Tier 3+ - Accidental Champion (Book 2) - Chapter 22 - Yeah, That Should Be Easy Enough

Xavier surveyed the battlefield. His heart beating as hard and incessantly as the war drums that sounded at the start of each wave. His dark, Shrouded Robes were covered in the blood of his enemies to such a degree that they weighed him down as he walked, as though he’d jumped into a lake of the stuff.

He drew in a deep breath.

The battlefield was clear. For the first time in hours, the battlefield was clear. He’d managed to defeat all four of the E Grade bosses in a way he’d never anticipated in the past—he’d controlled their minds and pitted them against each other. It had worked so perfectly.

More perfectly than he’d imagined.

Then he’d cleared the wave that came after it. In a half hour, the fastest he’d managed to clear a wave in weeks. He’d made a path straight toward the E Grade wave boss and set it upon its own. It had been one of the demonkin, with horns long as Xavier’s forearms and as sharp as Soultaker’s blade. The demonkin had been a swordsman, and it had carved through its own with a ruthless efficiency.

As he strode back to the battlements of Queen Alastea’s castle, he kept his focus on his breathing, his mind turning over all that had just happened. There were notifications waiting for him, ones he’d put aside as he’d embraced the thrill of battle. When he got back to the wall, he would finally look at them, though he knew they must be titles, for he’d felt a slight difference to his attributes as he’d been fighting. A difference that certainly hadn’t come from gaining a level.

He fed his Shrouded Robes with Spirit Energy, activating its self-repair feature. The feature didn’t only repair the robes when they were damaged, they cleaned them as well. Something he was eternally grateful for. Though it did nothing for his body. He was sure his skin was stained red by now.

There’s a charming thought.

He shook his head, wondering for moment what exactly he’d become since the System had integrated Earth. All he had to do was turn and look at the battlefield to find an answer to that, it seemed.

A waft of heat came from behind him. The enemy’s fire mages were at it again, disposing of the dead.

Xavier leapt over the moat and swiftly climbed the wall, then pulled himself over the parapet with ease. He couldn’t have dreamt about doing such a thing back in his parkour days.

The moment he set foot on the stone of the battlements, his boots silently touching down, something thudded into his chest. Arms wrapped around him, then after a short moment the person hastily stepped away. Placing a loose strand of hair behind her ear and looking only slightly sheepish, Siobhan beamed at Xavier.

“You’re alive!” she said. “I mean, I knew you’d live. Of course you’d live. But I didn’t know you’d be able to defeat those waves!”

“Quite something you pulled out there.” Howard gripped his hand and patted him on the shoulder with his other.

Justin smiled. “You did it!”

“Indeed.” Queen Alastea stepped to the front of them. “You did very well.” She inclined her head. “Thank you, for giving me more time than I thought I would ever have.”

“I have to second the queen’s appreciation,” Adviser Kalren said. “You have done her a great service, and one to me by extension.”

Xavier lowered his head in a small bow. Seemed like the appropriate thing to do. “I’m just doing what I can.”

“You are doing far more than that, Xavier of Earth.” Queen Alastea smiled. “Though that is something you already know.”

Siobhan glanced between Queen Alastea and Xavier with an odd look on her face, one Xavier couldn’t identify. Her eyebrow rose ever so slightly.

Xavier ran a hand through his hair, then regretted it instantly as he realised just how horribly matted with dried blood it was. I must smell absolutely terrible. But it wasn’t exactly as though there was time to bathe, even if this was the most time he’d had between waves in a long while.

He looked to Adviser Kalren. “I discovered my secondary core and unlocked a spell for it,” he said. “I even upgraded some of my skills—Cultivate Energy, Core Strength and Aura-Control.” He frowned. “But I still don’t know how to get to E Grade.” He tilted his head to the side. “Do you know what the next steps are?”

Adviser Kalren interlocked his fingers in front of him and bent his head down. He released a deep sigh. “I’m afraid not.” The lines in his forehead deepened. “I wish that information were available to me.”

Xavier suppressed a sigh of his own. He’d suspected this would be the man’s answer, but he’d hoped he was wrong about that. “I guess I’ll have to figure out the next step on my own.”

Kalren raised a finger. “It could simply be because you haven’t reached the requisite level—”

Xavier waved a hand. “That can’tbe the case,” he snapped.

Adviser Kalren quickly closed his mouth and gave a curt nod. “As you say.”

His party glanced at each other.

Xavier hadn’t meant to snap at the man. He was just frustrated. Yes, he’d just achieved something rather amazing, especially after how far behind he’d gotten with wave after wave starting before he’d cleared the one before it, and those damned E Grade wave bosses…

But it still isn’t enough.

That thought kept running through his mind.

He sat down on the cold stone of the battlements and read the notifications he’d put aside.

Title Unlocked!

Ahead of the Pack: You are well ahead of those from your world. You have become the first fully integrated person from your world to defeat an E Grade Denizen.

You have received +40 to all stats!

Title Unlocked!

Goliath Killer: You have defeated a Denizen of a grade one above your own. This is a feat few in the Greater Universe ever manage and is often in indication of greatness.

You have received +50 to all stats!

Xavier lips twisted up into a smile.

He’d been expecting to receive titles like this, though he was surprised by just how many stats he received from them. Over five hundred stat points.

That felt kind of insane, but perhaps when he reached the rank of E Grade, such numbers wouldn’t be so strange to get from single titles. Then again, considering what he’d achieved, he supposed it made sense for these titles to give him this much.

I didn’t just defeat one E Grade either. I defeated five of them.

They didn’t seem so scary anymore. But Xavier knew he couldn’t become complacent.

He looked at his stats. It had been a while since they’d changed, as the Mastery Points he now received had stalled.

XAVIER COLLINS

Age: 21

Race: Human

Grade: F

Moral Faction: World Defender (Planet Earth)

Class: Soul Reaper (Epic)

Level 60

Strength: 535 (722)

Speed: 524 (707)

Toughness: 545 (736)

Intelligence: 648 (1,199)

Willpower: 671 (1,107)

Spirit: 998 (1,996)

Mastery Points until next level: 400,078,638/850,000,000

Available Spirit Energy: 105,500/200,600

Available Willpower Energy: 5,500/25,000

Available Skill Points: 0

Free stat points remaining: 0

Titles:

Bloodied Hands, Born on a Battlefield, Settlement Defender, Quester, First Defender of Planet Earth, Survivor, All 100, First All 100, 1,000 Stats, First to 1,000 Stats, Greater Butcher, Fourth Floor Climber, Solo Tower Climber 4, 1st Fourth Floor Climber, Fourth Floor Ranked 1 – RECORD HOLDER (Completion Time – 4 sec), Ahead of the Pack, Goliath Killer

Spells List:

Spiritual Trifecta – Rank 50

Heavy Telekinesis – Rank 50

Spirit Break (All) – Rank 50

Spirit Infusion – Rank 50

Soul Harvest – Rank 50

Soul Strike (Ranged) – Rank 50

Soul Block – Rank 50

Soul Harden – Rank 50

Willpower Infusion – Rank 16

Skills List:

Physical Resistance – Rank 50

Magical Potency – Rank 50

Magical Resistance – Rank 50

Physical Damage – Rank 50

Assimilate Properties – Rank 1

Scythe-Staff Mastery – Rank 50

Meditation – Rank 50

Aura-Control – Rank 50

Core Strength – Rank 50

Cultivate Energy – Rank 50

Identify – Rank 23

Lesser Spirit Coins: 3,942,498

A few things stood out to him.

First, and right at the top, was the fact that he was now twenty-one.

When the hell had that happened?

Only an hour was supposed to pass back in his universe while on this floor. Xavier hadn’t put too much thought into the consequences of that. He hadn’t even considered that he would keep aging while he was here.

Twenty-one. That seems like a milestone I should be celebrating, right?

He wasn’t even sure when his age had ticked over. When in the last few weeks had he turned twenty-one? Did this mean his birthday was different now? He frowned, supposing that, in the grand scheme, it wasn’t exactly important.

Especially when his lifespan would soon be far more than he ever imagined it could be.

But it wasn’t his age that took him by surprise the most. It was some of his stats.

On the battlefield, after defeating that first E Grade wave boss, he’d noticed the notifications come up—he’d known they must be titles. And he’d certainly felt the shift inside of him that came with gaining stats. However, he’d been far too concentrated on the fight to realise the extent of how much had changed.

I broke through the threshold for Willpower. No wonder I dealt with the rest of them so easily.

With his Willpower attribute over 1,000, it would be tremendously more powerful than it had been before. He had certainly noticed that he could control many more enemies, and his control of the other E Grades had become stronger—even if it was still very short lived. He’d thought that control was simply from Willpower Infusion having ranked up so much. Clearly, he’d been wrong.

Then there was his Spirit attribute. It was incredibly close to breaking through his next threshold. He shook his head in slight awe, contemplating what over 2,000 points in Spirit would feel like.

Only need six more points.

He tilted his head to the side and looked at his Mastery Points. The massive number required to gain the next level always looked so very daunting.

But they’ve gone up. A lot.

Since his Mastery Points had been stalled by the System, they’d been ticking up at a snail’s pace. But now… He looked through his notifications and almost slapped himself in the face when he realised why they’d gone up so much.

Xavier had disabled his kill notifications from popping up in his vision some time ago, so he hadn’t looked at them after he’d killed the E Grade enemies.

He looked at them now.

You have defeated a Level 120 Human Berserker!

You have gained 30,000,000 Mastery Points.

You have defeated a Level 115 Wolven Matriarch!

You have gained 25,000,000 Mastery Points.

You have defeated a Level 110 Wolven Patriarch!

You have gained 20,000,000 Mastery Points.

You have defeated a Level 125 Elven Archer!

You have gained 35,000,000 Mastery Points.

You have defeated a Level 125 Demonkin Swordmaster!

You have gained 35,000,000 Mastery Points.

Xavier eyes widened slightly. He’d known the enemies would be over Level 100, but it still took him by surprise just how much higher than 100 some of them were.

They’re bringing out the big guns now.

Reading the names of the enemies, he knew they weren’t terribly specific. They only gave a vague description of their classes. Maybe if my Identification skill was more developed, I’d be able to learn more about them.

Perhaps their levels should have worried him, but after how he’d dealt with them, and the wave that came after… He wasn’t feeling quite so worried anymore.

In fact, he was starting to see this as an opportunity.

He hadn’t been able to gain any levels for some time, but defeating these E Grades—even if it meant defeating a lot of them—could very well get his levels moving again, even if agonisingly slowly.

And looking at his attributes, and the threshold he’d just broken through, made him remember breaking through all six thresholds before gaining his first class.

Doing that let me choose an Epic class. If I hadn’t done that, I wouldn’t have achieved half as much as I have.

Though he knew it was his titles that had gotten him his advantage in the first place, he very much doubted he would have been able to gain the top spot for the fourth floor if not for his Soul Reaper class. Without Soul Strike being able to take out so many of the Dark Wyverns all at once… It simply wouldn’t have been possible.

And that had a flow on effect that got him to where he was now.

What if he was trying to move too fast? What if it was possible for him to advance to E Grade, but it was too soon? Not strictly because of his level, but because of his attributes. If he were to push his attributes all past their 1,000-point threshold, his evolution to E Grade may give him a stronger base.

Now, all he needed to do was figure out how to gain enough levels to bring him 835 attribute points over Strength, Speed, and Toughness.

Not to mention continue to defeat the waves of the Endless Horde.

Yeah, that should be easy enough…