Xavier stalked the halls of his university, ears pricked for any goblins on the loose.

He stifled a laugh at the absurdity of what he was doing. He’d walked these halls a hundred times. Going from one class to another. Carrying his bag and laptop.

Today, he wore grey, slashed-up robes covered in red and green blood. He carried a seven-foot-long staff with a clear crystal at its end that helped him channel his magic.

The belt tied about his waist had a short sword shoved through one side and an axe shoved through the other. A satchel hung from his shoulders, six purses of jingling coins inside. He hadn’t looked inside the purses yet. There were more important things to do than count his spoils of war.

That morning, as he’d been walking over the bridge on his way to class, he’d been wishing he could move things with his mind. Wishing he could live in a fantasy world. Now, it seemed as though a fantasy world had come to him.

His smile fell away. He’d already seen one life lost because of what had happened. Because of the System integrating Earth into the Greater Universe.

Xavier still didn’t know what the wider ramifications were of that. He wondered how many others had chosen Champion. How many other fights to the death had there been?

How many people had actually fought? Killing each other because of words that appeared superimposed over their vision? And how many others had been transported to a place like he had, made to fight goblins or who knew what else?

Xavier swallowed. The integration wasn’t exactly a dream come true, but there was no use complaining about it. A guilty part of him didn’t want to complain about it.

I always wanted more. Now I can wield magic. Throw fire. Fling goblins across a room with my mind… is this what I’ve been looking for? The very thought alone made him feel like he was doing something wrong by enjoying this.

That Navy Seal had died for him. Then he’d killed six goblins. Creatures that appeared just as sapient as he was.

But the guilt fell away surprisingly quickly. If this was to be the new order of the world, why shouldn’t he embrace it? Why shouldn’t he enjoy it? Wouldn’t that be better than suffering through it?

This was surely just the beginning. Xavier didn’t know what trials he would need to endure, but he did know that what he was doing right now was nothing more than a test.

Though he worried about his mother, there was nothing he could do for her right now except hope she’d been taken somewhere safe. She would not have chosen Champion. He imagined her choosing something like Support. The thought of her choosing Soldier was laughable.

His mother wasn’t even in this city. It would take him hours to get to her, assuming the roads weren’t clogged and he could get a car to work.

So, like many other things, he had to put his mother out of his mind and focus on the task at hand.

Once he’d taken the purses from the goblins, he’d remembered his bag, laptop and phone had been at the top of the stairs. His wasn’t the only laptop still sitting on one of the little desks in the room.

He’d ran up the stairs and grabbed his phone. Tried to use it. It had been on, but there had been no signal.

He supposed he shouldn’t have been surprised.

His laptop hadn’t connected to the internet, either. The university’s Wi-Fi was down.

Xavier had shoved the laptop, his phone and earbuds into his satchel, along with his water bottle, but he’d left his backpack there. It would feel strange to carry it around, considering what was going on. There wasn’t anything useful in it, anyway.

There was still so much he needed to learn. But he wouldn’t go into his next encounter unprepared.

He thought of the different spells he had available, thinking to bring up the list again, and was surprised to find new information.

Spells List:

Cast Element – Rank 1 – Upgrade Quest Unlocked!

Spiritual Guidance – Rank 1 – Upgrade Quest Unlocked!

Summon – Rank 1

Telekinesis – Rank 1 – Upgrade Quest Unlocked!

Upgrade quest? Xavier frowned. He focused on the first one.

Cast Element – Rank 1

Upgrade Quest:

As you have now used this spell, you have begun your first step on the path to upgrading it to Rank 2.

Available paths:

1. Cast Fire – to upgrade, use Fire to help kill 10 enemies. Progress: 2/10

2. Cast Water – to upgrade, use Water to help kill 10 enemies. Progress: 0/10

3. Cast Earth – to upgrade, use Earth to help kill 10 enemies. Progress: 0/10

4. Cast Air – to upgrade, use Air to help kill 10 enemies. Progress: 0/10

5. Cast Elements – to upgrade, use all the four elements to help kill 5 enemies each.

Choosing one path may eliminate some or all other paths. This will both limit your ability and strengthen it.

Stolen story; please report.

Upgrading a spell from Rank 1 to Rank 2 will make you immediately forget another Rank 1 spell of your choosing. Once a spell is forgotten, it is almost impossible to be learnt again.

One cannot walk backward on the path.

Xavier stopped walking as he read Cast Element’s different paths. He wasn’t as prepared for his next fight as he’d hoped.

He slipped into a small classroom on his left, ensuing it was deserted before he shut the door. He almost took a seat before thinking better of it. There was only one exit, the door he’d walked through.

The blinds were closed. He flicked on the lights. He wasn’t surprised they worked, as a projector screen was still running, pointed toward the room’s front wall. He looked at the heavy desk near the door where a teacher should have been sitting. An abandoned cup of tea rested atop it.

Xavier walked around the desk and shoved it in front of the door. It took longer than he’d hoped, and made him sweat more than it should have. Now the door was blocked, he took a seat facing it.

I still have 4 free stat points, maybe I should put one into Strength…

He hadn’t invested them in anything yet, as he wasn’t sure which attributes would best help him as a Basic Mage. He assumed Intelligence and Spirit were the more important ones but couldn’t be sure.

Xavier sighed and plopped himself onto one of the seats.

He looked at the information again.

Upgrading a spell from Rank 1 to Rank 2 will make you immediately forget another Rank 1 spell of your choosing. Once a spell is forgotten, it is almost impossible to be learnt again.

If he used Cast Element on enough enemy goblins with the fire element, he could upgrade its rank. But that would mean losing the chance of using the other elements.

Unless he diversified the spell’s usage, using the spell twenty times instead of ten. It would take longer for him to rank-up the spell, and something told him focusing on all four elements would mean none of them were as strong as if he were only focusing on one or two.

Assuming it lets me focus on two…

And if he did rank-up the spell, he would lose one of his other ones. He bit his lip. That meant he could only keep two out of the four spells. And out of the three he’d used, he liked them all.

Xavier put his head in his hands. He hadn’t even used the Summon spell yet. He supposed he could do that now. It probably used 100 Spirit Energy like the other spells had, and he still had 800 Spirit Energy left.

What does Summon even do?

The information came up as he raised his head.

Summon – Rank 1

Summon is a basic Mage spell learnt by all starting human Mages. Summon has several different paths, and is a difficult spell to master. It can be used to summon an ally to your position, summon a trained familiar, summon the help of a lesser deity, or even summon the dead. As a Mage advances, they may choose to specialise in one of these areas, generalise in several, or abandon the path altogether.

One cannot walk backward on the path.

Xavier swallowed. Or even summon the dead. A shiver ran up his spine at the thought of necromancers creating zombie hordes. Was this really a spell all starting human Mages got?

At least it says it’s difficult to master.

Xavier wondered what he could even do with this spell. He definitely wouldn’t use it to summon the dead. That… wasn’t his style. He didn’t fancy having walking corpses around him, reminding him of all the people or creatures he’d slain.

Though having his own army didn’t sound too bad, except for the fact that he was a loner who would far rather spend his time alone.

The part about summoning a trained familiar did sound interesting. He wondered if he could train multiple familiars. Starting with a wolf, making his way toward a dragon… He closed his eyes, imagined himself riding on the back of one.

But how could he train a familiar here? Maybe if he’d appeared in a forest. All he’d encountered at the university were goblins, and something told him those didn’t qualify. Even if they did, he didn’t want a goblin as a pet—that seemed more like slavery.

He tilted his head. Summon the help of a lesser deity. What would that look like, exactly? Perhaps it should have surprised him that deities—gods and goddesses—existed in the first place. Xavier had been an atheist since the age of ten, when he couldn’t get a good answer from his mother about why she believed in God. But… well, after the day he’d had, it would take a lot more than that to surprise him.

Besides, his lack of belief had always hinged on their being a lack of proof. If he could actually summon the help of a deity, that seemed like proof enough of their existence.

Would summoning their help give him some sort of boon? Or would a god appear in front of him and kill his foes? He doubted it would be the latter.

There’s gotta be some strings attached to summoning a god’s help. He didn’t like that idea on principle.

He didn’t know anything about the Greater Universe. The last thing he wanted to do was get mixed up with gods and goddesses. What if he ended up worshiping a malevolent one by accident?

Though he still liked the idea of riding a dragon, he couldn’t make this decision based on something he didn’t know was possible. If he had to fight for his world, he needed to become as strong as he could be now.

That meant choosing a path and sticking to it.

He looked at the next spell.

Telekinesis – Rank 1

Telekinesis is a basic Mage spell learnt by most starting human Mages. Telekinesis has several different paths, and is a difficult spell to master. It can be used as a blunt force instrument, or an instrument of precision. As a Mage advances, they may choose to specialise in one area, generalise in both, or abandon the path altogether.

One cannot walk backward on the path.

Xavier frowned. It was only learnt by most starting human Mages, and not all? He wondered why that was. The two different paths made sense to him. He supposed it was the difference between flinging something at an enemy, or flinging the enemy, like he’d done with those two goblins.

He brought up the upgrade information.

Telekinesis – Rank 1

Upgrade Quest:

As you have now used this spell, you have begun your first step on the path to upgrading it to Rank 2.

Available paths:

1. Heavy Telekinesis – This path allows you to move heavier items or opponents but lacks accuracy – to upgrade, move ten heavy objects. Progress: 2/10

2. Precision Telekinesis – This path allows you to move light items with high accuracy – to upgrade, move twenty light objects with great precision. Progress: 2/20

3. General Telekinesis – This path combines the best and worst of both worlds – to upgrade, move ten light objects with great precision, and move five heavy objects.

Choosing one path may eliminate some or all other paths. This will both limit your ability and strengthen it.

Upgrading a spell from Rank 1 to Rank 2 will make you immediately forget another Rank 1 spell of your choosing. Once a spell is forgotten, it is almost impossible to be learnt again.

One cannot walk backward on the path.

Xavier blinked, then smiled. He didn’t need to kill any enemies to upgrade Telekinesis to Rank 2! He just had to move heavy or light things—assuming he ended up choosing this spell.

He sighed, once more wishing he didn’t have to choose.

Then he looked at the information for the final spell.