Accidental Champion of Earth - Chapter 22 - I’m Not That Kind Of Mage

Standing before the door that would have them enter the first floor of the Tower of Champions, Xavier explained to his party members what different titles he possessed, and what that meant for his stats.

For the most part, they’d looked at him with scepticism, but as he had no reason to lie, they seemed to take him at his word.

“Your stats are really that high?” Siobhan said for the third time. “That’s such an interesting gaming mechanic! Having the firstto achieve something gain a reward like that!”

“Sounds unfair to me,” Justin muttered. “If you get a strong start, no one will be able to catch up.”

That’s exactly my plan, Xavier thought.

Howard clapped the kid on the shoulder. “Remember what I said? That’s life. Learn to live with it or don’t.”

“Whatever it is,” Xavier said. “I…” He swallowed. He wasn’t good at talking to strangers, and he knew what he was about to say would sound incredibly absurd and arrogant. “I think if any party from Earth has a chance of clearing these floors faster than those from established worlds, it’s ours.”

“Because of you?” Howard raised an eyebrow.

Xavier nodded. “Yes. Because of me.” He locked eyes with Howard. “You know about the invaders, don’t you? That our world isn’t locked from others being able to travel toward it?”

Howard grunted. “Word got around. ‘Bout the only thing they talked about down in the tavern.”

“Then you know how seriously we need an advantage. You want to get back to your kids? Your wife?” He looked at Siobhan. “You want to get back to your sister?” At Justin. “And your mum? The faster we clear these floors, this mission, the faster we get to Earth and help protect our people.” He gripped his staff tightly. “That book says it will take us three months, but if we don’t return for that long, it might be too late. Who knows what state the world will be in.”

It felt like an awful thing to do to a world. Remove those who wished to protect it the most, when it was most in need of protection.

Howard raised his chin. “Right, then.” He looked at the other two. “Xavier’s right. Whether we can clear these floors faster than those rich bastards from old worlds remains to be seen, but I want to get back to my family.”

Siobhan nodded. “I want to make sure my sister’s okay. And… I want to see if we can do this.”

Justin drew his sword. Looked down at it. “I’ve been training at fencing most of my life. Since I was seven.” He gave a small grin. “I’m used to winning tournaments. Maybe this will be no different.”

Howard smirked, gave a rare chuckle. “That’s the spirit, kid. All right, then. We’ve dallied enough.” He motioned to Xavier. “Lead the way.”

Siobhan raised a finger, stalling them. She still had the book open in one hand, her gaze locked on it. “Remember what the hologram said about the System Shop during the orientation? And about this room? Apparently, the second we step out and step back in, that’s when this place will change.” She looked up from her book at Xavier. “Are you sure we shouldn’t check out the shop first?”

Xavier frowned. He had over a thousand Lesser Spirit Coins, and he supposed the others might have some coins on them as well. He looked down at his grey robes. At his staff with the clear crystal at its head. He supposed new gear would be a good thing, but he didn’t want to delay. He could imagine the four of them looking at the shop’s contents for ages, trying to figure out what the best things to buy were. That would only slow them down.

He supposed that was another thing those parties from established worlds would have over them. He had to imagine that they would all have much, much better starting gear.

Siobhan, Howard and Justin were looking to him, as though he were the leader. I guess I am the strongest. He knew what he would do if he were alone, so that’s what he said. “I’m sure we’d find something useful in the shop, but it would slow us down. If we want a chance at being the first to clear this floor, we need to start moving now.” He touched the doorhandle. Text appeared in his vision, asking what floor he wished to enter.

Floor one.

Xavier was transported out of the orientation room and found himself standing in the middle of what appeared to be a cabin. It wasn’t particularly big. There was a bit of clear space on the ground. There wasn’t much in the room. Just a round, wooden table with four chairs. There were two doors: one behind him, and one ahead of him.

You are currently in a Safe Zone. You party has a combined 24 hours they are allowed to spend within this Safe Zone, starting in 5 minutes.

The others didn’t take too long to arrive.

“A Safe Zone?” Justin muttered.

“If it’s anything like in a video game, it means we shouldn’t be attacked by enemies while we’re here,” Siobhan said.

“Awfully convenient,” Howard grunted. He walked up to what Xavier thought of as the front door and opened it. It was dark outside the cabin, almost pitch black, though Xavier could make out some trees.

Justin stepped up behind Howard, peering through the door. “That looks… ominous.”

“We don’t appear to be in the tower anymore,” Howard said, closing the door. There was still four minutes remaining before the countdown on the Safe Zone would begin.

“This door leads back to the room we just left,” Siobhan said.

“We’re still in the tower,” Xavier said. “It’s just not what we expected it to be.” Considering all Xavier had seen so far, a “floor” of the tower containing a cabin and a dark forest wasn’t about to take him by surprise. This System was powerful enough to change their entire world, and eventually, the entire universe—according to Sam the barkeep.

He was sure it had the power to create anything.

Xavier walked over to the open door. “Now come on. Let’s get moving.”

The others gave each other wary looks, but they didn’t complain. Xavier gripped his staff tightly and checked his stats before stepping out, wondering how they might change by the time he was out of here.

Age: 20

Race: Human

Grade: F

Moral Faction: World Defender (Planet Earth)

Class: Basic Mage

Level 4

Strength: 26

Speed: 22

Toughness: 32

Intelligence: 29

Willpower: 34

Spirit: 36

Mastery Points until next level: 100/12000

Available Spirit Energy: 4000/4000

Available Skill Points: 0

Free stat points remaining: 0

Titles: Bloodied Hands, Born on a Battlefield, Settlement Defender, Quester, 100 Stats, First to 100 Stats, First Defender of Planet Earth

Spells List:

Spiritual Trifecta – Rank 2

Heavy Telekinesis – Rank 2

Skills List:

Staff Mastery – Rank 1

Lesser Spirit Coins: 1,231

Xavier nodded minutely as he looked at his stats. Since he’d sorted his Lesser Spirit Coins out of their purses and put them back into his Storage Ring, he’d been able to see them whenever he looked at all of his information. He still had no concept of how much the coins were valued, but he supposed they couldn’t be worth a great deal if they were called “Lesser” coins.

The hologram said something about being able to create our own coins. That the information will be in the manuals we received. He just didn’t feel like he had the time to actually look.

We need to move forward.

It wasn’t just that Xavier wanted to be the first to clear this floor and gain a reward for it, though that was high up in his mind as a priority, taking up almost all of his mental space.

He also felt… a thrill of excitement. He wanted to do this. Wanted to fight. Xavier couldn’t wait to see how much stronger he had become after gaining all of those titles. Couldn’t wait to see what difference it would make to his spells.

Xavier hadn’t wanted to practice with Heavy Telekinesis while in his room or out in the hall. It wasn’t a very precise spell, and he knew he would just end up breaking furniture, though he wasn’t sure how the cooldown had been changed by his gain in stats.

Spiritual Trifecta, however, was something he’d used a few times, trying to see what the new cooldown was like, as his Spirit attribute had increased by 20all the way to 36, making it his strongest attribute.

When he’d tested the spell, his cooldown had gone down from 29 all the way to 15. It had basically halved. It still made him feel exhausted when it wore off, but the fact that Willpower was his second strongest stat made that weakness far easier to handle.

The ground was soft underfoot as he stepped out of the cavern. His eyes adjusted to the darkness of the forest, and he gazed about, straining his ears, wondering what monsters they might face.

Part of him had expected there to be a notification to appear. Something that told them how many enemies they would need to kill, but nothing showed up.

He heard the others behind him, footsteps in damp earth. Howard stood over to one side of him. Justin at the other. Both with their swords in hand, steel bare, glinting in the faint moonlight that filtered into the clearing where the cabin sat.

Siobhan came to stand behind him. Like Xavier, she was a Mage. He would have assumed someone who had a background in Taekwondo would rather choose a Warrior, but it appeared as though she had foregone that. She plays a lot of video games. Maybe she’s always wanted to wield magic.

Howard looked Xavier up and down. “Perhaps I should go first. You’re some sort of magical ranged fighter, aren’t you? Isn’t that what Basic Mages are? And I can’t imagine those robes would soak up too much damage.”

Though Howard had said he didn’t know anything about video games, he’d likely spent a lot of time talking about everything with people down in the tavern.

Xavier smiled at the man. “I’m not that kind of Mage.” He glanced behind him at Siobhan. “Does the book say anything about the first floor?”

“Unfortunately, no. There isn’t any information but the timeframe.”

“A week for a party from a newly integrated world,” Xavier said, remembering what the woman had told them. “What about for a party from an established world?”

Siobhan was quiet. She bit her lip before speaking. “It says… they would take one to three days.”

Xavier nodded. “Then we need to be faster than that.”

He took a step forward when he heard a rustling to his left. A big, dark shape bounded out of the trees and leapt straight at him. All Xavier saw was teeth bared and claws outstretched. Toward him.

The beast looked like some sort of black puma.