For the first time since his return to Earth, Xavier felt… free. He enjoyed being with his party, and he wanted to ensure they became stronger and stronger, but he also didn’t want them to become as reliant as they had been of him in the past.
He was glad they’d been breaking out of that reliance, paving their own way by defeating that dungeon boss and splitting up the party—even if he’d been unsure of doing that at times.
Xavier zipped through the trees at a speed he’d never experienced before, moving far faster than he ever had, even back on the seventh floor when doing that escort mission for Princess Narella of the Forest City of Mithraela.
From atop the small mountain where he’d accessed the Moon Sky Dungeon, all he’d seen were the tops of trees for as far as his vision could reach. He didn’t know how large this forest was—didn’t know how far away civilisation was, or even if he was moving in the right direction.
His mini-map came in handy, but unfortunately it couldn’t show him anything about areas he hadn’t explored.
Every now and then, Xavier would take great, sweeping leaps into the air, using Heavy Telekinesis to push away the trees above him to clear a path for his jump. He would gain a tremendous amount of height, and be able to see for miles. It took half an hour of him doing this before he saw what he thought were the tops of skyscrapers, his first real evidence—other than the people he’d saved, and the general flora and fauna—that this actually was Earth.
Another hour later found him standing on the outskirts of a city that looked like Fronton, but also had buildings that weren’t at all familiar to him, and ones that were astoundingly familiar but certainly weren’t from Fronton.
What the hell has the System done to our world? And why?
Though it didn’t take him long to reach this place, he knew that was primarily because he was far faster than any of the others. He’d done his escort mission for the princess in a fraction of the required time, after all.
I wonder how long it would take the others to get here… a day? Two?
A part of him felt as though he should try and find them. Bring them here. The city of Fronton was where all of their families should be, assuming the System hadn’t moved them around too much. But that would be counterproductive. Their families could be anywhere, and just because Xavier was fast didn’t mean splitting up wasn’t a good idea.
Besides, he could move far faster alone, and he didn’t have to worry about anyone but himself.
Xavier gazed around the outskirts of the city, wondering where he should begin. He imagined there must be thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of people in that city—people from Earth, who needed his help.
Perhaps I do need to worry about other people.
Considering what he’d encountered already, invaders takings Earthlings as slaves, he worried for what he would find. Worried about how many would be dead or taken. About what the invaders might have done to them.
His gaze fell upon a mountain, which made him frown. He couldn’t remember a mountain being there before. Another alteration made by the System. He tilted his head to the side. Though his vision was far superior to the average human, he didn’t have a specific attribute that increased it, which meant he could really use a telescope. Still, when he narrowed his eyes and really concentrated, he swore he saw movement at the top.
As he was staring at the mountain’s peak, a notification appeared.
Quest Log Update (New Quest Available)
Xavier grinned. It looked like the System was willing to give him some guidance after all.
He opened up his quest log.
Current Quest: Clear invaders on the mount.
Invaders have taken root on a mountaintop. They are consolidating power and gaining levels at a swift pace. Destroy them before they grow too strong.
Goal: Defeat the enemy invaders and close their portal.
Progress: Incomplete
Reward:
1. Bonus Mastery Points
2. Unknown Item
I suppose more land claiming rights would be too much to ask for… not that I have another Sanctuary Seed. Though I have to imagine there are other ways to establish bases.
Xavier glanced between the notification and the mountain a few times, wondering if this was the best use of his time right now. Something told him he wouldn’t find his mother, Howard’s family, or the others’ families up there.
But he couldn’t stand by and let these invaders prosper on his world.
Xavier pushed his Aura Sight as far as it could go. On his way through the forest, he’d been replenishing his soulkeeping reserve—which was still capped at 1970 souls. He wished he could push that higher, but despite using Soul Strike, Soul Harden, and Soul Harvest a great deal, he hadn’t managed to push those spells any higher.
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I need to fight enemies that are worthy of my spells. And the souls I’m consuming for Soul Harden… they mustn’t be potent enough to do much of a difference, just like the Mastery Points I gain from killing enemies.
But he was far from stagnating. His spells, his body, everything was working at peak condition.
It took him mere minutes to make it up the side of that mountain. It wasn’t long before he came upon the camp there. And it was more than just a mere camp, too. Buildings had been constructed up here, ones that looked almost 3D printed in how perfectly uniform and drab they were. Grey, stocky things that reminded him of military barracks.
Were these prefabricated buildings somehow transported through the portal? Or did they construct these here, piece by piece?
Considering how easily his base had come into being, he struggled to imagine people from integrated worlds relying on manual labour, but then again, if they didn’t, why would they need so many slaves?
How valuable was that Sanctuary Seed?
Xavier shrugged all of those thoughts away. None of them were particularly important.
What was important was that there appeared to be thousands of invaders in this camp. He didn’t know how many invaders there were on Earth—there had only been one hundred or so in the last camp he’d found. But if this new camp was any indication…
Xavier was careful to be quiet as he approached the camp. It was built on the peak of the mountain, hidden away from view. What he’d spotted from a distance had been a few solitary figures keeping watch of the city below.
Xavier didn’t spend a long time observing them. Honestly, he didn’t really care who they were or what they were doing here. They’d came to take advantage of his world, and it was his job to stop them. So he set up SCABA, placing the different flags in a small circle hidden near the camp in the mountainside’s thick underbrush to activate them, blocking any possible communications within a five-mile radius, which should cover more than enough distance.
What was frustrating, however, was the fact that the camp appeared to have an array of its own. It was nighttime, his vision was clear, and he could see the enemy soldiers in the camp perfectly well. Their auras, however, were another story. It was one thing to have buildings or tents, like the last invaders’ camp, blocking his Aura Sight. It was another thing to have the entire base covered by such a protection. Xavier also found that he was unable to scan or use Identify on these Denizens.
Time to see what these people are made of.
It was also about time he gained some ranks in Core Burn. The spell was currently only Rank 4, which he thought was rather pitiful. If he were going to get any real use out of it against stronger opponents, he would need to strengthen it. He could probably have taken out the entire camp with a single Soul Strike if he wished, but this seemed like a better use of his resources—it was always better to do something that would make him stronger, rather than something that would make him remain static.
Xavier used his superior senses to first spot the scouts on watch. There were several hidden away up in trees, seemingly invisible to the naked eye. But he could hear their heartbeats, not to mention their breathing. He grinned. Perhaps he shouldn’t take enjoyment from what was about to happen, but Xavier had always wanted to find a calling. Something he was good at, that meant something. Something that could absorb all of his attention and bring meaning to his life.
What better calling could there be than defending Earth? And, eventually, the entire sector Earth resided within?
Nothing wrong with enjoying that…
He used Core Burn on the closest scout, then on the next, then the next. Each casting of the spell killed them near instantly. He used the spell to take down a total of ten different soldiers on watch. Surprisingly, only one out of those ten fell from their perch atop a high branch. The noise would have no doubt been heard within the confines of the compound—except Xavier managed to stop it.
He used his Heavy Telekinesis to catch the man before his skull slammed into a rock on the hard ground. The man was already dead, so him taking further damage wouldn’t have helped Xavier’s situation.
Core Burn has taken a step forward on the path!
Core Burn is now a Rank 10 spell.
One cannot walk backward on the path.
I gained six ranks from killing ten enemies. God, that feels good!
It was nothing like the exhilaration he’d felt when he’d been killing scores and scores of waves of the Endless Hore, gaining levels and ranks at the fastest pace he’d ever managed, but it was still amazing after the drought he’d experienced.
He didn’t need to perform these tasks quietly, but he figured learning a small amount of stealth might come in handy in the future. Especially when he inevitably went up against forces that were stronger than himself.
Xavier made his way through the base like this. Core Burn had an incredibly short cooldown period, to the point where it was almost non-existent. It caused the enemies’ cores to burn through energy. This not only took away their Spirit Energy, leaving them unable to cast any more spells, it also took away their ability to live, as the cores kept burning energy, moving onto their health afterwards.
It was the only way Xavier had managed to kill the Lord of the Endless Horde, despite the D Grade bastard being technically a lot stronger than him. When he’d done it against the Lord of the Endless Horde, he’d been using his Willpower Energy to manage the feat, controlling the man’s mind after a confluence of events allowed him to manage it.
Now, at least on weaker enemies, all he needed to do was use this one spell and it would do the same thing.
He used Core Burn on an enemy from afar, then Soul Stepped to their corpse and did the same to enemies near them. He entered buildings, and watched as the enemies ran toward him or cast spells at him. Not once did he think to bother using Soul Block, Otherworld Phase, or even dodging them with his high Evasion skill.
Xavier just let the attacks come. After a moment of the enemies watching their attacks do nothing to him, they always fled, fear in their eyes—he never let a single one of them get away.
If he was to question any one of these people, it would be their leader. The foot soldiers meant nothing to him.
This stealth approach didn’t last. After he’d cleared the third building, some sort of alarm was triggered. Honestly, he was surprised it had taken them so long. He couldn’t tell exactly how the alarm worked, but he could hear the damned thing. It was like a bell ringing around inside his skull.
The sound alone made him grit his teeth. He imagined it would have caused pain in a normal person. In Xavier, it served to only cause irritation.
When the alarm had sounded, he heard shouts outside the building he was in. With a swift Heavy Telekinesis, he took out the remaining enemies in the building, crushing them against the thick stone walls.
Once he’d made his way into the base, he’d been able to identify his enemies. He was almost surprised to find that the entire camp was comprised of human Denizens. He’d seen plenty of Denizens from other races while clearing the different floors of the Tower of Champions.
Where are all the elves? The demonkin? Even dwarves?
The Endless Horde hadn’t comprised of a single race, but rather multiple races, like a melting pot of Denizens from around the sector. He had to imagine there would be other empires and kingdoms that functioned in the same way.
Xavier released a sigh as that alarm was still ringing, then he walked to the entrance of the building he was currently in. The entire base had been alerted, and they’d gotten here incredibly fast. The soldiers were arrayed in neat, orderly lines. Clearly, they all had good training. A man stood at their head—someone who wore fancier armour then the rest of them.
The man raised a hand. The alarm ceased.
He must be the one in charge.
If anyone might be able to give Xavier some answers about the sector, he imagined it was someone leading an invasion. This time, he would need to leave them alive—even if only for a little while.