Tier 3+ - Accidental Champion - Chapter 51 - Attempting To Assimilate Metal Impurities

Xavier knelt in the long, purple grass of an alien world. Two large suns hung high in the sky, their heat bearing down on him. The breeze blew in, flapping the tattered remnants of his robes.

And all Xavier felt was the pain. A pain that ran over and under every inch of his skin. A pain that stabbed and clawed and dug at the very deepest parts of him. A pain that threatened to engulf his entire consciousness.

I have to fight it.

Hundreds of enemy soldiers stood before Xavier, loosing arrows at him and pelting him with fireballs, striking him with lightning, slamming him with rocks and slicing him with shards of ice, clutching spears and shields with distorted looks of rage on their faces. Rage at the Champion—the human traitor who fought for the elves. The melee fighters were clearly trying to hold themselves back as the ranged fighters did their work. But it wasn’t these attacks that were hurting him. Not really. It was what was happening to his body.

Through narrowed eyes and gritted teeth, he read the notification again, trying to understand it through the haze of agony.

Error.

Unable to purge purities in an F Grade Denizen.

Attempting to assimilate metal impurities into muscular structure…

I don’t understand. Assimilate metal impurities?

His mind was sluggish. Far more sluggish than it had ever been. But his thoughts turned to… Wolverine from X-Men, of all things. When he’d had adamantium pumped into him in that vat and his body had healed him, grafting the metal to his bones.

Is that what’s happening to me?

There wouldn’t have been enough arrowheads embedded beneath his skin for something like that. Would there? Maybe he was just delirious with the pain…

A bright light enveloped him.

Siobhan, summoning me away. She must think I’m in trouble, on my knees like this.

But he didn’t want to leave the battlefield. He didn’t needto.

Your health is at 55%.

His health was still going up. Not down. Despite all of the attacks.

I want to stay. I want to keep fighting.

In the instant the white light enveloped him, he’d felt something tug at his body and spirit. The Summon spell. He grunted, then his grunt turned into a roar, his mouth opening wide, every muscle in his body tensing as he dragged himself off his knees and back onto his feet.

Somehow, he shrugged off the Summon spell, the tug of it disappearing as the light dissipated. He hadn’t even known that was possible—that he could refuse it—but his Magical Resistance must have been high enough for it to work.

All the pain hadn’t stopped. It felt like his legs were on fire. Like the bones inside them were broken. But he needed to stand. He wasn’t going to take whatever this was on his knees.

You have gained +1 Willpower!

Magical Resistance has reached rank 5!

What? Willpower? I’ve never gained that naturally before.

Xavier made it all the way back to his feet, still clutching his Spirit Staff of Might in his right hand, digging it into the ground to help him stand. He straightened up.

He pushed past the pain.

You have gained +1 Willpower!

Really? Again?

A shock ran through his body. It threatened to shake him. To take him back to his knees. But he didn’t let it. He stood as even more pain slammed into him.

You have gained +1 Willpower!

This is insane!

Then, as suddenly as the pain had come, it… left.

Success.

Assimilation is complete.

Metal impurities of Crucible Steel have been assimilated into muscular structure.

You have gained +10 Toughness!

You have learned the skill Assimilate Properties!

Assimilate Properties – Rank 1

This is an epic skill that grants you the ability to assimilate foreign properties into your body, mind and soul if the perfect conditions are met.

List of Current Assimilated Properties:

Crucible Steel (Muscular Structure) – +10 Toughness

The pain gone, Xavier looked down at his body. At his skin. It looked… different. It had the slightest silver tint to it, one that his Spiritual Trifecta spell wasn’t the cause of.

I just gained a rank in Magical Resistance, 2 Willpower, 10 Toughness, and an epic skill?

Xavier shook his head in disbelief. He turned his head from side to side, cracking it satisfyingly, then looked out at the enemy soldiers. Their barrage of attacks had ceased, and they were all just staring at him.

Then a series of explosions sounded, mixed with a deep rumbling and high-pitched hissing and the roaring of a jet engine. A dark shadow loomed over the human army.

Their Champion, the three-headed hell beast named the Cerotri Infernum—the same one that had fought for the elves in the previous instance—had arrived behind them.

The trance that had overtaken the human army seemed to disappear. A man bellowed an order. It wasn’t Sergeant Bradley—Did I already kill that man?—“Clear the way for our Champion! Let the Cerotri Infernum deal with the bastard scum traitor while we move on the enemy!”

Xavier tilted his head forward. “No.” Wringing his grip about his staff, holding it tight in both hands, a smile dragged up the side of his lips. “You shall not pass!”

He’d activated Spiritual Trifecta as he’d stood, and still had a few seconds left. He sprang forward, sprinting as fast as he could manage. As he ran toward the clumped-together melee fighters, he flung a Heavy Telekinesis their way.

As the spell struck and dozens of soldiers were flung backward into those behind them, he was assailed with a bunch of kill notifications that he ignored, seeing something far more important.

Congratulations, you have reached level 10!

Your health has been regenerated by 50%!

Your Spirit Energy limit has increased by 100!

You have received +1 Intelligence, +1 Willpower and +1 Spirit!

You have received +5 free stat points!

All your spells have refreshed and are no longer on cooldown!

As you have reached level 10, you now have the ability to choose your next class. Choosing your class can only happen while you are outside of combat.

You will not receive any further Mastery Points until you have made your choice.

However, you can still upgrade spells, skills and gain attributes while in this state.

Title Unlocked!

Minor Butcher: This is an uncommon title. You have slain 50 enemies in a single strike. Whether you have slain small field mice or fearsome dragons, this feat’s reward is the same.

You have received +6 to all stats!

Note: As you have a similar title, “Lesser Butcher” has been combined with this title and shares its stats.

Xavier felt a sudden influx of sheer, bloody-minded utter determination and motivation. He felt like he could achieve anything he set his mind to. Like all he would need to do was set a course toward what he wanted, and he would get it.

With the level up combined with the title, Willpower had reached over one hundred stat points, breaking another barrier.

Four down, two more to go.

Xavier didn’t miss a beat as he kept running toward the enemy. With his spells refreshed, he cast Spiritual Trifecta over himself once more then flung Heavy Telekinesis the other way, taking out another fifty or so enemy soldiers in one fell swoop.

Heavy Telekinesis has taken a step forward on the path!

Heavy Telekinesis is now a Rank 5 spell.

One cannot walk backward on the path.

Spiritual Trifecta has taken a step forward on the path!

Spiritual Trifecta is now a Rank 5 spell.

One cannot walk backward on the path.

Magical Potency has reached rank 9!

Xavier grinned with near-manic glee.

With so many opponents to attack, it seemed impossible for him not to make progress. Perhaps the ranks of his spells and skills were simply catching up to the level of his stats, as he was slaying more enemies than he ever had before.

He didn’t know, but he wasn’t going to complain. Whatever he was doing was working.

Xavier took down another few hundred enemy soldiers. The rank-ups for his spells and skills seemed to dry up, as he mostly used his Heavy Telekinesis spell to deal with the rest.

A part of him lamented at the fact that he wouldn’t be gaining any Mastery Points for these kills, but that didn’t bother him a great deal. After everything he’d just gained, it felt a little, well, greedy to expect even more.

His army—the elven army, this time around—caught up to the massacre, fighting against the humans themselves. Xavier could see Howard, Siobhan and Justin with them. Howard caught his gaze, a look of awe trapped in his eyes.

Xavier faced the hell beast for the second time. He wanted to slay this thing, then get straight back to the Staging Room so he could discover what options he had for his next class.

He couldn’t wait to find out what they would be.