Xavier stood in the middle of an invaders’ camp. Though it was less a camp, and more a full-on army base, with a myriad of different buildings atop the mountain peak where it was situated.
Around him lay roughly a thousand dead soldiers, along with their commander—a man that had been entirely useless to Xavier.
Now, Xavier was speaking to a woman somewhere on the other side of the universe.
He’d certainly come a long way since dreaming about becoming a writer.
He’d asked her what he could do to show those invading Earth that coming here wasn’t worth their time, and her response had been… enlightening, but also rather insane.
[Won’t that alert them?] Xavier asked. [The last thing I want to do is show my enemies that they can send stronger Denizens here.]
[Do you really think you can keep your identity, your power, a secret for long, Xavier Collins?]
Xavier looked down at the dead commander. [I have a way of blocking communications. Something that will stop anyone I face from alerting their home world of how strong I am.]
[You are a curious one, aren’t you? While that was a wise choice, it will not be enough. You, my friend, are making waves. Some of the most powerful people in the Greater Universe already know of your existence. Information may not flow down fast, but it does trickle. Sooner or later, those invading your world will learn about what you are.]
[What I am? Don’t you mean who?]
Adranial chuckled. [What you are is who you are, and there’s no escaping it now. Might as well show them on your terms. Now, something tells me you don’t wish to let me come to Earth just quite yet, so while I’m still stuck where I am, I have some things I must attend to.]
Xavier was almost curious enough to ask what those things might be, but he held off. He had more important things to do.
The conversation ended.
Xavier thought about cleaning up the mess that he’d made up here. These buildings and the resources inside of them, not to mention all of the gear and other items the troops might have, could come in handy.
But he didn’t want to stick around here for too long. He still had people he needed to find.
As for what Adranial had suggested he do…
The woman told him he should step through one of the portals and announce himself, then decimate everything on the other side, leaving a few survivors behind to tell the tale. She assured him he should be capable of something like that—that anyone strong enough to counter his attack was unlikely to be close enough to.
But to him, it sounded like complete and utter foolishness… even if he’d actually considered it already. It wasn’t as though a foolish notion hadn’t gotten him far in the past.
Defeating the Endless Horde and the Lord that commanded it had come from a foolish notion, after all.
It could be a recipe for disaster… or it could get these invaders off our back even faster.
Whatever he ended up deciding, he knew he wasn’t going to make that decision today, which meant he needed to move on from this place.
He leant down and took the Storage Ring from the commander’s finger. Something told him this ring wouldn’t have the same kinds of defences that the Storage Rings the Lord of the Endless Horde had on his rings. He’d been able to access the contents of the last invasion leader’s ring he’d looted, after all—that had gotten him the Minor Defensive Array, which had come in quite handy.
The other loot to be scavenged was of no consequence to him right now. He wanted the aftermath of his attack to send a message to any other invaders who came upon it. Leaving all the loot behind seemed like a good message, one that said whoever defeated these people didn’t even think it was worth their time.
Besides, he still had a portal to close—and a quest to finish.
He smiled. Another quest reward. That would bring him closer to gaining another level. Hell, considering he only needed 25 E Grade Mastery Points, it might push him over the line.
He hadn’t expected to gain his first level so quickly after returning to Earth.
Let’s hope that streak continues.
Xavier pushed out his senses and used his Aura Sight, but unfortunately, he wasn’t able to detect the portal. It wasn’t showing up on his mini-map, either.
The last time he’d done a quest like this, back in the forest where his new base had been established, the portal had closed by itself, after he’d defeated the invaders.
He waited, but no notifications appeared. This time, it must be different.
He let out a small sigh then started moving through the base, slipping in and out buildings as he went. There were definitely a good few resources in this place. He looked at his mini-map and wondered something—could he mark locations on it?
He willed the thing that he wished to happen. A flag was planted upon the mini-map.
This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
{Location Marker 1 - Undefined}
Do you wish to define this location?
Xavier chuckled. Success! He was constantly surprised by how intuitive the System turned out to be. Though he supposed it had billions of years to get to this point.
That was something he still struggled to contemplate.
If I play my cards right, will I be around for that long?
He could barely contemplate a thousand years, let alone billions.
Xavier labelled the area, calling it Invasion Base 1 - Defeated. He knew that wasn’t exactly the most inspiring name, but he’d never been all that good at naming things.
Now that he’d marked the area, he discovered he could select the flag on the mini-map. When he did this, an arrow pointed him toward it. Though he had no way of knowing, he assumed this would work from a great distance.
Xavier pushed forward through the camp until he came upon the largest building inside of it. This building stood at the centre of the mountain’s peak. It was larger than any of the other buildings he’d encountered.
This has to be the one.
He’d actually been able to see this building from a fair distance away, as it had a tower in its middle that stretched high up into the sky, piercing the clouds above.
If the portal isn’t in there, then it isn’t anywhere.
Instead of condemning himself to taking the stairs, Xavier leapt up the side of the wall. The stonework was smooth and completely devoid of any hand or footholds, but that wasn’t about to stop him. He dug his fingers straight into the stone. When he first leapt, he hadn’t known if this was something he could do.
He wanted to try it anyway.
He grinned as his fingers dug through the solid stone.
“Perfect.”
He flung himself up the side of the building in what probably looked like a very awkward imitation of spiderman until he finally landed at the top. What he found was remarkably reminiscent of the eye of Sauron in Mordor. The portal was where he’d instinctively suspected—at the tippy-top of the tower.
He could have set up the Portal Block while he was down on the ground, it was an item he’d yet to utilise since coming to Earth, but he wanted to see the portal close.
Just as he was taking out the Portal Block, he had an idea. It was very… medieval, but perhaps it would make those on the other side think twice before sending more people through.
Maybe Commander Alden Trellot will be more useful than I’d first thought.
Xavier deposited the [Portal Block] back into his Storage Ring, then he leapt off the top of the tower, landing smoothly on the ground below with a large thud and a small crater.
He made his way back to where the commander lay dead on the ground, then he summoned Charon’s Scythe. With one swift swipe, he decapitated the commander.
Xavier had done far more gruesome things while fighting his enemies, and this wasn’t the first Denizen he’d decapitated, but the fact that this man was already dead hit a bit differently.
Desecration of a corpse. That’s what this is, isn’t it?
There was something deeply disrespectful about the act. But that was the point. If even he, the very man who’d killed the commander in the first place, felt strange about this, then the man’s superiors surely would feel the message.
Xavier made it back up that tall tower and stood in front of the portal. He held the severed head of Commander Aldren Trellot by the hair. It swung ever so slightly, pushed by a harsh wind.
Xavier tossed the head through the portal.
That’ll send a message.
Only then did he summon the Portal Block from his Storage Ring once more. The Portal Block item was a four-foot-long iron rod with a spherical crystal at its top, and a spike at the other end. He identified the item, reading its description again.
{Portal Block – Radius: 5 Miles – Upgradeable}
A Portal Block is an item which is defensive in nature, giving the user the ability to block all unauthorised portals within the defined radius.
He stabbed the Portal Block straight into the stone beneath his feet, wondering if it would need to contact the ground to activate or not. He hoped it wouldn’t need that, as he could imagine activating it high in the air might come in useful in the future.
Especially if a portal had opened up five miles off the ground.
Xavier didn’t linger. From this vantage point, he could see the city below the mountain, sprawled out in front of him, with its odd mismatch of monuments. There were things about it that were familiar—things about it that made him think it must be Fronton. His university campus, for one. And the bridge he used to walk across almost every day on his way to class.
But there were too many things about the city that were unfamiliar.
Xavier frowned, not knowing what he would find down there. He leapt off the tower and sprinted through the invaders’ defeated base.
Just as he did, he received a notification.
Quest Complete!
You have completed the quest: Clear invaders on the mount.
The invaders upon the mountaintop are no longer a threat to your world. They’re no longer a threat to any world, and with their portal closed, reinforcements are unlikely to come.
Here are your rewards:
1. 18 Mastery Points (E Grade)
2. 2 Communication Stones
Xavier had been leaping through the air as he read the notification. His eyes widened. He landed a little roughly on the ground from being distracted, but he didn’t care.
He hadn’t acquired enough Mastery Points to gain him another level, but he’d gotten pretty close. He now only had 6 points left until he reached Level 102.
Not bad for his first day back on Earth.
Though it was the item—or rather items—he’d received that interested him the most, and which had been the reason for his rough landing.
Two Communication Stones. He might finally be able to communicate with more members of his party telepathically at once. At the moment, he wasn’t able to communicate with any of them, as the one who had his other Communication Stone was John Hammond back at the base, just in case anything went wrong back there and the survivors—no, the citizens—ended up needing his assistance.
The Communication Stones had materialised in his hands mid-leap. He looked down at them and examined them both. They each had an identical description.
{Communication Stone - Restriction: 100 miles}
A Communication Stone has the ability to form a mental connection with two people, allowing them to communicate telepathically over distances both great and small. Once a connection is established, the stone can be used while inside spatial storage.
The power of this Communication Stone is restricted to a 100-mile radius and does not allow users to communicate farther than that radius.
A Communication Stone is useless if it is not paired.
Xavier’s shoulders deflated slightly. One hundred miles wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t exactly what he had in mind. He’d been hoping to receive a world-wide restriction at the least, considering the other Communication Stones he possessed were sector-wide and restriction less.
But… considering how fortunate he’d been acquiring items so far, he supposed he couldn’t be picky. Something like this would still be incredibly useful.
He left the Communication Stones unpaired and deposited them into his Storage Ring, then kept moving, leaving the devastated base behind.
It was time to make his way home.