“Xavier!” Justin was practically jumping up and down with excitement. He pointed, blatantly, at Xavier’s wings. “You have wings?! Since when do you have wings?” He leapt up into the air and suddenly his own wings sprouted from his back. “You gained the Winged Flight spell too? How did you manage that?”

  The tavern’s ceiling was high enough that Justin was able to fly around in here. Sam, momentarily distracted from Xavier’s news, frowned up at one of his patrons hovering six feet in the air.

  “No flying in the tavern!” the barkeep bellowed, then sighed with a shake of his head. “I haven’t had to use that one in a while.”

  Justin landed back down to the ground. “Sorry, Sam!” His wings disappeared in a puff of white feathers. He rushed over to Xavier. The others weren’t far behind him, though they only walked.

  Howard, Siobhan, and Justin looked exactly how he had left them, except for their armour and robes.

  Howard, a former police officer with a close-cropped beard, broad shoulders, and an often serious look on his face had on a different set of full-plate armour than he did before. The armour was a stark, uniform blue, but the blue didn’t look as though it was paint—more like it was made from some alien or magical metal Xavier had never encountered before.

  The red-headed Siobhan had a bright smile on her face as she walked over, highlighting her freckles. She had on white robes similar to what she usually wore, but these had intricate patterns woven into the fabric, almost like runes.

  Justin had on light, flexible armour that covered every inch of him. It looked somewhat like leather but didn’t make a noise as he walked.

  None of them had their weapons out inside the tavern.

  They all stood before him in front of the bar. Sam pulled drinks for them without having to be asked, and Xavier smiled at his friends. For him, it had been a long while. For them, only about a week or so had passed, yet it seemed as though they’d done a lot in that time.

  “Seriously, though,” Justin said. “Where did you get those wings? They look awesome! Kind of like a bat.”

  “Or a dragon,” Howard muttered.

  Siobhan’s bright smile turned to a frown as she looked him up and down. “You look… different, Xavier.”

  “We were getting a little worried about you,” Howard said, scratching his beard. “You’re not usually gone for a whole week on a floor. It’s good to see you alive. What was the floor like?”

  Xavier raised his hands. That was a lot of talk and questions all at once. “Why don’t we take a seat.” He gestured to a table at the corner they often sat at, then looked at Sam, nodding appreciatively when he saw the barkeep was preparing a mug of coffee for him instead of beer or ale.

  They settled onto their seats, but the members of his old party didn’t look any less eager.

  Xavier retracted his wings so he could sit comfortably, then took a sip of his coffee. “I suppose I should start at the beginning. The hundredth floor works differently to other floors…”

  He regaled them with the story of what he’d gotten up to on the floor, detailing all of it. He figured he had time enough for that. He’d been back at the Tower of Champions for less than an hour. There was still almost a full day before he would have to make his next decision.

  The others stood in abject shock as he explained more and more of his accomplishments. As he told him of his new spells and his new class and race. Of his soul bound weapon. Of defeating the C Grades.

  Finally, Xavier stood. “There’s something else I’d like to show you as well.”

  “Something else?” Justin said. “You’re D Grade! A dragonkin! All you’ve done…” Justin couldn’t help but shake his head in obvious disbelief. “How can there be more?”

  Xavier rested a hand on the Companion Cube hanging from his belt. He looked around the tavern. He remembered what the dragon had told him—that a single strike could kill him. The Dragon Hatchling was only Level 0, after all. It wouldn’t take much to hurt him.

  Xavier was confident he would be able to stop any attack before it happened, however. Besides, he doubted anyone in this tavern would be dumb enough to attack.

  He stepped out into a clear area of the bar, then he summoned Volkarin out of the Companion Cube.

  The dragon appeared a few feet away from him. The beast stretched out its neck and looked around. Volkarin opened his mouth and released a small roar, which didn’t sound at all threatening—something that clearly frustrated the dragon.

  Why do you summon me into a tavern? the dragon asked in his mind. They do not often serve dragons in taverns. The dragon paused. I am hungry again.

  Justin leapt up from his seat. “You… You have a dragon?”

  Every patron in the place was staring at the six-foot beast standing in the middle of the tavern.

  Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  Xavier ran his hand through his hair, looking a little sheepish. “Well, yeah.” Then he explained that Volkarin, the dragon that was the Spirit of Vengeance, resided within the dragon.

  Justin shook his head. “I don’t think I’ve ever been more jealous of anyone in my entire life.”

  “I guess you’re finding new party members,” Siobhan said.

  Xavier raised an eyebrow at her. A beast companion didn’t technically count as a party member. A Champion could have a full party of four and a beast companion when they entered a floor of the Tower of Champions.

  That definitely felt like a loophole to him.

  “What do you mean?” Xavier asked.

  Siobhan took a sip from her drink, then tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear as she looked up at him. “We can’t come with you to the floors you’re on anymore.” She nodded at the dragon.

  Volkarin was still covered in blood from his last meal. He was currently licking one of his taloned hands and wiping the blood off his face like a cat cleaning themselves.

  “That dragon, however, can. And with a powerful spirit like that residing within it…” Siobhan shrugged. “Maybe the dragon will never become as powerful as you.”

  Volkarin’s head snapped up. The baby dragon glared at Siobhan and gave a little roar.

  Siobhan raised an eyebrow. “But it will become powerful enough to assist you if it’s always by your side and you train it up. Something… Something none of us three are ever going to be able to manage. There’s no way that we’ll ever be able to catch up to your level of power. We kind of already knew that would be the case, but now, after what you’ve just achieved…”

  Xavier inclined his head at the woman. She was right. He was too powerful for them. For the most part, he liked fighting alone, but there was a certain versatility that came with having others fighting with him. The dragon could take on skills and spells that benefited Xavier’s fighting style. It might be a while until Volkarin was strong enough to assist him in a real fight, but he knew eventually that time would come.

  The dragon had been incredibly powerful in its last life, there would much knowledge to draw upon.

  He found he was a little saddened that he wouldn’t be able to bring his old party members to floors with him anymore. Though he had always considered himself an introvert, he had enjoyed the company, and they had certainly been a great help to him—especially early on, when they pooled their resources to help him become stronger.

  “So, what, us becoming stronger isn’t even relevant anymore?” Justin said, the words coming out in a flat, dejected tone.

  Xavier frowned. “That’s not the case.” He had been thinking about his old party members, and all the people back on Earth.

  After his time on the hundredth floor of the tower… He had pretty much already outgrown his world. He still felt a duty to Earth. A strong duty. He wasn’t about to let anything happen to it. He wanted to protect everyone there as best he could. He had chosen Champion in the first place so that he could fight for his world, not so that he could abandon it.

  But there was more at stake than his home world. The entire Silver River sector was at stake. And, eventually, the entire universe would be too.

  After all he’d done… He had no doubt that he would become the Weapon of the System.

  To do that, he knew he needed to venture away from Earth, and he knew he needed to do it soon—and not just in the Tower of Champions. He had to move through his own universe.

  Xavier explained this to them as best he could. “The three of you may no longer be my party members, but I still need you. Earth still needs you. I will always do everything in my power to protect our world,” he said. “But I won’t always be there. Besides me, the three of you are probably the most powerful people on our entire planet.”

  “Us and Adranial,” Howard muttered.

  Xavier shook his head. Talking about Adranial around Howard was a clear sore spot. “Adranial is not of our world. We can… use her knowledge, and her skills. She may have sworn enough loyalty to become a part of our Tower of Champions, but… I need the three of you to be able to take charge.”

  Justin straightened. He looked at Xavier intently, and Xavier could see the determination in his eyes. “We need to be strong, for when the restrictions lift.”

  Xavier nodded. “Exactly. I know that’s over four and a half years away, but something tells me that time will pass us by quickly if we’re not careful. The three of you need to be diligent in your training. I will make it so that no one in our sector will dare touch Earth while I’m around, but…”

  “You won’t always be around,” Howard grunted.

  Xavier nodded again. “The universe is a big place…” The decision came to him then. He didn’t need twenty-four hours to come to the conclusion.

  He wouldn’t be moving onto the next floor right now. His next step would be returning to Earth, so that he could begin travelling to different worlds in his own sector.

  I need to visit Sam’s boss, the Empress Larona. Something tells me we have a lot to talk about… I need to know more about the threat that’s coming to the Silver River sector. The threat that could wipe out the sector altogether.

  To make full use of the six months that he would be gone from the Tower of Champions, there was no way that he would be able to simply stay on Earth. There were still things that he wanted to accomplish back on Earth, but that wasn’t going to stop him from leaving it.

  Volkarin had finished cleaning the floor off himself. The Dragon Hatchling raised his head and looked at Xavier. He opened his mouth and gave out a small roar. Did you not hear that I was hungry, young dragonkin?

  Xavier chuckled, taken out of his reverie. He’d only just fed the dragon before putting him into the Companion Cube. He didn’t expect the dragon to be hungry again already. Preparing the meat for the dragon was a little bit tedious, even with his Dismantle skill, though he intended to continue doing that in the future.

  For now, he flagged Sam over. “Do you happen to carry any meat a Dragon Hatchling can eat?”

  Sam raised an eyebrow, looked at the dragon, then nodded. “I think I can come up with something.”

  Xavier continued his conversation with his old party members. He asked about how they’d been going on the different floors. It turned out they’d been farming them pretty hard, and that was why they all had new armour. They’d moved through the floors methodically, gaining everything they could from each of them—they knew that, without Xavier, they weren’t going to be gaining any records from the floor. None of them seemed interested in soloing the floors, nor had they taken on another party member—the three of them were too far ahead of other people in the tower, and that gulf would only stretch, like the gulf between Xavier and them.

  Power begets power…

  Adranial and her party had been steadily feeding them information about the floors, just as she’d said that she would, even though Xavier wasn’t there anymore. According to Siobhan, Adranial’s party wouldn’t be returning to the tavern for another day. As he’d be out of the tower by then, their paths weren’t about to cross.

  Xavier knew he would have to talk to the woman again eventually. Her ancestor was the most powerful person in this entire universe. And, considering Xavier’s trajectory, and that the man already had his sights set on him… He was sure he would encounter him soon enough.

  It wasn’t until the conversation dwindled down that Xavier told them his intentions.

  “I’m leaving the Tower of Champions. I won’t be returning for six months.”

  Accidental Champion!

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