Standing in the Staging Room, his party before him, Xavier cast his new Time Alteration spell.

The others were looking on with interest. He hadn’t even given them a chance to ask what the spell did. Though he supposed it was all in the name, so they would have had a strong idea.

However, Xavier, if he were honest, wasn’t one hundred percent sure what the spell would do either—and he had the description to work with. Still, even so, he didn’t know how the spell would act. Didn’t know how to make it slow down time or speed it up—and he wasn’t sure how it worked in relation to what was happening around them.

But he was about to find out.

What looked to him like a large soap bubble shot out from where he stood. It expanded, taking in his party members. The odd thing about the bubble wasn’t the bubble itself, but rather that the other members of his party clearly couldn’t see it.

Casting the spell, there hadn’t been any fanfare. He’d felt a surge of power rip through him and out of Charon’s Scythe, but that power hadn’t been visible even to him.

No wonder I hadn’t noticed the older version of me using the spell. I thought it was just because he was a higher grade. I guess I was wrong.

The bubble didn’t stretch all that far. It had a radius of maybe ten feet around him. Enough to encompass himself and the other members of his party, but no more.

“So… are you going to cast the spell?” Justin asked.

Xavier blinked. “I already…” He trailed off as he felt a slight pressure in his mind. Then a notification popped up in his vision.

Do you wish to speed up time, or slow down time?

Xavier blinked again, staring at the words. He tilted his head to the side. If he sped up time, what affect would that have outside of the bubble? Would it mean that he and the others would be able to have an hour-long conversation in a single minute? Or would it mean when he “popped” the bubble, they would have moved into the future?

He assumed it would be the former that would happen—or something like it—but it was difficult for him to know. Especially if everyone was inside the bubble when he activated it.

He couldn’t wait to test out the different applications of this spell. All he hoped was that it had a short cooldown time.

“Howard, could you please take two steps back?”

Howard frowned, but he did as Xavier instructed, taking two steps backward. He was now standing just outside the bubble.

“Wait… why did you want him to step away?” Justin asked. “Nothing’s going to explode, is it? Should I take a step back?”

“Of course nothing is going to explode, it’s a time spell!” Siobhan said. Then she looked warily at Xavier. “I mean, right?”

Xavier smirked. “Well, I mean, I’ve never cast it before.” He shrugged. “Best to have at least one of you survive.”

“He’s joking,” Howard said.

Justin crossed his arms. “Of course you’d say that. You’re safe.”

Xavier looked over at Howard. “Can you start counting, and tell me what you observe of us?”

Howard nodded.

Xavier willed the spell to speed up time. Nothing changed. He felt the spell work—the pressure that had pressed against his mind was now gone. But inside the bubble was exactly as it had been a moment ago.

Outside the bubble, however, was what had changed. Howard stood there, arms crossed, staring into the bubble, not moving an inch.

“He’s frozen,” Justin said.

“He’s not frozen,” Siobhan replied. “We’re just moving so fast that it looks like he’s frozen.” Siobhan grinned. “This is a time dilation spell!” She looked as though she was about to take a step toward Howard when Xavier stopped her.

“I still don’t really know how this spell works,” Xavier said. “I’m not sure what will happen if one us steps outside of its radius.”

Siobhan drew herself backward a little, taking a step away from Howard. “And you can see the… barrier?”

Xavier nodded. “I can. It’s curious that you can’t. I thought, as my party members at least, that you should be able to see it.”

“Whoa,” Justin said. He was staring at Howard. “So, right now, you’re altering time? What else can the spell do? Can you go back in time? Because that would be so awesome!”

Xavier shook his head. “Nothing like that, no.”

“Oh,” Justin said, sounding disappointed. “Well, this is cool too, I guess.”

Siobhan tapped her index finger on her lower lip. “Interesting. It only works within the field. And, I imagine, the stronger the spell becomes, the larger this field of yours can become, too?”

Xavier nodded.

“Makes me wonder how long the cooldown will be,” Siobhan said. “A spell like this… well, when most of the Tower of Champions’ floors have time-based records, it could definitely come in handy—not that you need that kind of help at this point.”

“I may need that kind of help in the future,” Xavier said. “These floors might be easy now, but we have no idea how they will change.”

“Can the spell slow down time?” Justin asked.

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“It can,” Xavier replied. “But only inside the barrier.” He tilted his head to the side. “I think that means time will pass more quickly outside of it.”

Justin frowned. “How could that be a good thing?”

“I’ve been wondering that myself.” Xavier paced around the radius of the bubble. He wanted to know how Howard might perceive movement that was happening inside of it. He couldn’t help but watch Howard. Xavier’s speed was so high that he could move faster than any of them, but if he moved at speed while inside this bubble, and someone outside was looking in?

He would likely become invisible to them, but that didn’t seem necessary to test right now.

“I can think of a few applications,” Siobhan said. “Or, at least, I have the seed of a few new ideas forming in my mind.”

“As do I,” Xavier said. He was still pacing around the bubble, thinking about the different possible applications of the spell. He wanted to know how he could use it on the next floor—or if it was even worth doing so.

“This is really cool,” Justin said. He took a step toward Howard, but made sure he wasn’t too close. “I still wonder what happens if I step out of the bubble.” He raised his arm, and looked like he was going to touch the bubble, although he didn’t actually know where it was.

“Why would it get stuck?” Justin asked.

Siobhan bit her lip. “Well, it stands to reason. The bubble speeds up time within itself. So everything outside is moving as slow as Howard is. If you put your hand through that…”

“Then my hand might move slower than the rest of my body?”

“Exactly. You wouldn’t want that, would you?”

Justin dropped his head. “No. I suppose I wouldn’t.”

Xavier wasn’t worried. At least, not about himself. He wanted to see what would happen, but he didn’t want to put the others through it. So, he stepped up to the bubble. He reached out and put a single finger through it. He tilted his head to the side as his finger moved through the bubble.

“Are you sure you should be doing that?” Siobhan asked.

“I’m sure I would rather be the one to face any consequences.” Xavier smiled.

“I’d rather you face the consequences too,” Justin said.

“Oh, how very polite of you, Justin,” Xavier replied.

“I think so.”

Xavier held his finger through the bubble for a moment. He didn’t move an inch. Not even a millimetre. He examined his finger through the clear barrier that only he could see. Nothing appeared to be happening to it.

“So… Are you gonna do anything?” Justin asked.

“My finger is through the barrier already. I’m about to pull it back through.”

Siobhan stepped right up to him. She tilted her head down and stared at his finger. “Do it.”

Xavier raised an eyebrow at her instructing him, but did as she said. He pulled his finger back. It was an odd sensation. One that he couldn’t quite understand. He tilted his head to the side again, staring at his finger. It looked exactly the same as it had before. It didn’t get left behind as Siobhan had feared.

“Well, that was boring,” Justin said.

“In this case, boring is a good thing. Though I wonder what would happen if someone was thrown through the barrier,” Siobhan mused. “Also, the barrier might have acted differently because it was Xavier who was putting his hand through it.” She looked at Justin.

Justin put his hands up. “What are you looking at me for? I don’t want to test it. And I certainly don’t want to be thrown through it.”

Siobhan frowned at him. “Fine then. If you aren’t brave enough to do it, I suppose I’ll have to be the one.”

“Oh, well, can I be the one doing the throwing?” Justin asked.

Siobhan turned on her heel and faced Xavier. “Come on, Xavier. Throw me through it.”

Xavier raised an eyebrow. “All right. If you say so.”

Xavier stepped up to Siobhan and picked her straight off the ground. “You ready for this?”

“Of course I am,” Siobhan said with confidence.

Xavier shrugged, then threw her through.

Siobhan flew through the air. When she hit the bubble, Xavier flinched. Her body went straight through without any issues, then it froze on the other side. The woman was suspended in midair. Although, Xavier knew that wasn’t actually what had happened.

She wasn’t suspended in the air, she was frozen in time. At least from the perspective of those still within the bubble. Outside the bubble, time was flowing perfectly normally.

Justin walked up to the barrier. Xavier stopped him from making it all the way through. Justin nodded. “Thanks.” The young man frowned. “I think I know what is happening here.” He looked at Xavier. “Can you tell me exactly where the barrier ends?”

Xavier showed him what he wanted. Justin pushed his hand through without any hesitation. Then he wiggled his fingers on the other side. Xavier was surprised that they moved.

“How did you manage that? I thought whatever would be on the other side would be frozen?”

“I had thought that would be the case and first too.” Justin pulled his hand back through. “But it doesn’t appear to work that way. I noticed when Siobhan was thrown through, she wasn’t… Crushed or anything.”

“Wait, you thought she might be crushed, and you let me do it anyway?”

Justin shrugged. “Well, I wasn’t very sure.”

“I wonder…” Xavier stepped over to where Howard was. He wasn’t very far over the line. Only a single step. Xavier could easily reach him with an extended arm.

So, he did just that. He reached through the bubble and found that he was able to move his arm. He wasn’t sure why he hadn’t tested his finger. He supposed he was expecting something else to happen to it.

He pushed the man—gently—on the chest. Then Xavier pulled his arm back through the bubble.

Howard didn’t move. Xavier hadn’t expected him to. He wanted to know if the man would move once the bubble was gone.

“An interesting test,” Justin said.

“Yes, I think so.”

Xavier was sure there were other things that they could test, but one thing he was very interested in was finding out how long the cooldown was. It was easy for him to deactivate the spell. All he had to do was think it, and it happened.

The moment the spell ended, two things occurred. The first was that Siobhan continued to fly through the air. She yelped, and it echoed in the Staging Room. The second thing that happened was that Howard was pushed backward. Shock was written across his face. He caught his balance easily enough—he had multiple skills for doing so.

“Did you push me?” Howard said, staring at Xavier.

“How do you know it was me who pushed you?”

“None of the others would have been able to move me.”

Siobhan crashed to the ground. She stood, brushed herself off, and stalked back to the other three. “You didn’t have to throw me that far.”

Xavier raised his hands defensively. “I didn’t throw you very hard.” He turned to Howard. “And yes, it was me who pushed you.” He explained to Howard what had happened since he had cast the spell. He also told Siobhan about being able to move one’s limbs outside of the barrier, as long as their main body remained within.

“I wonder how well that works for weapons,” Siobhan said.

“Did you test how long the spell lasted?” Howard asked.

Xavier shook his head. “No. I suppose that would have been a good idea. However, it didn’t feel as though the spell would have ended anytime soon.”

[Xavier Collins? Are you hearing me?] Adranial asked through the Communication Stone.

[Have you finished the eleventh floor already?] Xavier asked.

[We did. Much faster than we’d expected. Something tells me you’ve already made it through the last five floors that informed you about.]

[Indeed. And I may have ventured onto the nineteenth floor a little early.]

[You haven’t completed it already, have you?] Adranial replied, and Xavier could sense her indignance through the link.

[No. Not yet.]

For a moment, Xavier wondered if he should tell her about what had happened on the nineteenth floor. He could easily make her sign a contract, stopping repeating anything she heard.

But he wasn’t sure that he trusted her that much. Even with a contract. At least, not yet. Maybe sometime in the future. Though he did have some questions for her.

He wanted to know if anyone had found the man on the nineteenth floor to be strange in any way.

It was a little hard to believe that he was the first one to discover the man’s true identity. Had no one in the history of this entire universe ever realised there was more to the man in the cave by the fire? Though he supposed it wouldn’t be difficult for someone as powerful as a future Xavier to trick people coming through the nineteenth floor—people who would mostly be F Grade, and only very rarely E Grade.

Xavier was sure that he too would have been fooled had the future version of himself not wanted to be revealed. He hadn’t sensed anything strange about the man. Then again, he hadn’t tried to.

[Will you be down in the tavern soon?] Adranial asked.

[I’m on my way now.]

[Good. We’ll meet you there.]