The other Xavier didn’t say much after that. Apparently, that was all he had gone to all this trouble to tell him—that the universe was ending, and he was responsible for saving it.

He wouldn’t answer any of Xavier’s other questions. About the future. About his friends. About his abilities. About the other places in the sector he might be able to go.

Nothing.

He had simply told him that now he had the information, he would know what to do with it. That it would inform his every choice, and because of that, his choices would be better. More calculated. They would serve him in the long term—they would turn him into what the System needed even better than the System itself could.

It didn’t feel helpful to Xavier at all, having all that weight on him. How could knowing every single one of his decisions could change the entire universe help him move forward?

It was… paralysing.

Xavier wondered what other things he could talk to himself about, but he ultimately decided that was just too strange. Besides, this man wasn’t him. Not truly. Their paths may have been close to identical… right up until the nineteenth floor. Now, they were different. Now, the other Xavier had changed Xavier’s trajectory simply by speaking to him.

I still don’t know how me knowing all this now is going to help. Even if it does inform my decisions, I don’t know what the right decisions are if I don’t know what—or who—I’ll be fighting.

It wasn’t as though he was given a timeframe when everything was supposed to end. Besides, if the universe was to end, and the other Xavier had failed to stop it, how was he even here? Shouldn’t he have… died? Shouldn’t whoever had created the System in the first place have died, if they were combatting the end… shouldn’t they have already ended?

Too many questions and not enough answers. The answers, he feared, were too far away, and he didn’t know if getting them would help him, anyway. The other Xavier certainly wasn’t about to give him any more information.

So Xavier closed his eyes and meditated instead. He focused on the Celestial Energy in this place, drawing it into his third core—his Speed Core.

It was difficult, at first. Counterintuitive. He’d gotten used to dragging Celestial Energy out of the air and placing it in the two cores he’d had access to. His habits were strongly formed, and at first he struggled not to simply bring the energy into his Spirit Core and his Willpower Core—both of which were full and didn’t need him bothering with them.

He knew he would be able to figure it out, however. He knew he had to figure it out. The stress and pressure and shock of what he’d just learnt was still weighing on him—it would always weigh on him, he knew. It was simply a part of his life now, one he’d have to get used to.

I can’t let this paralyse me. I can’t let it stop me from moving forward. Ultimately, nothing has changed. Not in my present—not in my immediate future.

It occurred to him as he meditated that this was, perhaps, what Adranial’s ancestor had an interest in him for. The woman’s ancestor had been around for as long as this universe had—or, at least, almost as long. His planet had to develop life, first, before the System came and hijacked it.

Still. He would know what was going on better than anyone.

The System is watching.

That notification. The words of it. They popped back in his mind.

Was this why the System was watching him? Because he was… one of its chosen?

He breathed in deeply, exhaled slowly. His thoughts were kicking him out of his meditative state, which wasn’t helping him cultivate energy at all.

Focus. Focus on the task at hand.

Once he got into a properly focused state, it didn’t take long for him to start cultivating the Celestial Energy into his Speed Core. The first drop of energy into it felt like a sip of water after being stuck in the desert for a week.

Then it was a flood. Overwhelming in its intensity.

He wasn’t aware of how long he sat there. He didn’t really care how much time passed. The monster on this floor would be slain by the other version of himself no matter what he did.

The other version of me…

This other version of Xavier would be here the next time he stepped onto the floor. Pretending to be an old man. Every time anyone stepped onto this floor, they were interacting with him. He had thought he’d already wrapped his head around that, but the realisation that he, Xavier Collins, had been a part of this universe, as someone on a floor of the Tower of Champions, since just about the time of the universe’s birth…

God, that was a lot to take in.

It all was.

Pushing away the thoughts again, he continued cultivating, then circulating that energy out and back through his new core until finally a notification popped up in his vision.

The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

Congratulations, you have completed your Spell Quest and gained the spell Time Alteration!

Xavier opened his eyes and smiled. The smile surprised him. After all he’d just learnt, he hadn’t expected to take joy in anything, let alone the simple act of learning a new spell. Even if he had only done that a few times since entering the System.

“It’s a good feeling, isn’t it?” the other Xavier said.

Xavier nodded. It was a good feeling. His smile drifted away, however. The reason he had come to this floor was to learn this new spell, and the other Xavier had no more information. It was time for him to head back to the Staging Room.

Soon. I want to stay here. Just a little bit longer.

He decided to read the spell’s description before he left.

Time Alteration

Time Alteration is a powerful spell based on the Speed attribute.

This spell gives one the ability to infuse Speed Energy into the space around them, creating a time dilation field that slows or speeds up time in the user’s immediate area. The spell it limited in its scope—the more powerful the user’s Speed attribute, and the higher rank of the spell itself, the more area this spell effects, and the longer its possible duration.

Note: This is a localised time spell. It will only affect the timeline of the user’s universe. It does not have the ability to create new timelines, nor can it make the user travel through time.

Xavier tilted his head to the side. Yet another thing he needed to wrap his head around. He looked at the other Xavier. The older Xavier. “Do you want to give me any tips, about this spell?”

That faint smile brushed the man’s lips again. “This is something you’ll have to figure out for yourself.” He looked in the direction he’d said the door to the Staging Room would be. “You better go. Your friends will be waiting.”

Xavier still didn’t want to go, but he stood up all the same. The other man stood, too.

“Would it be weird to shake hands?” Xavier asked. “I don’t know how I feel about what you told me… but I’m glad you did. At least, I think I’m glad.”

The other man stepped around the fire. They shook hands.

It did feel weird.

Xavier hesitated. He had more questions about the spell he’d just learnt. One of those questions pertained to the note at the end of the spell’s information.

The note that talked about alternate timelines.

The note said that this spell didn’t create new timelines, nor did it allow the user to travel through time. Xavier hadn’t seen notes like that on spells before. It made him wonder…

Why would the System go out of its way to say this spell couldn’t be used to create new timelines, or travel through time, if those two things weren’t possible?

But the older Xavier wasn’t going to answer his questions. Not on this. So Xavier left the nineteenth floor.

I have other ways to get answers. As long as I don’t mind calling on spirits from the otherworld.

When he returned to the Staging Room, he’d expected to find the others waiting for him. Siobhan with crossed arms. Howard with a frown. Justin a little annoyed that he’d been left out, but excited to hear about the floor.

But no one was in the Staging Room at all. He tilted his head to the side, looked down at the note. It hadn’t been disturbed—it was exactly where he’d left it.

With all the talking he’d done with the other Xavier, and all the meditating, he was sure he’d been gone for at least a few hours. Had the others simply thought he was sleeping in his room?

He found the others in the tavern.

The three of them were having a drink. They looked up as he came in. “Xavier!” Justin jumped up from the chair. He swayed slightly, caught a table, got his balance.

Xavier couldn’t remember seeing the younger man ever lose his balance, especially as his levels kept rising.

How much has he had to drink?

Siobhan giggled behind her hand. Howard’s face was a little flushed.

Xavier smirked, raising an eyebrow at the three of them. “This is how you spend your free time between floors?”

Howard shrugged. “What? Can you blame us? We’re well ahead of the curve—well, you’re ahead of the curve. We’re just hanging off your coat tails.” Howard hiccupped. Sipped his drink. Wiped his mouth. “We thought you were in your room? What were you doing, meditating?”

Xavier sat at the table after ordering a drink. The strongest thing Sam had. He knew it wouldn’t do much for him, but he felt as though he needed it. It wasn’t every day you met yourself, after all. He frowned at the others when he sat down. He’d thought he’d been gone for hours and hours, but it was hard to believe they’d been down here that long. After they chatted for a few moments, Xavier understood what happened.

He hadn’t noticed it while he was on the floor, and he wasn’t sure how he would have. Perhaps it was the fact that there was a monster in the adjacent cavern, and it hadn’t made a single noise. Or maybe he could have noticed the lack of airflow coming into the room. Maybe his subconscious had noticed those things but had bigger fish to deal with.

From the moment Xavier had stepped onto that floor—or at least from the moment the other Xavier had looked up at him—he’d been in a time dilation field. While in that field, time had stopped. He and the other Xavier had moved faster than anything outside of the field could.

Xavier looked around the tavern. It was surprisingly empty. All the Champions in the cohort must be on floors right about now. Sam was cleaning a mug behind the bar, seemingly pretending not to even notice that they were there.

He could easily be listening into this conversation.

“What’s wrong?” Siobhan asked.

“Huh?” Xavier replied.

“We’ve been trying to ask you questions.” Howard clapped him on the back. “And you’ve just been sitting there, not responding.”

That isn’t like me.

Xavier cleared his throat. He wondered if he should tell the three of them about what he’d seen.

He usually told those three everything that happened to him. He’d been honest with them since the beginning. He stared into his cup for a long moment, swirling the liquid around. He wanted to tell them.

And… in the grand scheme… how was what he learnt so bad? The universe would one day end if he didn’t stop it… Hadn’t he already known the universe would one day end? Didn’t everyone, on some level, know that?

But we never imagine we might be alive to see it, and with the lifespans we’ll gain at the higher grades…

It felt different, knowing he’d be there for it. Felt different, knowing there was a chance to stop it.

“I have something I need to tell the three of you.” He stood, downed his drink, then placed it back onto the wooden table with a thunk. “Just not here.”

The other members of his party didn’t argue. They didn’t grumble about having to leave their drinks behind or leave the tavern early. They simply nodded and followed him up to the Staging Room. They looked curious enough, but none of them asked him any questions until they were inside the privacy of their own little instance.

“All right,” Howard said, crossing his arms. “What is it?”

“From the look in his eyes, I’d say it’s something serious,” Siobhan said.

Justin just frowned, looking a little confused.

Xavier let out a sigh. “I went to the nineteenth floor by myself.”