Volkarin wasn’t the only reason Xavier had come to these hunting grounds.

  He had a Spirit Golem to train up.

  According to Rhaalir, the Spirit Golem, unlike a Denizen or a beast, could be powerlevelled effectively.

  A Spirit Golem didn’t gain skills and spells in the same way. In fact, without a spirit inhabiting them, they were considered to be rather weak.

  Xavier ventured back over to where the D Grade Great Shells were. He moved swiftly, this time, making his way there in almost an instant.

  Now was the time to take better advantage of his Time Alteration skill. He had been away from the tower for over two weeks now. Not even a single month had gone by, and yet he felt as though he hadn’t actually accomplished anything for himself. He hadn’t gained any ranks in either his skills or his spells. He hadn’t gained any titles that would serve to strengthen him. He hadn’t gained any items that would make him stronger in battle.

  He smiled. It was nice to have had a bit of a break from the absolute rush of things, and he hadn’t been idle while training the dragon. He’d been using his Time Alteration spell almost the entire time, just not always for the dragon’s training.

  The time he spent in his time dilation field was… free time, in a way. To him, it didn’t feel as though he was losing any time out in the real world while he was inside of it. That was something that Liana had tried to teach him back on the hundredth floor, and it was something he was finally coming to terms with that he needed.

  Xavier needed to balance the insane training with something else—something for himself.

  So he had been working his way through the insanely long backlog of He Who Fights with Beasts by Pantaloon, having acquired a subscription through the System Shop. The gnome, Kylina, hadn’t been exaggerating when she’d told him the author who wrote it had been at it for a hundred thousand years. Actually, he’d been at it even longer than that.

  Xavier couldn’t get enough of it. The story was incredibly interesting and relatable to him. He’d made his way through hundreds of different volumes already.

  And he’d lied, before, when thinking he hadn’t gained any skills or ranks.

  He’d actually gained several new skills and many ranks in each of them, they just weren’t skills that were at all relevant to his fighting ability.

  While in his time dilation field, reading these books, he’d actually gained skills in Reading, Speed Reading, and Literary Studies.

  Xaiver hadn’t expected to gain these skills. When he’d gotten skill quests for them, he’d actually laughed aloud. He couldn’t help himself. He’d shaken his head and done the necessary hours of reading—with pleasure—to gain the skills. As he read, he’d been analysing exactly what it was about the story that had grabbed him.

  Because it wasn’t only reading that he’d been doing. He’d been taking the time to pen his own story—a way, he hoped, for him to bring in great amounts of wealth.

  There was a part of him that thought he wouldn’t be successful in this—a part of him that thought he couldn’t succeed. He even felt a little fear when he came to the blank page. It was a strange feeling, considering all that he’d been through to get to this point, to be afraid of something as simple as writing.

  But he’d persisted.

  Xavier tore his thoughts away from the story he’d been reading and the story he was writing as he summoned the slender Spirit Golem into existence.

  It just stood there, placidly. Unlike Guardian, it didn’t have any inherent personality of its own. It was an empty shell, simply waiting.

  Rhaalir appeared at the same time at Xavier’s behest. The elf spirit had made the occasional visit as Xavier trained the dragon, and he’d even been inside the time dilation field a few times as Xavier had been reading. He’d given Xavier a few forlorn looks, as though he had something to say, but he hadn’t gone and actually said it yet.

  Would you like to enter the Spirit Golem, Rhaalir? Xavier asked the elf.

  The elf’s eyes widened. You wish that for me?

  It’s about time you get to join in the fights. That’s what you’ve been wanting to ask me, isn’t it?

  Rhaalir looked over at the Spirit Golem. The power of a Spirit Golem isn’t in any one spirit that inhabits it, it’s that different spirits can inhabit it, all with different spellsets. You have many of the spells that I possess, and the ones you don’t have… I am not sure if I will be able to access them while in the Spirit Golem. I… didn’t know that you would want to waste the Spirit Golem on me.

  I do not see how it could be a waste, Rhaalir. I’m not saying the situation would be permanent—I wish to take full advantage of the Spirit Golem’s potential, but it will take some time until it is strong enough to be viable in combat for me. Until that time comes, you can be the primary inhabitant of the golem, if you want.

  Xavier had never before seen the elf spirit so excited and yet restrained at the same time.

  It has been a long time since I have interacted with the mortal world, Xavier Collins. The elf bowed its head. Thank you for giving me this opportunity.

  A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  Xavier knew the elf would be keen, but he was honestly surprised by how keen he was. This wasn’t the same deal that he’d given Rhaalir.

  He wasn’t about to track down a vessel that would suit the elf spirit. That felt… Dark. Would he need to find a baby elf? He wasn’t sure why that felt so much worse than what he’d done for the dragon, but… well, it did. Also, the baby elf would take a long time until they came of System age…

  Xavier recoiled from that train of thought. He had never before placed a spirit into the Spirit Golem, but when it came time to do it, it turned out it was very simple—especially since he had willing spirit already there.

  For that was what the Spirit Golem required. A willing spirit, and Xavier’s permission.

  Xaiver willed his permission and Rhaalir entered the golem. His form wasn’t sucked into it like Volkarin’s had been when he’d entered the egg. He went to stand inside of the golem, and then the golem glowed in a silver light, and Rhaalir was no longer visible. The silver light dimmed until it finally disappeared, but a light persisted in the eyes of the Spirit Golem. Xavier supposed that told him whether or not the golem was currently occupied by a spirit.

  How does it feel? Xavier asked.

  The Spirit Golem turned its head to face Xavier. “Good,” Rhaalir said, using the Spirit Golem’s deep, somewhat monotone voice. He raised a hand and curled it into a fist. “If feels good.”

  Xavier realised it was the first time he’d heard the spirit talk outside of his mind. Just like when it had happened with Volkarin, it was an odd feeling. Especially since Rhaalir sounded so different to how he normally did.

  The Spirit Golem started walking forward. The first thing it did was stumble, trip on its own feet, then fall flat on its face on the ground. Its head slammed into a rock.

  Xavier stepped forward, trying but failing to hold back a laugh. “Are you all right, Rhaalir?”

  A loud, long sigh was released from the Spirit Golem. “At least I know that I won’t feel pain.” The Spirit Golem made its way back to its feet a little slowly.

  “Apparently, this takes a bit of getting used to.”

  Xavier cast Time Alteration. For a good few hours, the spirit tested its movements in the Spirit Golem, getting a feel for how it operated. Rhaalir made circles around the time dilation field, performing strange looking patterns of fighting techniques. Though the Spirit Golem didn’t come with a weapon, it only required the spirit that resided within it to will one into being for it to appear, and so the elf spirit inside the golem wielded a silver staff created from the same flowing metal that comprised the golem itself.

  The fact that moving the Spirit Golem didn’t feel natural to Rhaalir made Xavier feel a little wary about it. “Is this going to be what happens every time I summon a new spirit into the golem? They will have to learn how to use the golem first?”

  Rhaalir gave an awkward looking shrug. “Honestly? I don’t know. It could very well be that way, unless the new inhabitant has used a Spirit Golem in the past, perhaps. It could also be because of the discrepancy in the level of this Spirit Golem and what I had been in life.”

  Xavier inclined his head. He had intended to use the Spirit Golem to summon spirits on the fly to inhabit in great times of need, but it might require a little more preparation than that.

  While Rhaalir moved around, Xavier continued his reading. He figured it was a good opportunity. Then, when the elf spirit declared he was ready to start fighting, Xavier got back into action.

  He manipulated the time dilation field to make it longer, carving his way toward the nearest enemy. “What kinds of spells do you possess?” Xavier asked.

  “It’s giving me the choice,” Rhaalir replied. “I can pick a single spell and a single skill. The golem appears to have a list of skills that it can be taught without the aid of a spirit inhabiting it—things that would be worth doing—but at this level, my options are limited, and they will all be Rank 1.”

  Xavier grunted. He supposed that sounded about right.

  “There are a total of eight different slots for spells, however,” Rhaalir continued. Seven of them are simply greyed out. There are more slots for skills, but again, they are greyed out.”

  Slots for spells and skills? That sounded interesting, and again reminiscent of the video games he’d played in the past.

  Eight spell slots. He didn’t know how long it would take for the spell slots to reach eight, but adding an extra eight spells to his arsenal without actually having to learn and train them sounded like a wonderful thing.

  First, however, he needed to level up the Spirit Golem.

  It was fortunate that the Spirit Golem was soul bound in the same way as his soul wound weapon. The weapon he wielded, Lost Bone of a Dead God, allowed him to allocate all the Mastery Points he gained toward it when he was fighting. The same was true for the Spirit Golem.

  Xavier had asked Rhaalir, sometime after he’d received the golem, if it was possible to possess two soul bound Spirit Golems—but apparently only so many things could be bound to one’s soul, and a Denizen couldn’t bind two of the same type of item. Guardian was different, as it was bound to his Seed Sanctuary.

  He knew that he would be able to level up the Spirit Golem a hell of a lot faster if he did it against C Grade beasts, but he didn’t know of somewhere where he could face C Grade beasts yet. That was information Kylina was gathering for him—information the gnome likely already had access to.

  Besides, he needed to have the Spirit Golem summoned to level it up, which meant when facing C Grades, there could very well be a risk of it getting hurt—or, well, obliterated. Xavier might be able to kill C Grades, but that didn’t mean he could guarantee the safety of others while he was doing it.

  It was too much of a risk, at least right now.

  But facing Great Shells, mid-D Grade beasts, seemed like the best way to at least get started. He only planned to be at these hunting grounds for a short time—there was somewhere else he wished to powerlevel the Spirit Golem. Somewhere he’d seen on that list the gnome had given him.

  “Stay behind me, Rhaalir,” Xavier said.

  “I haven’t chosen a spell yet,” the elf said. “Wait, are we already about to fight? I’m not ready for that!”

  “Just stay behind me.”

  Xavier wanted to level up the Spirit Golem as swiftly as he could, which meant he wanted to do it with his Time Alteration spell activated. That meant he could only use his spells once, as their cooldowns wouldn’t move while time was stopped in this way.

  He used Willpower Infusion on the first Great Shell they encountered. Unlike the Great Shell Xavier had levelled Volkarin up on, this one was Level 260. That didn’t stop it from succumbing to Xavier’s influence, however. Before it even got a chance to react to his presence it was under his control, the purple mist flowing from Xavier sucked into it in a flash.

  Xavier allocated every single one of his Mastery Points toward the Spirit Golem.

  Then he killed the Great Shell with a Celestial Energy infused slash with his claws. The beast was tougher than he’d expected, but it only took a few strikes to kill.

  Spirit Golem has reached Level 2!

  …

  Spirit Golem has reached Level 25!

  Spirit Golem has gained an extra spell slot and two extra skill slots.

  …

  Spirit Golem has reached Level 50!

  Spirit Golem has gained an extra spell slot and two extra skill slots.

  …

  Spirit Golem has reached Level 55!

  Xavier grinned. This was going to be fun.

  Accidental Champion!

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