Unchosen Champion

Coop dismissed his morning star and allowed his Fog of War to finally fade away as he left the pearlescent chambers. He imagined the Ruin Excavators collectively sighing in relief as their tormentor finished for the day. He’d hunted for a bit longer than he planned, but it was just because he was feeling motivated to get the next Slayer title. He couldn’t let the settlement make all the gains, developing as quickly as it was.

As he took the smooth tunnel back to the fort, he checked the notifications that accumulated during his hunt.

[You defeated Ruin Excavator (Level 33)]

[+15 Basic Credits]

[+1 Soul Dredger (Uncommon)]

[Congratulations! Your profession has leveled up!]

[Defeat Ruin Excavators IV (3228/5000)]

…

[You defeated Ruin Excavator (Level 32)]

[+18 Basic Credits]

[Quest Complete! Defeat Ruin Excavators IV]

[You have a new quest!]

[Congratulations! You have leveled up!]

[Defeat Ruin Excavators V (0/11111)]

…

[You defeated Ruin Excavator (Level 31)]

[+21 Basic Credits]

[+1 Soul Dredger (Uncommon)]

[Congratulations! Your profession has leveled up!]

[Defeat Ruin Excavators V (1423/11111)]

Compared to the siege monsters, the regular invaders just weren’t that rewarding when it came to experience and loot. Still, Coop appreciated that they were available for him to hunt whenever he felt like it. Every tiny contribution helped him continue to grow and he was always prepared to put in the work for the additional stats.

These monsters may not be providing him with levels directly, but the quest completions continued, and there was always the Slayer title at the very end to look forward to receiving. He was surprisingly comfortable with not getting levels straight from the grind since it gave his profession levels a chance to catch up again. Someday, Scavenging would exceed his class levels and be the sleeper source of a massive amount of attributes. In the meantime, he doubted anyone would ever suspect his profession was even close to his level anyway, as overleveled as he was. When would someone with his level find the time to level a profession?

He checked his updated status as he made his way through the tunnels and back toward the courtyard.

[Status]

HP - 7540/7540

MP - 12713/14080

Class - Revenant (Level 97)

Profession - Scavenging (Level 93)

Affinity - Spectral

Race - Human (Rank 1)

Faction - None

Strength - 50 (+1408)

Agility - 50 (+704)

Body - 50 (+704)

Mind - 1280 (+128)

Intelligence - 50 (+1408)

Acumen - 50

Unallocated - 0

Titles - Champion III, Haunted, Ethereal, Reaper, Slayer III, Dauntless, Stacked, Defiant, Siegebreaker

Skills (Active) - Retribution, Salvation, Presence of Mind, Fog of War

Skills (Passive) - Mind Over Matter, Adamance, Practical Application, Arcane Comprehension

Quests - Fortune Seeker (13/50), Trophy Hunter (4/5), Defeat Ancient Devourers II (0/25), Defeat Primal Serpents II (4/25), Defeat Ruin Excavators V (1423/11111), Defeat Primal Kites III (0/250), Upgrade Village to Town

Basic Credits - 2,403,541

The Siegebreaker bonus was so nice, it already exceeded a single stack of the Slayer title, but it was really throwing off the nice rounded numbers he had previously become accustomed to seeing. Coop shook his head at his sense of aesthetics.

Instead, he flexed as he analyzed the feeling of his current stats and gave himself an approving nod. Intelligence was a weird one though, the only time it made any difference was when he was casting Fog of War. If only he could flex his brain too.

Once he finished the Ruin Excavator chain, he would get the last two levels to reach 100 by hunting the Devourers and Serpents for one more stage in each of their quests. It would only take two or three more days at the comfortable rate he was going. Then, he’d get access to another skill choice. He was looking forward to expanding his Intelligence-based arsenal. The days of his foundational skirmisher style were surely coming to an end.

“Totally.” He chuckled to himself sarcastically.

In all seriousness, he never expected to completely leave the brawler lifestyle behind and didn’t actually want to, either. It was his first choice for a reason, and unlimited grinding would always be his bread and butter. But, some more active skills were long overdue.

His Fortune Seeker quest had also progressed a bit since the siege ended. It went up the first time he looted any normal monster, but that was only while the quest was active. He had to retroactively loot monsters he had killed prior to receiving the quest. So far, he had defeated a few Ancient Defenders, Ancient Prowlers, and of course the Ruin Excavators for three more to his Scavenger quest completion. Fortune Seeker was going to take a while to finish anyway, so he wasn’t in a rush. It was just a bit annoying that he didn’t have credit for the Primal Trackers back on the mainland. Everything else around Ghost Reef would be easy enough to return to, but he didn’t think a trip back would be worth the single monster credit.

His hoard of credits had barely taken a dent, despite his recent massive purchases. The event rewards and his bit of grinding had basically negated any expenses already. Plus, the additional services from the market were feeding back into the settlement, so even if his personal wallet shrank slightly, their collective spending power was going up. Other than meals, he barely had anything he wanted to buy for himself anyway.

As he made it back into the fort’s basement, Coop checked the leaderboards with a twinge of concern over the unknown leveling strategies that resulted in so many new names the last time he looked. Hopefully, they weren’t catching up to him yet, even if he was grinding more intermittently than before.

Day 52

Coop (Level 97)

Charlie Seraphin (Level 77)

Ashton Cliff (Level 72)

Cole Walker (Level 72)

Sila Tupua (Level 71)

Banshee (Level 70)

Ix-Hau (Level 69)

Ateh Nawej (Level 69)

Ebai Ekowa (Level 69)

Xba-Hau (Level 68)

It looked like he didn’t need to worry. There was barely any change to the top 10 with just a few people gaining a single level in the last couple days, including himself. The only real fluctuation was the reappearance of Banshee who leapfrogged into the sixth spot at level 70 after not being on the list before. He guessed it was too soon to write off the Undead that had drifted out of the spotlight since their excessively quick starts.

Coop still had an absurd lead. Once he completed the Excavator quest chain, he’d grab another two levels immediately, so he’d still manage at least a level a day in the short term, if not more. That seemed plenty to avoid being caught by anyone else, for the time being. Afterwards, he’d look into extending his lead even further. There was no point in keeping his foot off the pedal even if his idle speed was enough to stay ahead. The siege had ended up being an opportunity to propel himself into the stratosphere and he would fight to avoid being brought back down.

Whatever method the others had been using to level up seemed to have tapered off already, or otherwise come in bursts. They had been getting roughly two levels a day for the 20 days of the event if it was averaged out, but that rate had obviously been unsustainable.

Coop considered if their huge experience gains were only available during the siege event. Maybe the monsters had gone wild even outside of the settlement territories, so those who didn’t participate in the event ended up in significant battles anyway, gaining levels for their struggles. Coop grimaced at the idea of fighting waves of monsters and then not receiving the awesome event rewards at the end, but it certainly appeared to be a possible explanation.

On the other hand, they may have tapped into a one time source of experience, or one that took time to reset before they could take advantage of it again. Field Bosses seemed like a possibility for a burst of levels that might take time to respawn. He wasn’t ready to write off any of his potential rivals, even if he didn’t personally feel particularly threatened by any of them anymore, thanks to his ridiculous stats even relative to his high level.

It was early in the night when Coop made his way into the courtyard. He caught a glimpse of the stars between thin clouds as a few straggling birds flew back to their roosts after an evening of foraging. Even from the northern half of the courtyard, Coop could hear laughter and loud conversations coming from the tavern.

He passed a few groups sitting together along the sides of Balor’s bridge. They were looking at the glimmering reflection of the stars in the calm water while letting their feet hang over the edge.

First, he stopped by the library, but according to Abithik, Asha-Kali remained indisposed for the time being. He was getting a bit worried about her, and he had lingering questions about her potential prophecy. It didn’t matter how much he tried to ignore her words, the overall warning persisted in the back of his mind. Even if it wasn’t for him, someone else might need the words of caution.

On his way into the tavern, he ran into Emmanuel and Madison who were chatting as they strolled along the canal while sipping drinks from the new cafe.

“Coop!” Emmanuel waved him over happily. Madison barely reacted. Coop could see she was exhausted, maybe even more than any of them had been during the siege.

Coop waved back, trying to match Emmanuel’s energy. “How’s it going?”

“Finally getting a break!” Emmanuel announced. “Also, I’m supposed to invite you to the residents’ training session tomorrow.”

“Oh? What’s that?” Coop asked. The settlement was really getting to the point where he couldn’t keep track of everything going on, but that didn’t mean he wanted to be left out.

“Well, they only met twice before the siege event started, but they were meeting with Ledwidge to try out different weapon types and eventually have him teach how to wield them. I think it’ll become a regular thing.” Emmanuel explained before he rubbed his head. “I dunno if you need it, but apparently Ledwidge was excited by the idea of having you swing by. He said some stuff about you breaking his test.”

“Uh oh, am I in trouble?” Coop checked, suspiciously.

“No, nothing like that.” Emmanuel chuckled with a deep rumble from his chest.

“I’d be happy to check it out.” Coop confirmed, as long as no one would scold him. “When’s it happening?”

“Before lunch! And if you head over early, I’ll introduce you to the Seraphin Gravity Gym!” He announced gladly.

“You started a gym? That sounds interesting.” Coop was intrigued. He’d been dying to lift some weights even before mana had given him absurd strength, so a gym was appealing. Being on Ghost Reef meant he only had bodyweight exercises and a pair of dumbbells ever since he arrived, even before the apocalypse.

Emmanuel laughed heartily, seeing Coop as a possible kindred spirit. “You’ll have to stop by to find out!”

Coop nodded before he checked up with Madison. “And how are you doing? I feel bad about making you work so hard.”

She flicked her hand at him dismissively. “This is nothing. We’re just getting started.” She tilted her head to the west toward the medical center. “You wanna check out the progress?”

“For sure, I’m interested.” Coop agreed, failing to hide his eagerness. “I hate to ask already, but how much longer will it take?”

Madison led the way back to the northern half of the courtyard to reach the hospital. “Like I didn’t expect you to nag me.” She drawled sarcastically. “About a week, definitely less than two.” She predicted. “His prognosis is good, and he should be able to make a full recovery, though complications are still possible. It seems your friend was infected by a particularly nasty blood curse variant designed for efficiently disabling powerhouses, and he wasn’t exactly a powerhouse.”

As they walked into the entrance of the hospital, she continued explaining the nuances of blood curses and Coop did his best to follow along while he stared at the golden lights dancing with shadows on the ceiling. “Elder Olani very cleverly used her abilities to drain his mana pool which denied the curse from reaching full saturation. She probably saved him from a more challenging infection with her quick thinking.” Madison continued.

She led them through an automatic door, down another hallway, and into a large amphitheater. “This is the grand ritual chamber.” She casually waved a hand across the space while she sipped her drink.

In the center of the room, beneath a spotlight was Jones, lying on a floating gurney that seemed to be suspended by the bright light. The rest of the room was dim in comparison to the brilliance in the center, but gentle golden light evenly illuminated the cylindrical chamber. The floor was an incredibly detailed, but still incomplete, massive mosaic that slightly sloped from the edges down to Jones’s position.

Coop thought it looked like a complicated sand mural, with obvious symmetries mirrored around the completed portions of its circumference. Two of the alien contractors kneeled as they individually contributed to the pattern, seemingly conjuring one grain of sand at a time.

“Wow…” Coop muttered, not really sure exactly what he was looking at, but appreciating that it was intricate to the degree of insanity.

Madison nodded and explained a bit more. “We have to combine our own mana with reactive tonics made with Caisalya’s ingredients to solidify the pattern. When it’s complete it should create a mana torrent that reacts with the specific curse.” She cleared her throat and lifted her drink with her pinky out, “A concentrated mana current that will siphon the cursed mana to be dispelled through dispersal and desaturation.” She quoted with a slightly pretentious sounding imitation of whoever had originally taught her. “At least that’s how it was explained to me,” She frowned. “I don’t like it, because I have my own doubts about mana now that we had our visit with that rogue ‘goddess.’”

Emmanuel snorted, but looked properly contrite when Madison raised an eyebrow at him. Coop looked at the man questioningly and got a brief explanation. “She doesn’t like that the Avatar knocked her out when she showed up.”

“Tch.” Madison clicked her teeth. “A bit hostile for someone purporting to represent such authority while bearing proclamations for our own good, wasn’t it?” She countered derisively and Emmanuel readily agreed, knowing Madison enough to pick his battles.

Coop added his own thoughts. “I’m just a simple guy, but I didn’t like how she presented herself either. It seemed like a mental attack, like another more manipulative phase of the siege boss. She was too perfect.”

Madison raised her eyebrow at Coop. “I heard you tried knocking her out. That’s quite the reaction to witnessing perfection.”

“I dunno what kind of abilities we might face, so maybe I was a bit jumpy.” Coop argued while finding himself feeling slightly defensive.

“I have my doubts about her, but maybe if we see her again, you should apologize.” Madison chuckled, apparently approving of his original greeting, but not entirely willing to condone it openly.

Coop just sighed at the idea of meeting the Avatar of the System again, “I’ll consider it. I probably won’t try to punch her again anyway.” He remembered how his wrist folded against her finger like he had punched a concrete wall and subconsciously rubbed his forehead where she had flicked him.

Madison nodded and sighed after the smile faded from her face. “I guess it’s back to work for me.” She announced with a big stretch after handing her mostly finished cup back to Emmanuel.

“Can I help?” Coop offered. If nothing else, he had an absolute ton of mana. If he could apply it, they might be able to finish sooner.

She patted him on the shoulder. “Not with this. Mana affinity plays a major role. That’s why I only have those two helpers.” She indicated the two kneeling aliens as they hunched over and stared at the edges of their workplaces in abject concentration.

“Alright.” Coop reluctantly acquiesced. “Keep up the good work. If you need anything, just ask.”

“It’s just a matter of time.” Madison reassured him as she returned to an open space in the design to get back to her task.

Once again, Coop had trouble comprehending the results-based methods that factions had developed. An affinity-based mana current to siphon cursed mana? Coop shrugged and just accepted his own limited interpretation; mana was everywhere, but could mostly only be interacted with through a compatible affinity.

Coop shrugged his frustrations off and promised to see Emmanuel in the morning before he headed back to the tavern. The night was young and he’d have to find Derek and pay him a visit to keep him off of his back for a while.

Crossing the bridge once again, it was clear the tavern was the focal point of the night. Its door was constantly propped open by residents and phantoms entering and exiting. The warm light spilled into the freshly completed main street and the nearby benches were full of people unwinding.

Coop went with the flow of residents and phantoms, entering the Clumsy Shark with the flow of the crowd. It was all hands on deck inside, with the extra waiters helping Maeve and Desmond manage the flock of customers. The place was busy, and this was with the population of the settlement significantly diminished. He realized, for their sake, the settlement needed to get more venues before they continued to expand. Hopefully, Marcus would have it covered.

It didn’t take long for Derek to spot him and announce that the Champion had arrived.

“Fashionably late aren’t we?” Derek joked as he put his arm across Coop’s shoulders. “Hey, Desmond! A round for the Champ, on me!”

“He already drinks for free, Derek.” The barkeeper pointed out as he poured a pale glowing ale into a mug. “He is the Champion after all.”

“Perfect! Make it two rounds then!” Derek laughed as he raised his own mug.

Coop drank as vaguely familiar faces came to introduce themselves, but it was too many for him to ever hope to remember any names. Some residents thanked him for allowing them to come to the settlement in the first place, phantoms paid their respect, and others swore to get stronger to stand shoulder to shoulder with him in the future. Coop just defaulted to being friendly and welcoming, accepting the hugs, shoulder pats, and handshakes as they came.

As the crowd diminished and people went back to their parties Coop was faced with one more phantom pirate. “Is it true that Derek was essential when you escaped from the Empire?” The blonde pirate asked openly, looking up at Coop with doe eyes. Coop glanced at Derek and found him nodding vigorously with both thumbs up.

Coop shrugged. “I mean, he helped protect us from some wind, sure.” Coop wasn’t sure he would call Derek’s role essential, but he wouldn’t deny that the Virtuoso contributed.

“And you two are best friends?” She continued, tilting her head to the side letting the black ribbons woven into her high pigtails sway over her shoulder.

Coop looked over at Derek again, wondering what he was telling people, and watched as he continued nodding even more vehemently. “We’re friends...” Coop confirmed neutrally.

When the pirate turned to Derek, he put his arms out. “I told you! Me and the Champ go way back, we were literally bunk mates in prison!” He put his arm around her and gave Coop a wink as he led the way to a table with other pirates who started exchanging coins as bets were settled. Coop shook his head and finished his drink.

“I didn’t think you’d end up with such a friend.” Desmond observed from behind the bar.

“Me neither.” Coop admitted. “I mean, he didn’t really lie, just exaggerated a lot. I’m sure he doesn’t tell people about how he looted one of the Chosen’s torches and almost got us caught.”

Desmond grunted. “He blames that bit on you, actually.”

“That figures.” Coop shook his head. Desmond moved on to other customers leaving Coop for the moment.

Coop prepared to go back to his lighthouse, but before he left, he spotted Shane and his party in a corner booth. They were quietly discussing something with serious looks on their faces as they half ignored their own card game. It reminded him of the first time he saw the party, though they had seemed more nervous back when they prepared to ask to stay in Ghost Reef. This time, they actually seemed a bit depressed. He decided to give them a visit before he left for the night to find out what was going on. He wanted to hear about the Coral Forest in any case.