Tier 3+ - Accidental Champion (Book 2) - Chapter 64 - A Spell With an Attitude Problem

Xavier gazed at the enemies remaining on the second floor of the goblin keep. Even with all his spell and ability experimentation he was still moving through the floor faster than the other members of his party had.

Once the imbued ability, Buffer, had ended, Xavier twirled his scythe-staff about him, lazily lopping off the heads and limbs of any goblins dumb enough to get within range. There was no difficulty to this, and so he took little enjoyment from the fight. He also didn’t gain any Mastery Points from these kills—the enemies were simply too weak.

It was time for him to test Summon Otherworldly Spirit. He looked at the spell’s description.

Summon Otherworldly Spirit – Rank 1

Summon Otherworldly Spirit is a legendary spell specific to the Otherworldly line of classes.

Summon Otherworldly Spirit is a spell that gives the Denizen the ability to call forth a spirit from the Otherworld.

One cannot walk backward on the path.

Yet. Just as I remembered. It barely says anything about what it actually does.

He’d theorised a few different possibilities, but there was no substitution for active experimentation.

Xavier cast the spell.

Everything around him froze. The goblins running about. A fly-like insect buzzing around one of the corpses. Nothing in the entire room was moving—not even Xavier, yet he could still see. Still think.

This isn’t what I was expecting.

The world… shifted. Not in the same way as it had shifted when he’d used Soul Step. No, this was completely different. The colour from the room was leeched out. The already grey stone turned even greyer. The green of the goblins’ skin and blood bled out and dulled. It was like the whole room was a freeze-frame in some black-and-white fantasy movie.

Were there any black-and-white fantasy movies? he wondered. Not that it’s important right now…

A humming sounded somewhere. In his mind. In the room. Outside the keep. He wasn’t sure where it was coming from. Though he didn’t recognise the noise—it was unique, alien; otherworldly—he instinctively knew what it was trying to do.

It’s calling forth a spirit.

You have successfully connected to the Otherworld.

What kind of Spirit do you wish to summon?

1. Spirit of Protection

2. Spirit of Vengeance

3. Spirit of Time

The cooldown for this spell varies significantly depending upon the spirit you summon.

Whoa. That’s different.

Xavier tried to blink, then remembered he was currently frozen in time, unable to move his eyes. Before he decided on which option to choose, he wondered if there was any sort of time limit to this world-frozen thing he was currently experiencing. His mind worked quickly, what with his high Intelligence attribute, but being able to freeze time to think through a battle strategy? That seemed like a second hand benefit of this spell that he would most definitely take advantage of in the future.

Protection, vengeance, time… The options were quite interesting. First, he hadn’t known he would have options. He could guess what the first two spirits might be capable of, but it was the third that intrigued him the most. What, exactly, would a Spirit of Time be capable of? Was time travel possible in the Greater Universe?

And would travelling through time simply create another alternate universe, like travelling to a floor of the tower does?

He dismissed that tangential thought. It didn’t matter how it worked, only if it worked.

Xavier ruminated on his options. He wanted to test the Spirit of Time, but he worried about what the notification said at the end—that his cooldown would vary depending on which spirit he summoned.

How long, exactly, would he need to wait for the spell to cooldown? It could be anything from seconds, to weeks, to years for all he knew. The others had told him legends of some spells in the higher grades that took centuries to reach the ends of their cooldowns because of their immense power.

And to him, Spirit of Time sounded like the most powerful option.

I’ll have to test that another time. Just in case.

Spirit of Vengeance, he also wasn’t sure about using in this situation. Mostly because he didn’t know how much control he would have over the summoned spirit. He wasn’t worried about it attacking his party, but what if it went after all the enemies in the area? It might very well be strong enough to defeat every goblin in the keep. Then he would have cleared this floor well before he was ready too.

No. That’s not an option I want to go with. I can’t accidentally clear this floor.

He needed every single title he could get, even if those titles didn’t seem as powerful anymore, in the long run—over a thousand tower floors—they would make a huge difference.

So, in lieu of not summoning anything at all, he decided to summon the Spirit of Protection.

The Spirit of Protection materialised before Xavier in a flash of bright light. Though the world around him had been bled of all colour, the spirit that appeared before him looked to comprise of every colour imaginable. Its brightness diminished from that of the sun on a clear day to a full moon’s glow, allowing him to make out the spirit’s details.

The ethereal creature looked more humanoid than Xavier had expected. It wore a glowing set of full-plate armour, though its face was hidden behind a dark cowl that wreathed its features in shadow despite the glow the rest of the spirit emanated. He couldn’t tell what type of race the being might be—human, elf, demon, or something else entirely.

Am I even seeing its true form, or is it simply appearing as something I can recognise? Like angels often are said to appear, in ways human’s can perceive, while their real forms would make us go mad?

The spirit cocked its head to the side. Though its eyes were not visible beneath its dark cowl, he knew it was staring at him. The room was still frozen, but in that frozen moment the spirit spoke, and the words echoed directly in Xavier’s mind.

Why have you summoned me, Denizen? You are unharmed, and I do not sense anything that could pose danger toward you.

It can talk. The spirit can talk!

Do you think me a dim-witted fool? Of course I can talk!

Oh, crap. It can read my mind?

The spirit reared back, as though offended—or frustrated—by his thought.

All right, so it heard that too. Xavier, caught of guard, floundered for a moment before he settled on what he wanted to say to the spirit. O powerful Spirit of Protection from the domain of the Otherworld, he thought, trying to sound respectful. I wish to learn about your abilities and the abilities of the other spirits that lurk within your realm.

The Spirit of Protection floated in the air before him. It raised its head.

You waste my time, Denizen. I am not some minor spirit to be summoned on a whim. Give me instruction or dismiss me from this plane. Do not test my patience, or your ability to summon from the Otherworld will take far longer to rejuvenate.

Suddenly, Xavier saw the notification’s text in a new light. The spell’s cooldown wasn’t dependent on the spirit he chose, but rather the individual spirit he summoned, which made him wonder if there were different spirits of protection, vengeance, and time.

Command me!

Xavier reined in the harsh thoughts he wished to have about the spirit, not wishing to have a long cooldown forced upon him.

I dismiss you, Spirit of Protection, and apologise for wasting your precious time.

The Spirit of Protection disappeared. Colour returned to the world in a flash. Slowly, and then all at once, Xavier Collins was returned to the flow of time.

“Impatient spirit,” he muttered.

He willed the information for the cooldown to appear.

Summon Otherworldly Spirit currently has a cooldown of 10 hours. It cannot be used for another 9 hours and 57 seconds.

“Damned ghost.”

“What are you muttering about?” Howard asked from the other side of the room.

Xavier didn’t feel like actively dealing with the rest of the enemies on the floor. Instead, he cast Willpower Infusion. Purple mist drifted into the air and took control of the goblins. He sent them upstairs, to fight their allies, then walked over to the others.

“I just used Summon Otherworldly Spirit.”

“But… nothing happened?” Justin said.

Xavier sighed. “Yes, well, the spirit said I was wasting its time.”

“Wasting its time?” Siobhan replied. “The spirit talked to you? Why couldn’t we see it? When exactly did this happen?”

Xavier raised a hand to forestall anymore of her questions from streaming out, then explained what had happened.

“And you just… dismissed the spirit?” Howard asked.

“Honestly? It really seemed offended by the fact that I had summoned it when I wasn’t actually in danger.” Xavier rubbed the back of his neck. “This is the first time I’ve had a spell with an attitude problem.”

Siobhan smiled and shook her head. “That is pretty funny.”

“It gave me a ten hour cooldown because it thought I was wasting its time.”

“Siobhan is right. That is funny.” Justin chuckled.

Even Howard had a grin on his face. “It sounds like it might be a powerful spell when you actually need it.”

“Yeah. I guess. Like the other spells, it’s just gonna be difficult to test unless I’m actually facing powerful enemies.”

Several kill notifications popped up in his vision. He dismissed them. “I guess I shouldn’t be complaining about being too powerful.”

“No. You really shouldn’t be,” Siobhan said with a grin.

“You still have one more spell to test, don’t you?” Howard asked.

“Otherworldly Communion.” Xavier tilted his head to the side, put a hand to his chin. “Another spell with an incredibly vague description.” Though he was a little frustrated that he hadn’t been able to really use the Summon Otherworldly Spirit spell, he couldn’t say he was disappointed with it. He wasn’t even annoyed that the spirit he’d summoned had gotten angry with him. From the spirit’s perspective, he was definitely wasting its time.

He had to wonder what exactly a spirit did with its time that it was so worried about it being wasted, however…

Even though it had only been a day since he’d faced the Lord of the Endless Horde, Xavier was chafing at how easy this floor was. He wanted another challenge. Something worthy of the spell he’d just tried to use. Something that wouldn’t be deemed a waste of time.

Maybe protecting Earth will be more of a challenge than I’ve anticipated… though wishing for that wouldn’t be a good thing.

As Otherworldly Communion didn’t seem like a combat spell, Xavier turned from his party members and cast it right away.

The world froze again, bleeding of its colour, just as it had when he’d used the last spell.

You have successfully connected to the Otherworld.

What kind of insight do you wish to receive?

1. Strategic insight

2. Personal insight

3. Sector insight

The cooldown for this spell varies depending on the level of insight you receive. If you have a specific question you wish to gain insight on, hold it in your mind as you choose your option.

Xavier stared at the options in the frozen, greyed-out world, wondering what he should choose. He imagined strategic insight would be incredibly helpful to him in the middle of a difficult battle. Having the ability to freeze time, even if he couldn’t move, and commune with the Otherworld to learn what his best path of attack might be…

Yeah, that could get me out of a tight spot in the future.

Personal insight was intriguing, too. Maybe he could learn about his abilities and what paths he should take with them. Could there be better options that he was missing out on? Would it know which way he should take Soul Shatter? Could it tell him what the spirits summoned with Summon Otherworldly Spirit were capable of?

Xavier would have bitten his lip in thought if he could.

The last option, sector insight, was admittedly the most intriguing to him. Information was something he lacked since the moment he was integrated into the Greater Universe. It was something his whole planetlacked. He thought of the Sector Travel Key he still had in his Storage Ring, and the Portal Stones. If he learnt more about the sector he resided in, maybe he could better decide where to go with that Sector Travel Key.

Even gaining an idea of the landscape around the sector, like who Earth’s enemies might be, would be a huge boon.

So that’s what Xavier chose to do. He selected the third option, sector insight.