The barkeep smiled. She made a motion with her hand, interacting with something Xavier couldn’t see, though he had an idea of what it must be. It was the first time Xavier had seen anyone interact with the System in that way—he wondered if, perhaps, she had a different interface than he did, as she appeared to work for the System.

If my destiny plays out as I plan it to, I’ll work for the System one day. As the Weapon of the System.­

A notification popped into his vision.

Magma Bull Hunt Quest

Reward: Ability Acquisition

You may receive:

- Two ranks in the skill Evasion

- Two ranks in the skill Physical Damage

- Two ranks in the spell Willpower Infusion

Or:

Do you wish to trade these ranks to receive an unknown spell reward?

Xavier’s eyes widened slightly. He didn’t much care about the ranks—he could gain those again—but it was interesting to see the System tempt him in such a way.

The barkeep chuckled. “Is it making you choose?”

Xavier bobbed his head in a nod. “It’s offering me ranks, then asking if I wish to trade them for an unknown spell reward.”

Felicia whistled. “A spell reward, for your first Hunt Quest. Maybe the System thought the odds were against you too. The higher the risk, the bigger the reward, after all.”

Spell rewards must have been rare. Xavier wasn’t going to pass it up. He willed the System to give him the unknown spell, and another notification appeared.

You have gained the spell: Hover Dodge

Xavier mouthed the words, Hover Dodge as he read the name of the spell. That certainly hadn’t been what he’d expected—he’d thought he might receive some sort of spell related to Summon Otherworldly Spirit.

In fact, that was exactly what he had been hoping to receive.

But, he supposed, considering how he had been dodging the Magma Bull’s attacks while he was falling through the air, using his Heavy Telekinesis spell to yank him left and right, this spell wasn’t such a strange thing to get…

“So,” Felicia said, cleaning a mug with a rag. “What spell did you get?”

Xavier smirked. “Does every Champion tell you that information?”

“Well, no, not every Champion, but…” She gave a one-shoulder shrug.

“Let me guess, the more information you have on a Champion, or a party of Champions, the more accurate the odds become in that little ledger of yours?”

Felicia gave a wry smile. “Looks like you’ve got me all figured out. If you would rather remain a mystery, that can be arranged. Though I already know you have some sort of ability to control time.”

Xavier wasn’t going to tell her what spell he’d acquired. It wasn’t that he was worried about what she might or might not know about it, it was simply that he didn’t want knowledge of his abilities to find its way to the wrong people. If he had enemies out there—and he knew that he did—he didn’t want them having a more complete profile of his powers than they already had.

He sat on one of the stools and brought up the information on the spell he’d just gained.

Hover Dodge – Rank 1

Hover Dodge gives the ability for a Denizen to dodge attacks while they are in the air. It doesn’t give the user the gift of flight, but it does help them fall with style.

This spell’s primary attribute is Speed, while its secondary attribute is Intelligence.

That’s about what I thought it might be.

Xavier wondered exactly how the spell functioned. How long the cooldown might be. How fast it might get him out of the way. Heavy Telekinesis had gotten the job done, but it was hardly the most appropriate spell for what he’d been doing.

The fact that he’d managed to gain this spell made him wonder what other spells he might be able to gain in the future. Could he somehow cobble together the ability to fly? Justin had been given wings because he’d upped a particular skill that helped him manoeuvre in the air…

Which gave Xavier an idea.

He still had another skill point at his disposal. Giant leaps up into the air weren’t exactly flying, but after the way he’d been able to launch so many spells down at the Magma Bull while he’d been in the air avoiding its attacks, then come down to strike it with his Midnight Scythe…

He brought up the list of different skills he had access to, searching through them until he finally came upon the one he was after.

You have learnt the skill Aerial Combat!

Xavier smiled. With the spell he’d just gained and the skill he’d acquired, he could see his melee game was about to be a hell of a lot better—especially when he completed his spell quest and got the Telekinetic Enhanced Strike spell.

He took a moment to contemplate all the different goals he had since coming to this floor. The new style of melee fighting that he had adopted, the spell quest he had going, the will to better his otherworldly spells, and his Time Alteration spell.

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Not to mention his newfound desire to use Assimilate Properties again—even if he shouldn’t assimilate D Grade properties into his body quite yet.

He remembered what had happened when he’d assimilated the properties from E Grade enemies into himself when he was only F Grade.

That could have gotten me into a hell of a lot more trouble than it did.

At least that would mean he would have plenty of time to learn how to use the Dismantle skill, ranking it up before he reached D Grade and was able to utilise properties from the corpses he’d collected—and would collect.

Then there was the vessel he wished to find. Something that could hold the Spirit of Vengeance’s soul in the mortal realm…

He drummed his fingers on the table as he thought about all this.

I’m going to return to the Staging Room a completely different person, once I eventually complete this floor. Especially since I want to reach D Grade while I’m here.

He might take breaks from this floor long before he completed it, but he wasn’t sure he saw a reason to, except for perhaps using the System Shop.

Right now, he didn’t want too much time to pass here while he was gone. That might change in the future.

The future…

Xavier had jumped in power several times since he’d been integrated into the System. He was becoming more and more used to the sensation.

And more and more addicted to it.

~

The Hunt Quest for the Stone Bear gave Xavier the ability to head exactly where he wished to find the Denizen he was after, though as he recalled finding himself in a different instance when he’d been fighting the Magma Bull, it made him wonder if he would even be able to find this person.

I’ll just have to keep an eye on whether I enter any instances.

That wasn’t the only thing Xavier kept an eye on. The hundredth floor’s exit back to the Staging Room was in Hunter’s Home, which meant anyone that wanted to take a break from the floor would be leaving from there. Felicia informed him that the Denizen he was after had yet to return from their current Hunt Quest.

Another Denizen soloing the hundredth floor. I hope they don’t die out there…

Though he wasn’t too worried about them dying. He was, however, worried they would head back to Hunter’s Home while he was out searching for them, and he would miss them.

That’s why he was pushing out his senses as far as he could. His ability to sense auras wasn’t helpful here—all the different beasts and Denizens in the area had the ability to resist that easily enough, just as he did.

He couldn’t sense as much out here as he wished. He wasn’t any sort of hunter or tracker, and he didn’t have any skills or items that would help him in that department, either, so he had to make do with his “normal” senses. And while his normal senses were enhanced far beyond that of what a pre-integration human would ever possess, that didn’t mean they were strong enough to sense a D Grade who was trying to remain hidden.

Perhaps that was yet another thing he should work on in the future.

Xavier wasn’t moving as fast as he had when he’d travelled to fight the Magma Bull, but he was moving at a rather swift pace. While a part of him wanted to engage with the beasts in the area and earn himself more Mastery Points, there would be plenty of time for that later.

He could see the Dark Mountains clearly on the mini-map. The Stone Bear’s territory was within the area of the Dark Mountains—probably a cave of some sort.

Xavier slowed down as he neared. It hadn’t just been beasts that he’d came upon, he’d encountered two separate parties of Denizens on his way here too, though as he was looking for a lone Denizen, he hadn’t felt the need to interact with the parties, and the parties had ignored him in return.

The mountains were so tall he had to crane his neck to see their tops, and the mountains were indeed dark. They were filled with trees whose colour almost appeared to have been drained out of them. The leaves, the branches, the trunks—they were all dark grey and black.

Could a fire have caused this? Or some sort of magic? Or do the plants here simply grow differently?

Xavier kept vigilant, watching for a sign that he was stepping into a different instance, like the one he’d missed before when heading to face the Magma Bull.

So far, he hadn’t seen one. But what he did see was the mouth of a cave maybe a quarter up the mountain.

It was in the exact place that his mini-map indicated as the Stone Bear’s territory, and there was a slight shimmer in the air there.

Another instance.

But facing the Stone Bear wasn’t what he’d intended to do by coming here.

He looked around the area, wishing for the first time that he was some sort of ranger with the ability to track. He didn’t have any forest craft whatsoever—he couldn’t tell a human’s tracks from that of a beast…

As he recalled his conversation with Felicia, the barkeep, when he’d enquired about this Denizen, he couldn’t help but remember the fact that she hadn’t described who it was that he would be looking for, only the rough area of where they would be.

In fact, she’d simply ignored that question completely when he’d asked it.

Xavier sighed. There was nothing to be done but search. The area was vast. He could speed through it quickly enough, but he didn’t want to miss anything.

Xavier started his search by jogging around the mountain. As he wasn’t going all that fast, he started to encounter enemy beasts.

The beasts here at the foot of the Dark Mountains were different to the ones he’d faced back in the forest. The first he came upon was a stag. The stag, like the mountain itself, looked as though its colour had leaked out of it. It wasn’t black, just a dull grey. It reminded him of what happened when he connected with the Otherworld, though it wasn’t quite the same.

Fighting the dark stag gave him the opportunity to test out his new abilities.

Xavier contemplated using Time Alteration as the beast approached—it was barrelling across the ground with a fierce, dark look in its eyes and he momentarily counted the prongs on its horns and found it to have twenty, and each one of them produced a black, oozing substance—but he doubted he would need to freeze time to kill a single beast.

Besides, he wanted to keep that spell’s cooldown fresh for when he came upon the other Denizen with time magic.

Xavier didn’t have any soul puppets in use anymore—they hadn’t helped him enough in his past fights, and much of them had been destroyed. Those that hadn’t been destroyed had been damaged too much and were no longer useful to him.

He would rebuild his little army when the time came, but that time was not now.

The stag made a strange, strangled gurgling noise as it was almost to him. Xavier hadn’t cast a single spell, yet. He’d wanted to see how fast this thing was—gauging its speed would give him a good idea of how powerful the beast was, even if it wasn’t the most accurate measure.

Not even as fast as the wolven.

When he deemed the enemy beast was close enough, Xavier leapt directly up into the air.

The dark stag wasn’t about to be avoided, however. It leapt into the air after him, as though to take him by surprise. His Farscope ability coupled with Evasion alerted him of the move instantly. He almost used Heavy Telekinesis to get himself out of the way—instead, he cast Hover Dodge.

His first usage of the new spell.

Xavier had expected to be roughly yanked out of the way of the dark stag’s twenty pointed prongs, but that wasn’t what happened. Instead, for a brief moment, he felt as though he was in full control of his movement in the air. Though there was nothing whatsoever to push against, and nothing pushing him, it was as though the rules of gravity had been altered.

Xavier moved laterally, avoiding the stag’s attack with ease. It was a smooth movement, rather than a yanking sensation.

As he moved, and the dark stag came up, its prongs hitting nothing but air, making that strange gurgling sound in its throat, Xavier’s Midnight Scythe came down.

Heavy Telekinesis reinforced the strike, pushing hard against the back of the blade like a hammer on a chisel.

The attack pierced the stag’s skull. Its eyes widened.

Instead of blood pouring from the wound, or brain matter being exposed, the dark stag’s head burst like a bubble—or, rather, a balloon.

A balloon filled with the same dark oozing substance that had been on the beast’s prongs.

It covered Xavier. He felt the sting from its impact. The substance crept across his robes, as though it had a life of its own.

The stag was dead. A single hit to the head had been enough to take it down. Xavier’s upward momentum, strangely enough, had been unaffected by the Hover Dodge spell. He kept shooting upward into the sky until he reached the apex of his jump, while the force of his strike against the stag made it flip in the air and fall back down to the ground with a crunch as it hit a clump of boulders.

Xavier watched as the black substance crawled over to the palm of his hand. It seeped into his skin. He frowned.

And felt something attack his mind.

That’s when he read the kill notification.

You have defeated a Level 210 Infected Stag!

You have gained 260 Mastery Points (E Grade).

Infected? Infected with what?