Tier 3+ - Accidental Champion - Chapter 40 - Like Some Cartoon Villain

Xavier walked to the middle of the Staging Room. He knelt by the loot box with his name on it. He’d put his Spirit Staff of Might into his Storage Ring, and he had the odd urge to rub his hands together greedily like some cartoon villain, or steeple his fingers and say, Excellent.

He smirked, pushed away those foolish thoughts, and opened the chest to see what rewards he’d gained this time.

You have gained +2 Skill Points.

You have gained 50000 Mastery Points.

You have gained 20000 Lesser Spirit Coins

Please choose your preferred item:

1. Spell Book

2. Attribute Token

Xavier felt the rush of receiving so much Mastery Points at once, and he smiled, having gained more skill points. The two skills he’d chosen last time—Physical Resistance and Magical Potency—had already gone up a few ranks from the previous floor. Staff Mastery remained at Rank 1, but he would gain more soon enough, once he figured out how to improve the skill.

He tilted his head to the side, seeing his choices of items. His eyes widened. The choices seemed better than last time, at least to his untrained eye. A Spell Book, or an Attribute Token… He thought about asking the others, but he wanted to think about his decision first. While equipment was important, each of these would make permanent changes to him.

The manual does say Spell Books are very expensive from the System Shop. As to Attribute Tokens, I guess they up someone’s attributes? He could imagine them being incredibly helpful for someone who didn’t have so many titles like Xavier did.

His forehead creased heavily. Attributes seemed to be the most important thing in terms of raw power. The more attributes he gained, the better off he would be. Though he didn’t know how many attributes the token would give him, or if he would be able to choose what they were, he knew it would make a difference to his level of power.

The Spell Book, however, would make him a more versatile fighter. And what Howard had been telling him was right. Xavier couldn’t simply rely on brute force in battle. True, it had gotten them this far, but he would be even more powerful if he trained up his fighting ability and versatility.

He bit his lip, not sure what the right choice was. Time to consult the others. Maybe they have the same choices. If one of them chooses the Attribute Token, it should give me an idea of how many attributes I’ll gain if I use one, and if I get to choose which attribute it is. If one of them chooses the Spell Book, then I’ll know if the spell given is random, and whether or not I can gain more than one spell.

What if he gained a spell that wasn’t even relevant to the way he fought? Like, levitation or something? Sure, it would be cool to hover off the ground, but it wouldn’t be his first choice by far.

He looked over at the others. They each had almost identical expressions on their faces to how he imagined he looked right now. Deep in thought, unsure of what to choose.

They conversed for a short time about their options. Siobhan, as she was a Basic Mage like Xavier, decided to choose the Spell Book to help give Xavier an idea of what it would be. She also liked the idea of gaining another spell, so he didn’t feel guilty about her losing out on attribute points.

Besides, she wouldn’t be able to gain the title of being a part of the first party to clear a floor if she wasn’t helping me out. She might not have as many titles as I do, but she’ll have far more than most people by the time we’re done with these ten floors.

The book appeared in her hand. She smiled and shook her head slightly. “I’m still getting used to the fact that magic is real.”

That brought a smile to Xavier’s lips, too. With the people of Earth at risk, all the goals he wished to achieve, the power he needed—and very much wanted—to gain, he sometimes forgot to stop and appreciate how amazing this all was.

Even if it was more than a little bit terrifying, too.

Justin smiled as well, though his smile was smaller than Siobhan’s. Howard was the only one of them who didn’t smile. Seeing his face brought Xavier back to reality. Back to what each of them were trying to return to. Trying to protect.

Siobhan opened the book. A book that appeared to have a single place in which to open it. Her eyes darted back and forth as she read the script. “The spell has been chosen for me. There wasn’t any option for me to choose it.”

“What is the spell?” Xavier asked.

The woman frowned, tucking an errant strand of red hair behind her ear. “Well, first, it says this Spell Book is nontransferable. It will only work for me. And, second, it’s a healing spell.” She looked over at Xavier. “That’s strange, isn’t it? I thought we wouldn’t get healing spells unless we chose a support role? I didn’t think there were support roles once we chose Champion.”

Xavier, standing by his loot box, put a hand to his chin. It had gotten stubbly in the last few days, and he idly ran his hand across the spikey hairs as he thought. “The information you guys told me about gaining our next classes at level 10, you said the classes were based on our actions?”

Siobhan nodded. “Yes. The classes we’re able to choose from will take into account how we’ve fought and what we’ve done between levels 1 and 10, what spells we’ve chosen and ranked up, as well as what skills we’ve learnt and trained.”

Xavier nodded. He pointed at the Spell Book open in her hand. It felt strange to have a whole book for one spell, but if he questioned everything that was strange about the Greater Universe, he’d never get anything done.

“Perhaps that’s what’s happened here. You received this Spell Scroll because of your actions.” Xavier motioned toward the door to the tower floors. “Any way we look at it, you were in a support role in that last fight. You helped me get out of that hole and you never struck the enemy. You’ve been gaining levels by trailing behind me and opening loot boxes, not by fighting.”

Siobhan lowered her head and frowned. “That means my options might be limited, unless we farm some monsters to make things different.”

“Are you disappointed by gaining a healing spell?” Xavier asked.

Siobhan shook her head and smiled. “Actually, no. I think it will be a very good thing to have.” She pursed her lips. “But I don’t want to lessen my fighting capabilities too much. Maybe the class I get to choose will be a mix—a Mage/Cleric hybrid of some sort. I can certainly see how my Summon and Heal spell could work well together.” She glanced at Howard, perhaps remembering how she’d summoned him to her, and he’d tanked an enemy’s attacks.

Cleric was typically a healer class in RPGs. It made Xavier wonder if there would be classes with names like that later on. And the woman was right—summoning a party member to her and healing them didsound powerful. “We’ll make sure you get some more fighting in before you get to level 10, to help influence your class choice.”

“We should also see if her healing you while you kill a monster gains her Mastery Points,” Justin said. “I haven’t played all that many video games, but isn’t that typically how a healer class gains experience?”

Xavier tilted his head to the side. “You’re right. That could stop me from getting the solo title.”

Siobhan sighed. “If that’s true, it will basically make the spell useless.”

Xavier had the impulse to put his hand on her shoulder and reassure her somehow, but thinking that only made him realise how short a time he’d known these people. Were they familiar enough for him to do that? “I’m sure it will come in handy.” He looked to the others.

Both of the Warriors had chosen the Attribute Tokens. Howard looked down at his, the coin resting atop his palm. Justin flicked his up in the air. The token appeared to be made from wood, of all things.

“What about the Attribute Tokens?” Xavier asked. “What do they provide?” He wondered if the tokens were nontransferable, like the Spell Book. Though he wasn’t about to ask them for their tokens, the thought didoccur to him. That’s more than a little greedy, Xavier, he chided himself.

Howard cleared his throat. “Like the Spell Book, the attribute was random. I got Toughness.”

Justin raised an eyebrow, glancing over at the former cop. “I got Speed.”

“Interesting. Though, that does make sense. Xavier pointed at Howard. “You were defending people, using your tower shield and that protective spell of yours.”

“Bulwark.”

“Bulwark.” Xavier nodded. “Good name.” He looked to Justin. “And you, I imagine an Olympic fencer has to be fast?”

Justin smirked. “Yeah. We definitely do.”

“And how many attributes do they offer?” Siobhan asked. The woman was sitting on the floor by her loot box, the Spell Book resting open on her lap. She hadn’t used it yet.

“10,” Howard said.

“10?” Xavier looked at the Attribute Token in his notification. “That’s more than I’d thought.” He still have 5 free stat points to allocate.

“I think you should choose a spell,” Siobhan said. “Attribute points will always help, but you’re not exactly low on those.”

The others nodded, clearly thinking the same.

While Xavier did agree, he couldn’t help but alwayswant more attribute points. Having a hell of a lot of them is how I’ve gotten us this far, after all.

But he was also far too excited to find out what new spell he might gain. The desire to rub his hands together came again as he told the others he agreed.

It’s time to finally gain a new spell.

He couldn’t help but wonder what it would be.