Accidental Champion of Earth - Chapter 17 - You Currently Have No Skills

Xavier didn’t let himself have another drink. He said his goodbyes to Sam the barkeep then headed back out of the tavern. At first, when he’d been learning more about what being integrated into the Greater Universe meant, it had invigorated him with more energy and motivation than ever.

Now, he wasn’t sure what to think. What to feel. Sam had told him there were ways to train without gaining levels, but what exactly were those ways? Did it have anything to do with the skill point he’d gotten as a bonus reward from his first quest? He still didn’t know how to use that.

He wondered what type of titles he might be missing out on by getting locked in this place. Part of him felt like those stuck on Earth who hadn’t chosen Champion had a better chance of becoming stronger than him, though he supposed he had no idea what they might be going through. At least they aren’t stuck in a pocket world with only one person to talk to.

He trudged back up the stairs. As he did, he retrieved a pack of chips from out of his Storage Ring and munched on them. His health had already made its way back to full just from the time he had been sitting at the bar. It felt good seeing it at 100%, but it wasn’t like he was in any danger right now.

Should I just go up and sleep? he wondered. Except he didn’t feel tired. He didn’t know whether that was because of his stats, or all of the excitement from the day he was having. Has it really only been one day?

That in itself was difficult to believe. He supposed it made sense then, him being the first to arrive in this place.

As he walked up the stairs, he noticed that his legs weren’t finding it difficult at all. He definitely wouldn’t have been able to climb this many stairs before the integration without breathing hard and breaking a sweat. With all the titles I gained, my Strength is at 23. He wondered how much Strength the strongest person on Earth would have started with. Is 10 the limit? Or would they have been more like 12?

He clenched his fist, felt the strength in his arm. How do I… make this more without gaining levels?

When he made it back to his room, he threw the empty chip packet back into his Storage Ring and slumped onto the bed, deep in thought. He contemplated the skill point he had, then tried a few things, attempting to see if he could use it.

Finally, after trying about ten different things, he thought, skill list and a notification popped up.

Skills

You currently have no skills. Do you wish to purchase a skill with your Skill Point?

He didn’t like the way the System said he had “no skills.” I have plenty of skills, thank you very much. Still, he thought, Yes, at this was what he’d been looking for.

He blinked as a massive list appeared with a vast number of options. His eyes widened, looking at all of them. There were in different sections and disciplines. Cooking. Baking. Blacksmithing. Tailoring. Fishing. Hunting. Performing.

There were even things like Engineering, Alchemy, and Medicine. When he saw that there was a section for Writing, he had to restrain himself from selecting it to see what skills he might gain in that field, wondering if it would be in sections for prose, dialogue, descriptions, scene setting and worldbuilding.

He shook his head. There are more important things to do right now…

There were also different sections for general skills, things ranging from jumping, running and climbing. Can’t I already do those things? What does gaining the skill “running” do, exactly?

Xavier put his staff on the bed and rested his chin in his hands. He did remember the barkeep mentioning something about an “Identify” skill, which he ended up finding in one of the lists of general skills, but he didn’t feel as though choosing that would give him a large enough advantage at this point.

I gained the skill point as a bonus reward, which means I’ll likely be one of few Champions who already has a skill point. I need to pick something that will give me the greatest advantage.

That’s when he came upon Martial skills.

His eyes widened as he looked at things like Unarmed Combat, Staff Mastery, Sword Mastery and Dagger Mastery. There were even things for Physical Resistance and Magical Resistance, and a skill for Magical Potency, which he assumed would improve the strength of one’s spells. Unfortunately, there didn’t seem to be a way to learn more about a skill. All he got was their names, though usually it was fairly self-explanatory.

What if I can improve a skill without needing to gain Mastery Points to do so? That would be one way to train without gaining levels. He wasn’t sure if that was how it worked, but he was eager to find out.

He just needed to find out whichskill to choose. As much as he wanted to go down and ask Sam, he doubted the man would be able to answer that question.

Considering how many goblins he’d killed by hitting them with the butt of his staff, Xavier was verytempted to choose Staff Mastery. But he wanted to check what other skills there were first.

To his surprise, he came upon the skill Meditation in the list of Martial skills, which made him frown. How was that a “Martial” skill? If the Meditation skill is anything like in video games or novels I’ve read, it will help regenerate my health, maybe even gain me Spirit Energy.

In fact, now that he thought about it, Meditation gaining him Spirit Energy was incredibly likely, and there were probably other advantages. Like, maybe getting it to a high enough level would let him meditate while walking, or eventually while fighting…

But that didn’t seem like something that would help him over the next few days. Something told him he would be gaining a lot more skill points in the future. I’m only level 4, after all. He already felt envious of those Champions who would be here from worlds that had been integrated for decades, centuries, even millennia. They would know exactly what to do with this skill point.

He stared at his staff on the bed, then looked at the Staff Mastery skill. He could choose Magical Potency, but he figured his magic strength was actually already quite high.

It was his physical combat ability that was lacking. If there are other Champions like that Navy Seal, they will be miles ahead of me in combat skills, even if they’re pre-System combat skills. Then there’s all those from other, already integrated worlds… His stats may be high, but stats alone wouldn’t be enough to get him far, would they?

Xavier made his decision. He chose Staff Mastery.

You have learned the skill Staff Mastery!

Staff Mastery - Rank 1

You are a student of the staff. Your weapon is one of range and versatility. Of defence and offense.

+5% physical damage with staff weapons.

+5% Speed when wielding staff weapons.

Xavier raised an eyebrow, looking at the bonuses the skill gave him. It was the first time he’d seen a bonus that used percentages. At first, he was a little disappointed, as 5% didn’t seem like very much at all. Then he supposed it was only Rank 1.

He also realised… even if right now it was worth less than 5 attribute points in speed, down the track, if his Speed stat were in the hundreds? It would be worth far more. Perhaps I’m thinking too far ahead.

He tried to will some sort of upgrade quest to appear, like they had for his spells, but nothing came up. Maybe I need to use the staff first. He grabbed his staff, then looked around the small room that he supposed was his for the foreseeable future. There wasn’t exactly much room to move.

He stepped out in the hall. It was wide, with plenty of room. Gripping his staff in both hands, he felt rather foolish about what he was about to do. Like a kid in the backyard playing with at stick. But he’d done fire twirling in front of crowds before, and here there was no one. At least, for the moment.

There’s nothing foolish about training. He moved forward and swung the staff. That’s when he realised something. He swung the staff differently to how he had before. He had one hand all the way down near the butt of the staff, and the other up about a third of the way. The strike felt far more powerful than any other he had done.

He hadn’t even noticed he’d been holding the staff that way. He stood back up from his lunge and frowned.

Did choosing that skill download information into my brain or something? He probed his mind, but he couldn’t for the life of him find anything that he didn’t already know in there. At least, as far as he could tell.

He swung the staff again. This time in a series of strikes. Overhead, underhand, side to side, taking a step with each strike as though he were putting an opponent on the back foot.

The way he moved felt so much different to how it had before. His steps more… calculated, smooth, even graceful, if to a small degree. After the sixth strike, he stopped again, looked down at himself. Something has definitely changed. Like… like there’s muscle memory that wasn’t there before. Clearly, what he gained from learning the skill hadn’t just been the two 5% boosts.

Xavier couldn’t help but smile. This might not have been what the barkeep had been talking about, even though he had told him, when talking about his quest, what rewards he’d received, but damn he was glad he had chosen it.

He remembered how he’d fought against the goblins. The way he’d hit them with the staff. It had been so clumsy in comparison to this. And I’m only at Rank 1! He wondered how he would be able to improve this skill.

Xavier didn’t have much concept of time in that hallway, but he figured he spent at least two hours almost non-stop swinging that staff. Though he could feel some strain on his muscles, and his breathing did quicken a little, he never even got close to pushing himself hard. He wondered if that was his Strength, Toughness or Speed helping him out there, or perhaps all three.

As to his Speed, though it was currently his weakest stat, he was sure he was swinging his staff faster Bruce Lee, Jet Li or Jackie Chan could in each of their primes.

This is insane! I’m even faster than a Shaolin Monk!

By the end of his session he finally stopped. He wasn’t feeling anything improve, though he supposed that didn’t mean the training was for nothing. Just because he wasn’t seeing “stats go up” didn’t mean he wasn’t improving. I’m stronger, and faster, tougher and even smarter, but the only reason I’m moving differently is because of the Staff Mastery skill.

He put the staff in his Storage Ring and looked down the long hallway. There were other things he should train, or test. For one, he didn’t really know how fast or strong he was now. He needed to make sure he could properly judge his speed and strength while in the middle of a fight, lest he try and do something he couldn’t, or misjudged how fast he could block.

Or what if he accidentally jumped over an enemy instead of at them? That would be embarrassing. And potentially lethal, for me.

So that’s what Xavier did. He ran. He jumped. He performed push ups, then handstand push ups against a wall, then finally freestanding handstand push ups in the middle of the hallway. He sprinted down the spiralling stairs, to the door of the tavern, then all the way back up to the door of his room.

It was when he was doing those sprints that something finally changed.

You have gained +1 Speed!

When the notification had popped up, it had taken him by surprise so much that he’d slipped on a step and fallen straight into the wall of the stairway, slamming one knee and his head against the stone. Even so, he couldn’t help but laugh and pump his fist in the air—once he’d regained his footing.

He had gained an attribute point, and he hadn’t needed to get a level or a title to do it!

Now that he’d done it once, he would surely be able to do it again.