Free Tier - Accidental Champion (Book 9) - Chapter 45 - Do You Wish to Advance to B Grade?

Do you wish to advance to B Grade?

A smile slipped onto Xavier’s face.

Yes, he thought. Obviously.

He’d lost count of the number of years that had passed, inside his mental spaces, inside the time dilation fields, since he’d advanced to C Grade. In a way, it didn’t really feel like it was all that long ago—perhaps because of how little time had passed for everyone else in his universe.

But for him, it had been a small eternity.

Initiating advancement of Denizen XAVIER COLLINS from C Grade to D Grade.

Denizen’s attributes deemed as: …

…

Error.

Attribute values higher than anticipated.

Recalibrating advancement…

…

Attribute values higher than limit.

Advancement Interrupted.

Xavier breathing remained the same, and he didn’t budge from his spot on the floor. This was the exact same thing that had happened the last time he’d initiated his advancement, and the time before that. He’d been expecting it. As he stared at the text, waiting for the next notification from the System, he wondered if he would yet again be classed as an anomaly.

Right on cue, he received a title notification.

Title Unlocked!

Strongest C Grade (Unmatched): You are the strongest C Grade who has ever lived in the entirety of the Greater Universe. The System has never encountered an advancement such as yours before.

This is an unmatched title.

You have received +50,000 to all attributes.

Xavier’s eyes widened at the number of attribute points he’d just received. The last title had garnered him 5,000 attribute points. Now, receiving ten times that…

He allowed himself a small shake of the head. Not because the number of attribute points was so high, but because gaining that many attribute points in one fell swoop wouldn’t create a terribly significant change in his level of power.

Reinitiating advancement to B Grade.

Error.

Advancement Interrupted.

Oh, come on. Not again. Xavier withheld a sigh.

The System already knew about his “foreign” core—the Reality Core—and had in fact integrated it the Greater Universe so it was no longer an anomaly.

So what exactly was it taking issue with now?

System recalibrating…

Commencing intensive scan of XAVIER COLLINS.

Scanning…

Scanning…

Discrepancies detected.

The Denizen identified as XAVIER COLLINS is too powerful to exist at their current stage of advancement.

Attributes no longer reflect XAVIER COLLINS level of power.

Adjusting attributes…

Attributes adjusted.

Adjusting other factors…

Please standby.

Xavier blinked. He wasn’t sure he could ever remember a time when the System had said please in one of these notifications. Still, he couldn’t help but smile at the part that said he was too powerful to exist—at least at his level of advancement.

After feeling the energy radiating from that S Grade True Dragon, he’d been thoroughly humbled, but he hadn’t backed down from the idea of defeating it.

Now, reading that notification from the System—even if it only meant he was too powerful for a C Grade—gave him a warm fuzzy feeling.

(Regained) Title Unlocked!

Anomaly: An anomaly is classed as something deemed impossible under the System Governed Rules. The System Governed Rules were created to guide Denizens to greatness.

You are circumventing those rules.

Anything that circumvents the System Governed Rules is either assimilated or destroyed.

This title is unrewarded.

Please wait while the System decides your fate.

Xavier could no longer withhold his sigh.

The last time he’d received this notification, he’d been suitably worried. Afraid, even. He remembered a feeling of utter vulnerability. His frustration and anger—no, his rage—at the System came to the forefront of his mind.

The System had been created for one thing: to create the parameters that would one day lead to the universe being saved. This business of him being an “anomaly” shouldn’t even come into play.

But it was interesting to know he’d yet again circumvented the System’s rules. He supposed this time it must have been through his use of Refined Celestial Energy. Then again, it could have been the fact that he’d discovered his Immortal Soul lens.

Either way, he didn’t feel fear. Not this time. The System had invested far too much into his personal success. He knew he would survive this just as he’d survived it the last time.

And, sure enough, he was proved right only a few moments later.

You are no longer classed as an anomaly. Your actions and their consequences are being assimilated into the System Governed Rules.

The eye of the System remains fixed on you.

Xavier raised his chin.

Good.

The notification had been just what he’d expected. Though he still wondered at what the System had said before, and how it would treat him because of it. He’d been deemed too powerful to be a C Grade.

What would that mean for his advancement? And would he have another meeting with the Voice of the System?

He waited patiently as time stretched onward before him. The next notification took longer to come than he’d hoped, but as the hours inside his time dilation field ticked by he didn’t see any hint of the Voice of the System. Something he deemed as a good thing. He couldn’t imagine what the System would have to talk to him about right now.

When his patience was starting to wane, the notifications appeared.

Reinitiating advancement to B Grade.

…

…

Checking spells…

Denizen’s spells deemed as: Unmatched

Checking skills…

Denizen’s skills deemed as: Unmatched

Checking Spirit Core…

Denizen’s Spirit Core deemed as: Unmatched

Checking Willpower Core…

Denizen’s Willpower Core deemed as: Unmatched

Checking Speed Core…

Denizen’s Speed Core deemed as: Unmatched

Checking Intelligence Core…

Denizen’s Intelligence Core deemed as: Unmatched

Checking Strength Core…

Denizen’s Strength Core deemed as: Unmatched

Checking Reality Core…

Denizen’s Reality Core deemed as: Unmatched

Xavier tilted his head to the side.

The last time, his Reality Core hadn’t been checked at all.

The System had clearly adapted some things since then. Though the Reality Core shouldn’t have anything to do with this transformation.

Advancement to B Grade initiated.

Advancement cannot be interrupted.

Prepare yourself.

Xavier heeded the System’s words, preparing for imminent pain.

He remembered a mantra he’d heard once:

Pain is inevitable, suffering his optional.

Words that, he knew, were meaningless.

As the advancement began pain split every part of his body and mind. His thoughts were ripped apart. It was as though he were being crushed by the weight of a thousand planets while trillions and trillions of insects the size of atomic particles were using deadly sharp pincers to strike everywhere inside him.

Exactly like the last time.

Except, no…

This wasn’t exactly like the last time.

It wasn’t worse and it wasn’t better either. Even as his whole being was once more torn asunder, Xavier found that sanctuary within his mind. The same sanctuary he’d found last time, only this time it was easier to locate.

And this time it was stronger.

This was a part of his other path. His Cultivator path. His Reality Core remained intact. The System may have checked on the core, but this advancement didn’t concern the Reality Core at all.

As his awareness solidified, he turned his attention to the presence he could sense watching him. This presence was something he could only ever sense when his mind had been torn asunder. There was something about being broken that allowed him to see the universe, reality itself, in a different light. In a different way. He was once again experiencing that, but he knew this moment would be fleeting. He needed to capitalise on it.

He turned his Immortal Soul lens—for his Immortal Soul was another part of him the System did not touch in an advancement, as it stood apart from his Living Soul—toward the strange presence.

Like last time, he had the sneaking suspicion that this presence, whatever it was, was always watching him. It wasn’t only there when he advanced, he was merely able to sense it there when he advanced.

Maybe Roln will know what this is… maybe he can give me answers I’ve lacked.

The Immortal Soul lens, however, failed to sense the strange presence in any way. The moment he turned that attention toward it, it was gone again. Those eyes staring at him from who-knew-where disappeared from his awareness altogether, and Xavier’s thoughts were pulled away by the momentum of the transformation.

He turned the part of his mind that was still aware, and his Immortal Soul lens along with it, toward the System’s presence. The System was always present, except perhaps when he was in the void, but it was always the most present, and the most obvious, while he was in the middle of advancement.

The last time he’d observed the System’s presence during an advancement he hadn’t had the Immortal Soul lens at his disposal. He’d sensed what he’d thought of as “System Energy” but had long ago realised was something else—Refined Celestial Energy.

Focusing on the System’s presence, he once again felt the “song” it was singing—the song of the universe, a song sang with runes.

Only now, after all the work he’d been doing with runes, he could understand that song so much better than before. Not completely, of course, for he still had a long, long way to go, but his understanding had improved so drastically he could almost grasp what the System was doing to his body, mind, and living soul as it tore it apart and stitched it all back together over and over again, causing that immeasurable pain to course through his very being.

As he sensed the song, grasping at its meaning, he received a notification—only this notification wasn’t from the System.

It was from his Combat Assistance Overlay.

Refinements detected. Grant permission?

Xavier thought, with all the parts of his mind still functioning, Yes!

He had no idea that even now, Roln would still be functioning. The mental construct must have retreated somewhere deep in his mind, somewhere protected—the same place Xavier was right now.

After Xavier had given the Combat Assistance Overlay permission, several more notifications popped up in quick succession. With each notification, Xavier could understand the System’s song a little better, then a little better still. The adjustments accumulated until the notifications stopped coming. Xavier must have hit some sort of natural limit—at least for the moment.

He strained his concentration—what little of it he had in the middle of a transformation like this—and tried to take in everything the System was doing in. But even after what the mental construct had done for him, it was difficult to understand, as though he only understood every third word.

What was clear, however, was that the System’s song, a song sang in runes—the language of the universe—was what was changing him.

The System didn’t use spell patterns. It didn’t need spell patterns. With its song it simply changed reality, using all that Refined Celestial Energy to power the changes.

If I could harness that, do that myself… I would be capable of anything.

Just as he felt as though he was beginning to understand how the System was doing what it was doing, the advancement came to an end.