Tier 3+ - Accidental Champion (Book 2) - Chapter 17 - That’s Kinda Creepy

Congratulations, you have completed your Spell Quest and gained the spell Willpower Infusion!

This spell is locked to your secondary core and cannot be forgotten.

As Xavier read the notification’s text, he sent a 300-infused Soul Strike all around him, clearing his immediate area, and gulped down another Lesser Health Potion. He would have to start doing that more often, and he would surely run out soon enough.

He then read the full description of the spell.

Willpower Infusion – Rank 1

Willpower Infusion is a rare spell that is only available to those with a strong Willpower. Willpower Infusion has two paths: the path of defence, and the path of offence.

The path of defence allows the user to imbue Willpower Energy into themselves and their armour. Denizens and armour infused with defensive Willpower Energy gain a stronger mental and magical resistance. Denizens imbued with defensive Willpower Energy are also able to shrug off pain and exhaustion much more easily. Denizens will also be infused with a sense of confidence. However, if this confidence is left unchecked it can get the user into dangerous situations.

The path of offense allows the user to imbue Willpower Energy into their weapons. When an enemy is struck with a Willpower infused weapon, it can shake their mental fortitude or even strike fear into them. The user can also infuse offensive Willpower Energy directly into an enemy, giving the user a limited ability to influence an enemy’s thoughts and behaviour.

Unlike other spells, there is no way to generalise with Willpower Infusion. The user must choose which path they wish to follow.

One cannot walk backward on the path.

Whoa, Xavier thought as he read through the description.

Both of those options sounded incredible. Considering what he was going through right now, feeling absolutely exhausted, and being bombarded with constant strikes, not to mention second guessing himself far too much, he could see the value of the first option.

He also imagined it could become incredibly valuable in the future, when he was facing Denizens with strong mental powers—something he’d yet to encounter.

The second option, however, was the one that piqued his interest the most. In a way, it made him think of Spirit Break. If he were able to use Spirit Break to “soften” an enemy’s mind, then influence that enemy’s mind with Willpower Infusion… perhaps he would be able to control an enemy, especially as Willpower Infusion grew in strength.

This made him curious about something. He’d gained Spirit Infusion not when he’d unlocked his Spirit Core, but when he’d chosen the class of Soul Reaper. It hadn’t had anything to do with him discovering the core or unlocking any of the skills.

So why had he unlocked the Spell Quest for Willpower Infusion when discovering his core?

Curious.

Howard, too, had unlocked Toughness Infusion through a class choice.

From the information that he’d gathered, he’d thought that any Denizen could gain these spells. He’d imagined himself with the ability to infuse each of the different attributes’ energy into himself and his equipment. But, recalling the Spirit Infusion’s description, it had said it was a rare spell that was rarely learnt by humans.

It had even said it was specifically a Mage spell.

That made it seem as though it would preclude others from learning it. And would every Denizen really possess Willpower Infusion, giving themselves the ability to control other people’s minds, or defend against such acts? Especially since it had been defined as a “rare” spell, though it hadn’t specified a base class.

Further study in this area was definitely required. When he’d first come here, he’d thought they’d discovered a treasure trove of information. And in a way, they had—he wouldn’t have known anything at all about his secondary core if not for this place.

And yet, the more he learnt the more he realised how very limited the knowledge he could gain here truly was.

So much knowledge is locked out by the System. Why would it guard information so much? Why would it prevent new worlds and weak worlds from knowing what others knew? That would just keep them from getting stronger.

Another item for his list of reasons to be angry at the System, which brought him back to that seedling of an idea—an idea that was surely crazy…

What if he could change the System? Could such a thing even be possible? There were things he’d assumed shouldn’t be possible that he’d already been proven were.

For instance, he was sure that he’d been observed not once, but twice, by two different powerful Denizens whilst he was within the tower. And not just within the tower, but while on floors of the tower—which he’d discovered were on entirely different universesto his own.

He’d assumed such a thing would be impossible. The Tower of Champions was locked off from the rest of the Greater Universe. A Sector Key, according to Sam, wouldn’t even work. And there was no way for them to return to Earth until they’d completed the first ten floors—a task that was taking him considerably longer than he’d expected now he’d gone on this little side quest on the fifth floor.

So how could those powerful Denizens have observed him?

Even if they did break the System’s rules, that didn’t mean they were able to change the System. Something like that…

Was absolutely crazy.

And yet, the idea stuck with him. The idea-seedling grew roots that hooked into the back of his mind. It wasn’t exactly as though it would be something he could act on. Not as an F Grade Denizen—not as an E Grade Denizen—but if being a true Progenitor was as rare as he expected it to be, then maybe he would one day be capable of such a thing.

As long as I survive the tower, and the invasion of Earth, I could live for a very, very long time.

There was no telling what he might find in his future, especially if he went looking for it.

Xavier clenched his jaw. The enemies around him felt even more numerous than before. There were simply far too many of them. Something needed to change. He glanced at the description of the Willpower Infusion spell once more. It definitely didn’t feel like it was enough for him to change the tide. Being able to influence an enemy’s mind… that could help him against the E Grade wave bosses, assuming they weren’t in some way immune to the spell, but it wouldn’t help him against the normal ranks of enemies—

Unless…

Xavier smiled, a plan forming within his mind. For the last wave and a half he’d seriously suspected that he’d been doomed to abandon this floor—that there was no coming back from what he was currently facing.

But if his plan could work…

Xavier cast Willpower Infusion for the first time. He was still in a meditative state, as he’d been since he’d started trying to unlock the spell. Perhaps that’s why the insight had come to him so swiftly—and why he gained an intuitive sense of how the spell might work.

He didn’t have a great deal of Willpower Energy within his core, and he knew he would need to start actively cultivating it if he wanted to perform this spell more than once. Howard had explained to him that though he possessed Toughness Energy, it didn’t flow into him as fast as Spirit Energy did. His recovery was completely different. Far slower, and the spell worked differently than any other spell he possessed, locking up the energy he used.

Xavier didn’t think this spell would work in the same way—it would have said so in the spell description if that were the case—but looking at his Willpower Energy, which now displayed in his attributes or whenever he willed it, he would definitely run out if he wasn’t careful.

Available Willpower Energy: 1,000/1,000

Only one thousand points, he thought. That… that’s barely anything.

A purple tinged energy flowed through his body. He felt it come from inside of his core—in the place where he’d discovered the Willpower Core. It flowed down his Willpower Lines, through his arms, and into his scythe-staff, just like other spells he cast whilst wielding the weapon.

Then the energy shot out from Soultaker. Instantly, he found that he could direct the energy toward different sources.

This had an inherent disadvantage. It wasn’t a typical area-of-effect spell that dealt the same damage on the enemy no matter whether it hit one enemy or twenty. This was the difference between distributing the force of a strike into a wide area or a narrow area. It reduced the effectiveness of the spell on his enemies, but at the same time allowed him to influence more at once.

If his hunch—his insight—was correct, he should easily be able to influence the enemies in front of him. His Willpower attribute was nowhere near as powerful as his Spirit attribute, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t incredibly strong in comparison to those he fought.

The purple energy flowed from his staff like mist. Xavier hadn’t seen anything like it. It quickly moved toward the enemies around him, hitting around twenty of them at once. It seeped into their mouths, noses, eyes, getting sucked in.

That’s kinda creepy,Xavier thought, then he considered what the spell actually did. Okay, maybe it is actually creepy.

As the misted energy seeped into his enemies Xavier’s sense was expanded in a way he’d never experienced before. It was like a connection had opened up between his mind and the mind of the enemies around him. A one-way connection. He could not read their thoughts, but he could touch their thoughts.

Now, to give them something to do.

He pushed on his enemies’ minds, instructing them to turn on their own. He had a great big grin on his face, one that no doubt looked frighteningly sinister to any observer.

Xavier’s forehead creased. The enemies paused. He felt resistance. Walls forming between him and their minds. They’re fighting off my influence. Perhaps he’d diluted the spell too much…

He pushed on their minds again, mustering up as much of his mental strength as he could.

The enemies just stood there. They didn’t turn on their allies.

But, even though they hadn’t done as he’d instructed, they had also stopped attacking him.

Interesting.

Xavier carved through the pausing enemies with Soultaker—at the same time, he was constantly crushing and flinging those around him with Heavy Telekinesis.

Perhaps he’d been a little naive and too ambitious. Though the insight he’d gained had told him doing this would be possible, it probably didn’t mean he could turn the tide of the fight, making the enemies fight amongst themselves and therefore evening the playing field, while Willpower Infusion was still only a Rank 1 spell.

Still, I have a plan now, Xavier thought. All I need to do is survive long enough to implement it.