Xavier laid out the contents of the dead invasion leader’s Storage Ring. He had to do it outside out the leader’s tent, considering how much stuff there was inside of it. Most of it looked like junk, if he were to be honest. Expensive looking junk, at least. More fancy furniture, books, and even… a statue.
Of someone who looked remarkably like the dead invader, and could have easily been his relative.
This man enjoyed travelling in style…
He was honestly a little confused about how much money the man had. Not actual money, as the man had only had a few hundred thousand Lesser Spirit Coins on him. He supposed those would come in handy, though he could make more than that easily enough if he took the time.
No, the leader’s wealth wasn’t in his coins—it was in his possessions. First, was the device that had cut Xavier’s lines of Willpower Energy, something he doubted even the Lord of the Endless Horde possessed, as he’d never tried to use such a thing.
I’m going to need to find a way to counter something like this. I can’t have one of my most useful spells be countered by a single item. If not for Willpower Infusion, I wouldn’t have been able to blow the Lord of the Endless Horde’s core…
Xavier identified the item.
{Mental Defence Array – Radius: 200 feet.}
The Mental Defence Array blocks all mental attacks regardless of if the user is friend or foe for a period of one minute within the designated radius.
Xavier smirked. One minute? Two hundred feet? And it wasn’t even upgradeable? He supposed something like that would be rather effective in a fight, even if it only lasted for a single minute. A minute could stretch out to an eternity—or several Dragon Ball Z episodes—while in the middle of an intense fight.
The man also had several Communication Stones. Three of them. Xavier identified them each in turn, only to discover that they were all already paired. He’d been hoping he’d hit some sort of jackpot, and that he’d be able to pass another one to one of the members of his party. The more of them that were linked telepathically, the better.
Technically, he could unpair the stones, and part of him wondered if he should do that there and then. Interestingly, two of the Communication Stones were only world-wide, instead of sector-wide, which meant that whoever had the paired stones for those was almost certainly on Earth—unless the man had been holding onto them for when he returned to wherever he came from.
The third Communication Stone was sector-wide. Probably the one the man was using to communicate with whoever his bosses were.
These might come in handy later.
He put them to the side and kept looking through the dead man’s items, glad he’d put down that blackout array. There would have been no way that the invasion leader had gotten a read on exactly how strong Xavier was, but he would have at least been able to tell someone he was strong enough to mentally control a hundred of his Denizens.
I don’t want others to have any idea of what I’m capable of.
There were, unfortunately, no Portal Stones. He supposed it would have been too much to ask to find even one of those. Though he didn’t like the idea of these invaders having access to Portal Stones, so maybe it was a good thing he didn’t find any.
Another thing he found was that this man had ten sets of armour, and ten different swords, sitting inside of his Storage Ring. At first, this felt a little confusing to Xavier, until he identified each of the sets and found that they all had different attribute requirements.
“I think this is E Grade equipment,” Siobhan muttered, pointing at a set of armour and a sword. “This guy thought he was going to reach E Grade on this planet, and brought enough equipment to get him there?” She shook her head.
“I guess they’re only restricted when they enter the world, not while they’re in it.” He’d learnt that one from talking to Sam. “He’s clearly got strong backing if he can afford all of this. He’s also not as young as I would have expected for someone at Level 20.”
Siobhan nodded. “He looked like he was at least thirty.” The woman gestured toward the man’s massive stockpile of health and mana potions, his stockpile of food and water, and the other alchemical potions Xavier had yet to identify. “He should have been a much higher level by his age with all of these resources.”
Xavier, who was sitting on the ground as he sorted through all of the items, leant back on his hands and tipped his chin up to look through the canopy at the afternoon sky. He drew in a breath of sweet, Earth air, then he sighed. “He’s been trained for this. For invading a new world. Worlds like ours, ones that are allowed to be accessed, might be more rare than others that are newly integrated, but that doesn’t mean people aren’t prepared for it.”
Siobhan nodded. “And rare is relative in a galaxy with hundreds of millions of potentially habitable planets. Who knows how many other planets in this sector are going through exactly what we are right now?” The woman’s forehead creased. “What happens in five years? When the System’s restrictions drop? Do you think you’ll be ready? Anyone will be able to come to Earth.”
“Oh, we’ll be ready,” Xavier said, determination steeling his voice. “More than ready.”
He smiled when he identified the next item. It was a set of spikes that looked a hell of a lot like his blackout array. When he’d started searching through the man’s belongings, he’d hoped he’d be able to find something like this.
{Minor Defensive Array – 200 feet}
This Minor Defensive array protects a small area from all enemy attacks for a period of one hour. As this is a minor array, it can fully withstand the attacks of the majority of average F Grade beasts and Denizens. However, it may not withstand many—if any—attacks from an E Grade enemy.
This device can be recharged with Spirit Energy, and its defences can be boosted by Toughness Energy.
Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.
This device can only be used once every 24 hours.
Current Charge: 100%
Once he’d read through the description, he handed it to Siobhan. “Well, would you look at that.”
Shiobhan turned the spikes, which were wrapped together by a cord, around in her hands. Her eyes glazed over for a moment as she identified it—the other members of the party had all gained the skill themselves. “That’s powerful. Could you imagine having that inside the Tower of Champions?”
“I wonder if the tower would even let us use something like that,” Xavier mused. “Something like that… it’s like a portable Safe Zone.”
“Though it only lasts for so long,” Siobhan muttered. “Still, it should be enough for this area. I suppose the invasion camp didn’t bother using it because it’s only temporary, and they didn’t know they were under threat by someone strong enough to take them.”
There wasn’t much else of interest—at least to him—in the leader’s Storage Ring, and Xavier was feeling more than a little antsy for another fight. Admittedly, the alchemical potions did intrigue him. There were thirty potions bottles that weren’t simply health and mana. Of these thirty potion bottles, there were three different types of potions. Offensive potions, that contained poisons and the like; defensive potions, that when drunk would temporarily provide the user with a magical barrier; and finally, attribute potions, which gave a temporary boost to a user’s attributes.
Unfortunately, the potions were far too weak to be of any use to Xavier. Still, he gave them to Siobhan and told her to spread them out among the other members of their party. He could certainly see them coming in handy.
The alchemical potions got him wondering, as well. If he got his Seed Garden up and running, and found an alchemist or two, would they be able to create things like that? And how long would it take them to do it?
If there are attribute potions more powerful than these, ones that temporarily add a percentage boost, that could be very powerful…
Potions aside, he was keen to see what these dungeons were like. He hadn’t expected there to be anything like them on Earth.
“This should be enough to keep these people safe,” Xavier said. He took the Minor Defensive Array off Siobhan’s hands and stood. Wearing the leader’s Storage Ring, he touched a finger to each of the items leftover, clearing the ground. Though he left the stack of health and mana potions for Siobhan to sort out as well. “I think it’s about time we checked out that dungeon.”
Siobhan tilted her head to the side. “You know, you could always leave us behind and clear all three of the dungeons on your own. It’s not like you’ll need us. Then you’ll be able to set up the Seed Sanctuary even faster.”
Xavier frowned. “That’s not the plan. You said yourself you guys aren’t as strong as you should be. It was sheer luck that you all survived the tenth floor at all. I don’t want any of us relying on luck if we can help it.”
Siobhan smiled. “All right, then.” She paused. “Should I leave my Communication Stone with one of them? And the Portal Stone, too?” She gestured to the array, which was still in his hands. “That array might work for an hour, but that might not be enough time.”
Xavier hefted the spikes in his hands, wondering about her question. He looked around at the camp. The former captives—he should probably think of a better name to call them all—were cooking food and eating around a couple of the campfires that were still burning. They were clearly quite hungry.
He didn’t like the idea of taking away the Communication Stone and Portal Stone from Siobhan, but he also didn’t feel as though they had a better option. Besides, he would be with his party—nothing bad would happen to them while he was there to protect them.
“All right. That’s a good idea.” He couldn’t help but let out a sigh as he looked at the people he’d saved. They were only Level 1, and all of them so weak. It wasn’t their fault that they were weak, but it would have to be something that changed. And fast.
He walked over to address them all, feeling a little awkward doing so. They looked up at him, stopping what they were doing. Though he’d personally taken off each of the metal circlets that had been around their necks, they still looked at him in fear, as though scared he might change his mind about protecting them and attack them instead.
“My party will be leaving the camp. There are three dungeons nearby that we mean to clear before returning,” Xavier said.
The survivors muttered to each other; he heard one of them ask another what a dungeon was. He bit his lip. Did these people really know so little?
One of the survivors—it sounded better, in his head, to call them that rather than former captives—stood from where he’d been eating and hesitatingly walked forward. “Will it be safe for us, while you’re gone?”
The man looked to be in his mid-twenties. He was a mage, but no longer wore his basic mage robes. Xavier had let them loot the corpses of the invaders he’d killed, and this was the only one among the survivors who’d not only already done that, but actually changed his equipment. He carried a staff with a red crystal at its top.
“What’s your name?”
“John. John Hammond.”
“All right, John. While I’m away, you’re in charge.” Xavier passed the Minor Defensive Array to him.
The man held it huddled in his arms, confused until Xavier explained what it was. When he had, the man’s eyes lit up. “That’s awesome. So it’ll basically make the space into a Safe Zone?”
Xavier blinked. Maybe one of them did have an idea of what was going on. “Only for an hour, which means you shouldn’t activate it unless you’re in danger.”
The man nodded. “For sure.” He bit his lip. “You’ve already done so much for us, but… what if we can’t handle the danger, while you’re away? What if it lasts longer than that?”
John’s eyes lit up even more when Siobhan handed him her Communication and Portal Stone, explaining to him what they did.
“Whoa.” John shook his head, staring at the stones. Then he looked over at Siobhan, Howard, and Justin, until his gaze finally came to rest on Xavier once more. “Where the hell did you guys come from, anyway?”
Xavier frowned. “Have you heard of the Tower of Champions?” he asked. Wouldn’t stuff like this have been explained in their tutorials?
“No. We… we basically only know what we overheard the invaders talking about. When the System came, I was dropped into the forest, with about a thousand others. There was this massive hologram that we were all gathered around… it barely started talking when we were all attacked.”
“They attacked your tutorial?” Xavier asked. “There wasn’t any kind of Safe Zone around it?”
John shook his head. “Nothing about this new world is safe, as far as I’ve seen.”
Xavier ran a hand through his hair. If the invaders could strike straight in the middle of tutorials… that didn’t bode well for the people of Earth. He had trouble imagining there would be enough invaders to strike everywhere at once, but what if he was wrong about that?
“Out of a thousand people, you’re saying you are the only survivors?” Howard asked. The man had taken a step forward. His expression hadn’t shifted from his normal, serious demeanour. The only tell that he was worried was the fact that the blood had rushed from his face, paling his cheeks.
John nodded, his face clouding. “It was… words can’t describe.” He was holding the spikes of the Minor Defensive Array in one hand, his staff in the other, and clearly didn’t have a Storage Ring, as he’d had to put the stones he’d been given in the pockets of his robes. He shoved the butt of his staff in the ground and gently touched his neck. “Thank you for freeing us. This is happening all over the world, isn’t it? It’s… it’s not just us?”
“No,” Xavier said. “It’s not just you.” He felt the need to say something more than that. These were the people he’d been fighting so hard to get back to. After all they’d suffered during his absence, they needed something more… encouraging. So he cleared his throat and held up his chin.
“My name is Xavier Collins. I’m from Earth, like all of you. The System sent me and the other members of my party to a place called the Tower of Champions, where our mettle was tested, and we gained vast amounts of power—power that we’re going to use to protect you, and everyone else on Earth. I’m sorry for what you’ve all been through, and how confusing and terrifying it must have been. I truly can’t imagine the depths of your suffering.
“But I promise we are here to protect you, and we will do more than that—we will teach you how to protect yourselves. When we return, we will be setting up a fortress. We are going to turn this forest into somewhere our people can prosper and fight back against the invaders that have come to our planet. We won’t just fight back, either. We will find a place for us in this new reality, and anyone who tries to hurt us will regret their actions most dearly.”