Tier 3+ - Accidental Champion - Chapter 73 - One Dead. Two Dead. Three Dead. Four…

Bolts of white lightning shot forth from Xavier’s staff-scythe, zigzagging through the air until they came together in one giant apparition, his largest yet.

Xavier laughed. He’d infused six souls into this strike.

The brilliant, white wyvern soared through the Dark Wyverns heading his way, illuminating them in their moment of death. Instantly, nine kill notifications vied for his attention. He pushed them back, willing them not to appear.

Things were about to get serious here.

Xavier stepped up to the edge of the platform. The floating chunk of rock in the expanse of darkness that was the fourth floor of the Tower of Champions. A darkness teeming with a thousand Dark Wyverns, circling from a distance until they came at him in groups of ten.

Two groups down, only ninety-eight to go.

Not that he would be killing every single one—not his first time here.

Again, he imagined what this floor would be like for another team. He imagined his own party, standing on the chunk of rock. Howard throwing up Bulwark. Siobhan sending elemental strikes through the air. Justin slashing at the enemy as they came close, only to be thrown off the side and have Siobhan summon him back up.

I can see how another group might handle it.

But now that he knew how he would tackle this floor—with ranged Soul Strikes—he had to think of the fastest way for him to clear it. He could see the auras of the Dark Wyverns. Some looked like they were at least a mile away.

I’ll need to test just how long range this spell is.

He also wondered where the floor boss might be. If he looked hard enough, he was sure he’d be able to spot it. Its aura would be stronger than the ones surrounding it. But there was no need to look yet—he had other things that required his attention.

Xavier drew in a deep breath. Pure white light streaked toward him.

You have harvested 9 souls.

Harvested Souls: 9/10

Not enough. His reserve was almost full and it was not enough!

The pit inside him screamed for more.

And Xavier endeavoured to fill it.

But he noticed something he hadn’t the second time he had used this spell—it was still on cooldown. He frowned. The first time he’d used the spell, he’d counted the cooldown. It had only been a single second.

Now? It was six seconds.

He quickly realised why. The cooldown is dependent on the number of souls I use in a strike. The more souls, the more cooldown. He simply hadn’t noticed that on his second use, when he’d infused three souls into the strike. He didn’t know if that would change in the future, but it was good motivation for him to discover just how many he could take out using a single soul in the spell.

Xavier drew in another deep breath and thought through his situation.

Soul Strike (Ranged) – Use Soul Strike to attack at range – to upgrade, infuse 100 souls into ranged Soul Strikes. Progress: 10/100

Ninety more ranged Soul Strike, and I’ll rank the spell up.

It wasn’t only his new spells he wished to test and rank up—and he’d only used three of his five new spells so far, he still had to try Soul Block and Soul Harden—he’d also planned to gain a few levels on this floor.

He wondered how long that would take.

Mastery Points until next level: 128000/1000000

I still have over eight hundred and seventy thousand Mastery Points to accrue. That would mean killing… six hundred and twenty-three of these winged bastards.

Xavier smiled. He wouldn’t even have to clear the entire floor to gain his next level.

He didn’t wait for the next group of Dark Wyverns to get close. The second his cooldown refreshed, he simply raised Soultaker and cast a one-infused Soul Strike.

The bolt of white lightning arced through the air. The apparition came into being. It tore into the Dark Wyverns, dimming after each one it killed.

One dead. Two dead. Three dead. Four…

Xavier frowned. A one-infused Soul Strike takes out four Dark Wyverns. He wondered if that meant he would need a three-infused strike to take out a whole group.

He harvested the souls of the dead.

Only, he couldn’t harvest them all. Two of the four souls streaked toward him. He watched the pure white light of the two he couldn’t harvest fall down into the darkness. The darkness that seemed to stretch on forever.

As they plummeted, he felt a pang of loss.

I need to keep aware of that.

He hoped reaching Rank 2 in the spell would drastically increase his reserve’s threshold. Though he sensed that Spirit and Intelligence helped the damage the attacks dealt, Spirit didn’t seem to do anything for the number of souls he could store.

Xavier tilted his chin up. A second had passed. The spell had refreshed.

He sent a two-infused Soul Strike at the remaining six Dark Wyverns. The apparition took them out with ease.

Soul Strike (Ranged) – Use Soul Strike to attack at range – to upgrade, infuse 100 souls into ranged Soul Strikes. Progress: 13/100

This isn’t efficient enough.

Xavier dragged in two more souls. His reserve once more at full capacity. He glanced around until he zeroed in on the next group of ten.

Let’s speed this up a bit.

Xavier dropped his head down, lips dragging up at the sides in a wicked grin. He gripped Soultaker, and aimed it toward the next group, sending a ten-infused Soul Strike streaking through the darkness toward where their auras flew toward him.

The apparition soared through the Dark Wyverns, causing ten more deaths, and ten more souls for Xavier to harvest.

Yes, he thought. This… this will work.

Xavier fell into a rhythm. He waited for his spell’s cooldown to end, counting down the seconds, then he sent another ten-infused Soul Strike to another group.

He did this eight times.

Once he’d settled on this plan, it took him less than a minute and a half to reach the second rank in Soul Strike.

Soul Strike has taken a step forward on the path, upgrading to the spell: Soul Strike (Ranged).

Soul Strike (Ranged) is a Rank 2 spell.

One cannot walk backward on the path.

Xavier raised his staff-scythe in triumph, unleashing a loud, satisfied laugh into the darkness. He’d already taken out eleven groups of the Dark Wyverns—one hundred and ten beasts—and it hadn’t taken him very long at all.

So far, the range on his Soul Strike hadn’t hindered him in the slightest. It seemed to stretch quite a distance, so he didn’t know if he could strike the farthest group of Dark Wyverns, which seemed to be a mile away.

How far can I strike?

He was definitely enjoying his choice of class.

Xavier harvested the souls of the last group he slayed.

You have harvested 10 souls.

Harvested Souls: 10/20

Xavier smiled. A single rank in the spell had doubled his threshold. He tilted his head to the side, sensing a shift in the spell, and brought up its description.

Soul Strike (Ranged) – Rank 2

Soul Strike (Ranged) is an epic spell specific to the Reaper line of classes and requires harvested souls to cast.

This is a ranged, offensive spell that uses harvested souls against an enemy. Soul Strike causes soul damage, which is different to magical damage and difficult to protect against.

The user may use as many harvested souls in a Soul Strike as they wish.

As Soul Strike (Ranged) progresses through the ranks, its range and area-of-effect damage will only increase.

One cannot walk backward on the path.

Xavier stared at the second last paragraph. Its range and area-of-effect damage will only increase. He had an inkling about that. Something he wished to test.

There’s so much for me to test.

He assessed his current situation and objectives. What else did he wish to achieve on this floor?

I want to reach level 11. I want to further increase my soul reserve’s threshold. I want to test the other spells in my arsenal, and test how the spells that had been upgraded to use harvested souls—Spiritual Trifecta and Spirit Break (All)—have changed.

And there was one other thing: Celestial Energy.

He brought up the third of his three Spirit Core Skill Quests.

Skill Quest Unlocked: Cultivate Energy

To unlock Cultivate Energy, successfully draw 10000 points of Celestial Energy into your Spirit Core, turning it into Spirit Energy.

Progress: 0/10000

Xavier sighed. He still had no clue what that meant. He looked around, wondering if this so-called Celestial Energy was out there, somewhere, and he simply couldn’t see it, or sense it.

All he could see were the auras of the Dark Wyverns, floating through the black.

All right, he told himself. One step at a time.

Next step: reach level 11.

Then he would test the rest of his spells to his heart’s content.