I don’t deserve to be here, Xavier thought as the goblins outside the lecture theatre’s door kept slamming their swords into the wood. Wouldn’t be long until they broke through. I’m not a Champion. Not a defender of this world. I’m just a college kid who likes to read and write fantasy and chose the wrong damned option.

He released a breath. His hands shook, the staff gripped in both of them.

If Julian Myers hadn’t put his gun down and surrendered, I would be dead. Very, very dead.

But he wasn’t. He was here. Alive. He’d chosen “Champion” because he wanted to protect people. Because he wanted to be strong. It embarrassed him to think it, but he’d chosen Champion because he wanted to be a hero.

Heroes don’t hesitate. They don’t cower in fear. They don’t run away from fights. They don’t hide from them.

The goblins kept slamming their swords into the door. Any second, the wood would fail. Any second, it would give in.

Any second, he would die.

Maybe I don’t deserve to be here, but I am here. Xavier steeled himself. Clutched the staff tighter. I’m going to earn the title of Champion.

The little green beasts broke through the door. Xavier didn’t wait. Didn’t hesitate. Didn’t back away or back down. He slammed the head of the staff straight into the first goblin that stepped through, not even bothering to scan it.

The clear crystal at the end of his staff smashed into the beast’s head, caving in part of its skull. Blood spurted from the wound.

But the goblin was still moving. His attack hadn’t done enough.

Xavier followed it up with another strike as the Lesser Goblin stumbled into the room.

A notification popped up in his vision. He dismissed it instinctively, hoping he could read it later.

The goblin wasn’t alone. It had come with four of its ugly, green-skinned little friends.

Xavier gritted his teeth as the second goblin entered the lecture theatre. It leapt over the first, eyes wide, nose flared, lips pulled back.

He yanked his staff up in a block, surprised he was fast enough. Again, he wondered if he should’ve chosen Warrior. The System’s words entered his mind, however. One cannot walk backward on the path.

Second-guessing his decisions wouldn’t help.

The goblin didn’t carry a short sword like the previous two. Instead, it wielded an axe. The head of the axe bit into the shaft of Xavier’s staff, and he was surprised the wood didn’t snap.

The other goblins streamed into the room and surrounded him. One flanked him on either side, another cackling behind him.

I can’t live up to being a Champion if I die!

In that instant, it occurred to him that most every fantasy caster he’d read about manifested their powers in a time of great need.

He focused, and thought—with heavy intent—Telekinesis!

He didn’t know how the damned spell worked. Didn’t know what he was supposed to do. He just clenched his jaw and willed what he wanted into being, hoping it would work.

The goblin in front of him flew backward. It crashed through the lecture theatre’s door and slammed into the wall in the hall.

Xavier didn’t have time to admire what he’d done. He whirled his staff around him in a wild swing. Though he’d heard a loud crack when the goblin had slammed into the wall, he knew it was still alive as he hadn’t received a notification congratulating him for killing it.

I cast my first spell! A smile slipped onto his face. He’d moved the goblin with his mind. Shoved it ten feet without touching it.

Three goblins still standing.

He wondered how long it would take for the one in the hall to get back up.

Xavier swung his staff at the closest little beast, but it slipped backward and one of its buddies pounced and cut a line into his ankle.

He almost collapsed. Both legs now struggled to hold his weight. Crap, crap, crap!

Cast Element!

It was like something took over him, then. Power built up inside himself. Then entered the staff. The clear crystal turned blood red. The energy flowed into the staff until it could no longer contain it. Flames burst forth, straight out of the crystal. Fire streamed toward one of the goblins and consumed it in flame.

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It wasn’t a simple fireball that crashed into the enemy. This was more like a conflagration of flame. Every inch of the goblin was covered, its skin melting off.

The other two goblins exchanged a glance, eyes wide.

The flaming goblin flailed but soon fell. It writhed for a moment, then died.

Xavier stood tall. Tall as he could with both his legs injured. Gripped the staff tight. The two goblins backed away from him. Aren’t cackling anymore, are you? The one in the hall was standing up, stretching its back.

They looked like they were about to run.

Xavier wasn’t about to let them. He’d been tasked with protecting this “settlement,” which he’d figured must be referring to the university. Only then would he be yanked back out of this place and sent to the pocket world.

Whatever that is.

Besides, there was an addictive quality to defeating his opponents. To gaining more Mastery Points. If this was what he could do at level 1, what could he do at level 2? 10? 50?

He used Cast Element again.

Cast Element has a cooldown of 30 seconds. It cannot be used for another 25 seconds.

He blinked. So much for throwing fire around.

The goblins, seeing he hadn’t blasted another of them into ash, were no longer backing off. In fact, they looked as though they were emboldened.

Telekinesis! Xavier thrust his staff forward.

Telekinesis has a cooldown of 30 seconds. It cannot be used for another 15 seconds.

Again, nothing happened.

Xavier swallowed. He snapped out with his staff, one of his legs giving in as he did so.

The goblins began their insane cackling once more. Wicked grins alighted on their faces. The one he’d thrown into the wall was back, and Xavier was surrounded on three sides.

Xavier only kept on his feet out of sheer force of will. He narrowly avoided a sword-strike from the goblin on his left. But as he did, he moved into range of the one on his right. An axe bit into his knee. He slammed into the ground and yelled out in pain.

This no longer felt like a video game. Video games weren’t this painful!

I can’t die like this. I refuse to die like this!

He was outnumbered and gaining injuries by the second. He had no idea what to do. He scrambled, trying to remember what the other two spells he’d learnt were.

If he’d been smart, he would have parked himself at the back of the lecture hall and sent spells down at his enemies from afar in hopes of taking them down before they could reach him, but he hadn’t even known if he could use his spells.

He recalled his other two spells. Summon and Spiritual Guidance. He hadn’t read their descriptions. He hadn’t had time, after he’d been injured by the first Lesser Goblin. He used Spiritual Guidance, worrying Summon might have some ritualistic component that would make it longer to cast.

He thought the command as forcefully as he could.

Spiritual Guidance!

Xavier didn’t know where the spells came from—he didn’t know if he had mana like in a video game, or if he did, how much—so he hoped he had enough energy left to cast another spell.

Something came over him, then. Much like it had when he’d used Cast Element and had thrown fire at one of the goblins. Except this felt quite different to that. It was… taking over his body.

A silver glow spread over him, and he felt himself gaining insight. His head snapped up, and it was as though he knew what he needed to do. It was strange, but he didn’t question it—he didn’t have time to question it.

He’d been gripping his staff with his right hand. He tossed it quickly into his left. The goblins were walking around him. They still looked cautious, and Xavier realised something about them—the little beasts were cowards.

They had the numbers. He was injured. And yet now they saw him as a threat, they were still hesitating.

Whatever force was guiding him through the spell helped him use that to his advantage. He drew the short sword he’d shoved through the belt tying up his grey robes—the one he’d taken from the first goblin he’d killed. The staff now in his left hand, he leant heavily upon it and pushed himself to his feet.

He lunged toward the closest goblin. His arms being longer, he still had the reach. He swiped straight for its neck. Still felt strange. He didn’t know if he would have gone for a strike like that without the Spiritual Guidance spell influencing his actions.

Xavier took the goblin’s head clean off.

The silver sheen disappeared. All the pain he’d been feeling from his injuries flooded back. In that moment when he’d stood and lunged, decapitating the goblin, he hadn’t even realised the pain was gone.

The Spiritual Guidance spell had worn off. It had been like a surge of adrenaline. But now that it was gone, he felt an emptiness he never had before. A wave of exhaustion slammed into him. Like he hadn’t slept in days. And the pain? It wasn’t just back. The pain felt three times as bad. He didn’t even know how he was still standing.

The two last goblins looked more wary than ever. As though about to bolt. Part of Xavier wished they would. But he imagined that would be a mistake. Mostly because he didn’t know how many of the little beasts there were.

What if they left only to gather reinforcements?

Whatever pain and exhaustion he endured, he couldn’t let the goblins see it. If they saw his pain. Saw how tired he was. And worse, if they glimpsed his fear, they would pounce. He gritted his teeth. An image of the Navy Seal, Julian, getting struck by lightning assailed his mind.

That’s what refusing to fight will get me. Dead.

He wouldn’t let that happen.

Xavier stood as tall as he could manage. God, the pain felt unbearable. He gritted his teeth ever more. Remembered a quote by Marcus Aurelius, the Roman emperor and stoic philosopher.

If its endurable, then endure it, he thought to himself, the words like a mantra. If it’s unendurable, then stop complaining. Your destruction will mean its end as well.

It wasn’t the first time he’d thought of that quote. It felt absurd, however, contemplating the last time he’d used those words as a mantra—he’d been struggling to stay awake during a particularly boring lecture about poetry.

Why creative writing teachers insisted to make everything about poetry, he would never understand…

He repeated the mantra once more, standing tall. A swell of confidence ballooned in him, then. He swung his blade out wildly at the nearest goblin. In his mind, he felt something shift. He wasn’t sure what it was for a moment, until he realised—it was Telekinesis.

It had reached the end of its cooldown.

Xavier did the last thing he expected considering the dire circumstances he’d found himself in: he grinned.