Xavier breathed. Fast and shallow.
Someone had just died in front of him. Julian. Julian Myers.
The man hadn’t wanted to fight. He’d put his rifle on the ground. He could have killed Xavier in a second. Could have won the challenge. But he’d surrendered.
And paid for it with his life.
And that’s the only reason I’m still alive.
Xavier had been yanked back into the “waiting room.” The black expanse of nothingness. He put his hand to his chest, heart beating so damned hard it hurt.
He’d expected to feel the fabric of his hoodie. Instead, he felt his bare chest. He looked down, but couldn’t see himself in the darkness. He touched his jeans—
They were gone.
I’m naked. Why the hell am I naked!? It wasn’t the weirdest thing that had happened that day, and it didn’t overshadow that Navy Seal’s death, but it still made him feel ever more vulnerable.
He shut his eyes. When he did, he saw lightning shoot down from the sky. Saw it strike the soldier. Julian.
He snapped his eyes back open. A notification appeared, superimposed over his vision. He stared at it, blinking, still in shock.
Congratulations XAVIER COLLINS. You have passed the first test!
Prepare yourself for Full Integration.
“Full integration?” Xavier frowned. “How do I prepare myself if I don’t know what that is. And why in do I have to be naked? That doesn’t make any—”
Pain spread over Xavier’s entire body. Pain like he’d never felt before. He’d broken a wrist, once, while trying to learn how to ride a skateboard. He’d burned himself. He’d been punched in the face. He’d pulled something in his back and been laid out for two weeks.
But this? This made everything he’d ever been through combined pale in comparison.
He shook violently. His mouth was open, and he was sure he was screaming, but he couldn’t hear himself over the pain.
As suddenly as it came, it went.
A bright flash of light illuminated the room. It turned from a black expanse to a white one. There was still nothing to be seen, but now his own body was visible.
Xavier gasped in a breath and looked down at himself.
Nothing had changed, as far as he could tell. And he was still very much naked. “Wonderful.” He hoped he wouldn’t be sent into another fight to the death in this condition. If what he’d been through could even be called that—he hadn’t done any fighting.
Someone died in front of me. Because they refused to kill.
He swallowed, waiting for something to happen, hoping he wouldn’t be stuck here to linger in his own thoughts.
You, XAVIER COLLINS, have now been integrated into the Greater Universe! The honour is yours.
The System welcomes you.
“Thanks?” Xavier muttered, wondering what exactly the “System” was.
Based on your pre-integration abilities, your attributes have been distributed as follows:
XAVIER COLLINS
Level 1
Strength: 5
Speed: 5
Toughness: 5
Intelligence: 7
Willpower: 7
Spirit: 10
Mastery Points until next level: 100/1,000
Available Spirit Energy: 100/1,100
The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
Xavier took a moment to absorb the information.
This looked like some sort of character sheet. Definitely like a video game.
This was why the System had judged his physical, mental and spiritual abilities. So it could quantify them? This is insane. All of this is absolutely insane.
It also made a thrill run through him. Spirit. That had to do with… magic, right? The sky had gone blood red. Weird lightning had created a portal. A goblin had stepped out.
Now this.
If everything else had been real, why couldn’t magic be?
Choose your preferred basic fighting class:
Warrior
Mage
One cannot walk backward on the path.
Xavier blinked. That was it? Two choices? For some reason, he’d expected more variation. Though he supposed the classes were only basic. There might be opportunities to specialise as one got stronger. But he was thinking too far ahead. One step at a time. He had already rushed one decision today, choosing the path of Champion without fully reading what the consequences of that choice would be.
That choice had almost gotten him killed. It should have gotten him killed. Thank you, Julian, for sacrificing yourself. Xavier wondered if the man would have put his gun down, had he known it would mean his death…
He pushed that out of his mind. It had already happened. It couldn’t be changed. And… he didn’t want it to be.
I’m still alive. I’m still alive, and I need to focus.
He eyed the two choices. Warrior. Mage. Both paths felt incredibly exciting to him. He imagined himself wearing full-plate armour, riding on a horse, slamming his sword into—
People?
Did he really want that? To kill people?
Maybe I’ll be fighting goblins…
He shoved his worries into the back of his mind. This choice was an important one, as the System said: One cannot walk backward on the path. He’d seen that firsthand when he’d watched that Navy Seal surrender and die for it.
Stop thinking about that! He shook his head.
His attributes indicated that he would be a better Mage than Warrior. If I choose Mage, will I be able to move things with my mind? Throw fire from my hands? Call lightning from the heavens? Warrior sounded cool, but magic? Magic sounded awesome. You could wield a sword in “real life.” You couldn’t wield magic.
At least, not in any life he’d known before this.
But before he decided, he cleared his throat and spoke into the white room. “Can I have more information?” His voice didn’t echo. It fell flat, barely travelling past where he stood.
Warrior Class:
A Warrior is a physical fighter. They can be an expert in hand-to-hand combat, melee weapon combat, or long-range combat. A Warrior’s path is as varied as any other.
Mage Class:
A Mage is a magical fighter. Like a Warrior, they can fight at close range or at long range. They can wield the elements, commune with spirits, or summon magical creatures, or a thousand other possibilities. A Mage’s path is as varied as any other.
There are infinite paths to walk, with infinite choices to make. Each choice you make will form who you are, and can never be undone.
That’s ominous.
Xavier sighed at the descriptions. They didn’t exactly tell him a great deal. Though he was interested to see the different things a Mage might be able to do. He wondered how a Mage could be a close-combat fighter…
Xavier could have stood there, umming and uhhing about what choice to make for hours, but doing so would just be lying to himself. He’d made the choice the moment he’d seen the option.
“I choose Mage.”
There was no pain this time. Something he was infinitely glad for. A flash of blue light consumed his vision then slowly faded. When he looked down at himself, he was pleased to find he was no longer naked. Instead, he wore bland grey robes. Mage robes. On his feet were thin leather boots, and a satchel had appeared over one shoulder. In his hand, he held a seven-foot staff with a small, white crystal at its end.
“Huh,” was all he could say.
Congratulations, you have chosen the basic fighting class of Mage!
You have gained the spell Cast Element.
You have gained the spell Spiritual Guidance.
You have gained the spell Summon.
You have gained the spell Telekinesis.
Xavier’s eyes widened. Four spells? He’d just gained four spells? He rubbed his hands together. He had no idea how any of them worked. His brain hadn’t been infused with the information like Neo in the matrix. But he was very eager to learn.
Is this where I get sent to a new world for my tutorial?
Xavier cleared his throat and asked the question aloud.
The System responded, text flowing across his vision instantly.
You have not yet met the requirements to enter the pocket world. First, you must protect a settlement from destruction.
Only then will you be sent to the Eternal Tower.
Requirements? Eternal Tower?
Xavier’s vision went white. When it cleared, he stood back inside his lecture hall, where he’d been when this had all started. For a moment he wondered if this had all been a dream. If he’d fallen asleep. And… sleepwalked to the window?
He shook his head. No one else was here. No lecturer. No students. Not a single person. He wondered how much time had passed since he’d last been standing in this room. It couldn’t have been long.
Xavier looked around. He still clutched the seven-foot staff in his hand.
Protect a settlement. Those had been the words. Though he would hardly call the university campus a settlement, he supposed that’s what the message had meant.
He stepped over to the window, clutching the thick staff in both hands.
The portal in the courtyard was still active, though the goblin—or whatever it was—was nowhere to be seen.
Something clattered to his left. He spun about. The lectern on the stage had been knocked over. A small green man ran up the middle aisle of the lecture hall.
Xavier stared at it. Took a step back. It was one of the goblins. As he stared, he wished he had more information. If I’m level 1, what level is that goblin? Does it have a level? Xavier was quickly losing his grip on how the world worked.
He got an answer to his question in the form of a notification popping up over his vision. It looked like the text he’d seen before, but this was instead a small box that hovered over the head of his enemy.
{Lesser Goblin – Level 2}
The Lesser Goblin made a bee-line toward Xavier. Xavier hefted his staff, wondering how in the hell he was supposed to cast one of his spells. He thought of the one he wanted, then said it aloud, hoping that would help.
“Cast Element!”
Nothing happened. Well, his voice cracked. Nothing useful happened.
“Fire!” he said, hoping that would make some sort of difference. That flames would shoot from his staff and hit the little beast.
Again, nothing happened.
Oh, no.