnome properly without seeming distracted. “Thank you for your help.”

  “It is simply my job, but you are welcome.” The gnome stood from the table then paused as her gaze fell upon the cover of the book that Xavier had sitting on the table. She tilted her head to the side as she examined it, and a small smile—the first one he’d seen—curved the side of her lips. “Is that He Who Fights with Beasts?”

  Xavier rested a hand on the top of the book he’d been enjoying. “It is. Have you read it before?”

  “Read it? I subscribe to the feed! I’ve never seen it in physical book form before. May I look at that?”

  Xavier shrugged and handed the book over to the gnome. “No spoilers. I only just picked it up today.”

  “Remarkable,” Kylina said as she turned the book over in her hands and flipped through the pages. The small smile that she’d had turned full blown.

  “Why Kylina, this is the first time I’ve seen you happy about anything before,” Famarial remarked. “Your smile only enhances how beautiful you are.”

  The gnome pointedly ignored the elf.

  Xavier couldn’t help but smile at the gnome’s excitement. He didn’t expect to be bonding with the information broker over a book. “What do you mean, you subscribe to the feed?”

  “Feeds are the entertainment category in the System Shop,” Famarial offered. “Haven’t you come across them before?”

  The gnome gave the elf a look. “Xavier is a Champion from a newly integrated world. Unless he’s accessed the System Shop from here, the only one he’s likely to have used is the System Shop in the Tower of Champions, which doesn’t offer access to the Feeds. Apparently, the System seems to think Champions would get too distracted from their tasks if they had access to entertainment while in the tower.”

  Xavier had access to a different System Shop. The one that he’d unlocked back in Collinsville. But he’d only recently unlocked that, just before he left Earth for Garster, and he hadn’t actually bothered to use it before.

  “So this feed,” Xavier said, leaning forward in his seat. “You’re saying there are more books than this first one available?”

  The gnome raised an eyebrow at him in her most expressive reaction yet. She raised the book. “This only covers the first volume. The author is from one of the inner sectors. The story is often near the top of the Greater Universe feeds in popularity.” She paused. “The author has been writing this story for over one hundred thousand years and has produced perhaps three volumes per year.”

  Xavier blinked. “One hundred… thousand years.” He did a bit of quick math. “Three volumes… at least one thousand pages each… That’s three hundred million pages worth of content!” Suddenly the thought of reading this story became utterly overwhelming—then, he realised something.

  With his ability to speedread, his ability to create time dilation fields, and his incredibly long lifespan… Here he’d been worried about running out of stories to read, having almost completed the one in his hands.

  Now, an entire universe of stories had opened up to him. One hundred thousand years was even kind of recent, considering the age of this universe…

  Famarial shook his head. “Right. I’ve actually heard of that guy. Must be super rich. He has quintillions of subs.”

  The gnome returned the book to Xavier, and he couldn’t help but stare at the cover for a moment.

  Once more, the wheels were turning in his mind. One of the things that he knew he would need to do to achieve his goals was acquire vast amounts of money. He could spend his time creating spirit coins using his Time Alteration ability, and he’d done that a few times before, but though that gained him a great amount of wealth relative to his level, in the grand scheme of things it would still take him a very long time to acquire what he needed.

  He once more thought about that A Grade weapon he’d seen in the System Shop. Stave of the Otherworldly Void Reaper. It had cost one billion Grand Spirit Coins. An incredible sum.

  What if there was another way for him to earn wealth…

  He looked over at the gnome. “Thank you for the information you’ve provided for me, Kylina.”

  The elf gave a small bow, then departed the tavern.

  “What’s going through your head?” Famarial asked.

  Xavier cracked open the book, ready to finish the last few pages and the rest of his coffee. “That it’s time I get to those hunting grounds.” He didn’t feel like telling the elf what was actual going through his mind. For some reason, despite how powerful he was, and how much he’d accomplished, he felt a little embarrassed by his idea. He glanced at the elf. “You’re welcome to join me if you wish to gain a few levels.”

  Famarial raised an eyebrow. “I’d be honoured.”

  Xavier and the elf finished their respective books before departing the tavern.

  It was time to return to the portal platform. Xavier had enjoyed what he’d seen of Mareketh, but he was getting antsy for some training, even if it wasn’t his own.

  Accidental Champion!

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