Accidental Champion of Earth - Chapter 9: Who Knew Fighting Monsters Would Involve So Much Math

Xavier slammed his staff into the head of the first goblin in the cafeteria.

A massive crack sounded as the green beast’s skull caved in. Blood and brain matter sprayed him straight in the face, but he’d learnt to keep his mouth shut when fighting in close quarters.

The little beast died in a single strike. Xavier dismissed the notification out of habit.

The other three goblins noticed him, then. He’d snuck into the cafeteria when his stomach had started rumbling, only to find a pack of goblins hovering around the little soft-serve ice cream machine. One of them had been shoving what looked to be chocolate-flavoured ice cream into its mouth, its eyes wide with wonder.

As none of the goblins had a ranged attack, now Xavier had gained their aggression he turned and ran, waiting for Spiritual Guidance to reach the end if its cooldown. Since he’d reached level 3, he’d put 2 of his free points into Toughness, 2 into Speed, and 1 into Spirit.

Though he knew he should add points into Intelligence, as he was sure that helped his magical strength in some way, he figured Toughness and Speed were more likely to keep him alive when facing goblins. He was more of a reader than a gamer, but he’d played his fair share. He knew about the concept of min-maxing, but doing so when his life was on the line probably wasn’t the smartest choice he could make.

Besides, each level he gained brought more Intelligence, Willpower and Spirit as it was.

Spiritual Guidance lasted longer now he had a total of 15 points in Spirit, but fortunately the cooldown timer started the moment he cast the spell, not when its effects wore off. The silver sheen was on him for at least three seconds before it disappeared, giving him a boost of speed after he’d killed that first goblin.

He was getting used to the sensation of it falling away, so when the silver sheen disappeared and the exhaustion hit him, the boost to his strength—both mental and physical—gone, he was more than ready for it.

The second the cooldown ended he whirled around and cast the spell once more, this time for defence.

He didn’t flinch when his enemy’s sword came down.

When it came time to run again, he did it with a grin. His plan was working perfectly. And this would be the last time he would need to do it.

Spiritual Guidance didn’t only last longer, its cooldown had also been reduced. What had taken ten seconds before now only took nine. Though it didn’t seem like much, one second could be the difference between life and death.

Finally, when the cooldown timer on the spell reached its end again, Xavier whirled around, staff gripped tightly in both hands. He’d led the three goblins out of the cafeteria into a hall he’d already ensured was clear. They were bunched up in a line, close enough together for what he planned to do.

He cast Heavy Telekinesis—the spell already having gained Rank 2. After gaining the second rank on the spell, he’d quickly realised it now required 200 Spirit Energy to cast.

The spell flung the goblins backward so hard it made their heads whip violently. He aimed the spell to the side, straight at the wall instead of down the hall. A symphony of cracking bones sounded as they slammed into the bricks.

You have defeated a Level 2 Lesser Goblin!

You have gained 200 Mastery Points.

You have gained 200 Spirit Energy.

The kill notification repeated another two times. Xavier dismissed all three, his grin widening as another notification popped into his vision. This was the one he’d been waiting for.

Spiritual Guidance has taken a step forward on the path, upgrading to the spell: Spiritual Trifecta.

Spiritual Trifecta is a Rank 2 spell.

As you only possess a single Rank 1 spell, you may not choose which spell to forget.

Cast Element – Rank 1 has been forgotten.

One cannot walk backward on the path.

Xavier quickly read the notification, nodding as he did so. Now that he’d brought both Telekinesis and Spiritual Guidance to their second ranks, he had forgotten Summon and Cast Element. Out of the four spells he’d gained when choosing the Basic Mage class, only two remained.

When he’d Ranked-up Telekinesis to Heavy Telekinesis, he’d been given the choice of what spell to forget. Now, it simply forgot his other spell automatically.

He considered the consequences of that. I’ll need to keep an eye on all my spells and their upgrades in the future, to make sure I don’t forget a spell accidentally. Fortunately, now that the spells were Rank 2, it didn’t seem as though he would need to forget any other spells to get them to Rank 3.

I wonder what would happen if I only had one Rank 1 spell I wanted to upgrade. Would I not need to forget anything? He hoped he would get a chance to experiment in the future.

Xavier knelt by the closest goblin, slumped down from the wall, and cut its purse of its belt. He didn’t bother collecting its weapons or its clothes. He knew that in a video game, he would be looting everything he could from the enemies’ corpses, but he didn’t have enough space to store everything he gathered.

But he wasn’t going to leave the purses. That would just be foolish.

He did the same for the other four goblins he’d slain, placing the purses into his bag. The satchel was starting to dig into his shoulders it was becoming so heavy.

When he’d done that, he checked the Quest Log.

Quest Log

Current Quest: Protect a human settlement from invaders taking root on your world.

Defeat all of the enemy invaders.

Progress: 32/50

Rewards:

1. You will be sent to a pocket world.

2. Unknown Item

Only eighteen goblins left.

Xavier was getting the hang of this. He’d have thought the hardest thing would’ve been killing the goblins, but so far, the hardest thing had been keeping his Spirit Energy in check. That’s why he’d needed to herd those three goblins into the hallway. Casting Spiritual Guidance three times during a fight took 300 Spirit Energy, while using Heavy Telekinesis used 200. If he’d had to use Heavy Telekinesis twice more, he would have used more Spirit Energy than he gained.

Who knew fighting monsters would involve so much math. He shook his head, chuckling to himself. Not for the first time, he thought there must be a better way to gain Spirit Energy than simply killing enemies.

He took a quick look at his stats.

XAVIER COLLINS

Level 3

Strength: 5

Speed: 7

Toughness: 8

Intelligence: 10

Willpower: 10

Spirit: 15

Mastery Points until next level: 2500/6000

Available Spirit Energy: 1000/1800

Free stat points remaining: 0

Xavier was glad to see he had 1000 Spirit Energy. It was the most he’d managed to gather so far. He always worried what he would do if he ran out. He hadn’t added any points to his Strength, so he could only hit harder when he had Spiritual Guidance—now Trifecta—active.

As his stats rose, he’d started to notice some differences. It hadn’t been obvious when he’d added points to Toughness—not until he’d been struck by an enemy.

He’d still been injured, but he knew it would have been worse had he not added any to the attribute at all. The slash had caused another leg wound. Fortunately, the wound hadn’t lasted long as he’d gotten it shortly before reaching level 3, and his health got regenerated again.

When he’d upped his Speed, he’d noticed it the first time he’d ran. He wasn’t just faster, running was easier. It took less breath, less energy. He could only imagine what it would be like as his stats got even higher.

When it came to Intelligence and Willpower, he still struggled do discern what difference they were making. But, then again, Xavier hadn’t always been the best when it came to numbers. Now, it was coming much, much easier to him. He barely even had to think about the calculations when thinking about Spirit Energy and Mastery Points.

He was also able to… think faster on his feet, too. And he could take in information faster.

Once he’d gained level 3 and started to notice things had been changing, he hid himself in a classroom and took out his phone. Though it didn’t get any reception anymore, it still had more than 60% charge. He’d brought up an ebook on his Kindle app and timed himself reading through the pages.

Since gaining 3 more points in Intelligence, he was able to read at least 50% faster than he had before.

I wonder what else is happening to me.

He hadn’t noticed the Willpower stat’s effects. But, then again, killing his enemies, finding the courage to move through the university’s campus… it had become easier and easier. He wasn’t sure if that had anything to do with his Willpower attribute, or if he was simply getting used to this new reality.

The only difference he’d noticed with his Spirit stat was how it affected his use of the Spiritual Guidance spell. It didn’t just make it last longer, it made it stronger. He was quite sure Spirit had also made his Heavy Telekinesis spell stronger as well. The cooldown on that spell had been lowered by one second, too.

He dismissed his stats and brought up the description of his newly upgraded spell.

Spiritual Trifecta – Rank 2

Spiritual Trifecta combines all three paths of Spiritual Guidance. When cast, it improves one’s physical and mental strength, physical and mental defence, and magical strength.

This power comes at a cost, however. Spiritual Trifecta costs twice as much as the average Rank 2 spell to cast.

One cannot walk backward on the path.

Reading the spell’s description gave Xavier mixed feelings. On the one hand, he was thrilled that casting the spell would give him all three qualities at the same time. He hadn’t been sure that’s what the spell would let him do.

On the other hand, he was pretty sure the Spirit Energy cost would now be 400 instead of the 100 it had been at Rank 1.

I really, really need to find a way to gain Spirit Energy without killing.

Xavier sighed. He dismissed the description, adjusted the heavy shoulder strap, then walked down the hallway into the cafeteria.

He hadn’t just come here to kill a few goblins. He’d come here for food.