Unchosen Champion

Fog of War created a pocket of mist that bulged over the surface of a single coral platform, isolating it from the rest of the abyssal forest. The deep purple color of the coral was completely washed out by the gray mist, but small figments of bioluminescence managed to illuminate the edges of the fog bank. The reflections expanded into light pillar optical illusions that cast long shadows through the fog. From the outside, it would seem like a bizarre gray smoke bubble was caught in the slightly upturned rim of the massive coral, but inside, Coop was facing off with One That Hunts.

Coop slowly rotated around the edge of the platform, hunched forward with his ethereal equipment at the ready, as he tested the creature’s ability to track his position with its persistent clicking. The creature continued to face him, even as he attempted a sneaky flank, but it remained stationary aside from some small shuffling rotations with its larger legs. The carapace didn’t have the best lateral articulation, but it never shifted in place to prevent its sides from becoming exposed, turning its entire body to keep Coop directly in front. Its perception was obviously unhindered, despite Coop’s disorienting fog.

He went through the motions, trying the different variations of spear throws he had developed over the months, throwing different trajectories, then throwing his shield, then lobbing his shield and timing his spear so the attacks coincided. The four claws represented an impenetrable defense to Coop’s ranged attacks, at least as long as he had less than four projectiles. Each claw was fast enough to catch a bullet in a pocket of void space, but had to take some time to reset before they could be reused.

The shrimp hadn’t made any move to counter attack, or close the distance in any way. Coop suspected that it had a different definition of hunting than Coop’s initial guess. It didn’t seem to be a pursuit hunter, rather, he thought it was territorial. That was why Coop was hesitating to mistjump into melee range. It was fast enough that it wouldn’t be caught by surprise, and comfortable enough to bait him into getting closer while letting him take ineffective potshots. Coop was wary of its confidence.

Coop was already running out of ranged tactics and the rest of his techniques would require him to get closer. There was really only one more strategy he hadn’t tried, but he had little hope in it working. Still, he resummoned his shield, making it into the ethereal grenade he tested during the siege with disappointing results at the time.

The brittle shield was pitched directly at the shrimp, with Coop’s switch-pitch, and Coop threw his spear a split second after with his dominant arm, letting the two land one immediately after the other. The shrimp repeated its defense, with one claw twitching and the shield exploding into fragments when it collided with the disturbed empty space while the spear chased close behind.

The ethereal fragments peppered the creature, and to Coop’s surprise, the other three claws also twitched as if they were deflecting individual bits of broken shield. Then, the spear slammed into its chest with a dull slapping sound, like a hammer slamming into wet wood. Coop couldn’t believe his previously failed idea worked at all. He quickly resummoned a brittle shield and recalled his spear with a desire to press his advantage. The flak had been enough to overwhelm the creature’s powerful defense even though it was almost entirely harmless.

The shrimp took a direct spear shot to its chest, but it had barely flinched. In fact, if one its grasping forelimbs wasn’t bent awkwardly, Coop wouldn’t have believed it took any damage at all, and Coop had put enough zest in his attack to punch a hole through an Intelligence based Siege Boss. The high level shrimp had some seriously strong physical defenses, even without its protective counter strikes.

Coop aimed another shield throw, but as he stepped into the pitch, the shrimp slammed the base of its broad tail against the coral, sending his fog billowing away as it shot forward, directly at Coop. In the split second that the dynamic of the fight had transitioned when his opponent went from a passive target to taking an aggressive charge, Coop had a belated epiphany that he should have realized when he inspected the creature. This shrimp wasn’t just a manifestation of mana, nor was it a simple minion.

Coop’s previous opponents had mostly been basic monsters with minimal to no evidence of actual thought, following simple attack patterns that were easy to suss out. However, this creature was different, and now he believed it was more advanced. The creature hadn’t been absently stationed in the center of its platform, content to let Coop test its capability with prodding ranged attacks like a minion of the Primal Constructs. The shrimp was actually doing the same to Coop, gauging the threat that he presented and sampling his attacks. They were like two wild animals deciding if a fight was worth it, poking at each other before committing to real combat while they still had a chance to retreat or force the other to abandon the challenge.

Receiving some damage from Coop’s spear attack had been enough to provoke the shrimp into fully engaging with the human trespasser.

With all four claws raised in the air, two straight up, and two fanned out at 45 degree angles, the shrimp cut through the fog with even more speed than Felrog the Soul Snatcher. Coop could thank the Field Boss for the exposure of facing down a rapid charge, because Coop was able to instinctually fall back to his prior experience and avoid a panicked scramble. His shield was brittle, and wouldn’t offer any protection, the attack was too fast for him to avoid, so like with Felrog, he only saw a single avenue: attack. Coop had made up his mind before he even realized he was making a decision.

Coop held his shield with his forearm raised above his head, like he was shielding the ground in front of him from a midday sun, and leveled the spear underneath the shield, bracing it like a rifle in a solid grip. He bent his knees and had a fraction of a second to prepare for going head to head with yet another challenge.

He squeezed his jaw shut as they collided. The spear tip smashed into the underbelly of the shrimp, dead center among the dozen forelimbs that reached and grasped at the weapont, desperate to claw at Coop’s arms. His spear was longer.

The brittle shield exploded into tiny shards as it completely failed to block even a single of the claw attacks that bore down from above. Coop doubted even his regular shield would have withstood the onslaught, but the length of his spear and his white knuckle grip kept the creature far enough away that his head and body avoided any of the extraordinary guillotine strikes.

He hadn’t budged from where he planted his feet and leaned into the collision, but his spear had also failed to penetrate the shrimp’s stomach, simply holding it at bay. They would end up in a stalemate where the shrimp couldn’t apply what Coop was coming to realize was its killing strategy. The creature wanted to get close and grapple its prey with its forelimbs while its four claws slammed down from its shoulders. It was durable enough to have no fear of getting up close with a physical fighter and dangerous enough to do serious damage even to an armored opponent. He guessed the sharp, needle-like teeth came last.

Rather than grapple with the creature without his shield, Coop used both arms to brace the spear and dug in from a lower angle, trying to lift the shrimp off the ground before the rearming claws struck either of his limbs. Up close, the claw strikes emitted an unbelievable amount of heat, and even when they didn’t actually make contact, he still felt like he was being seared by bursts of energy that were hotter than flames. It seemed like a purely physical reaction rather than a magical one, where heat was being generated by the violent collapse of cavitation bubbles in the mana dense air.

He managed to unbalance the shrimp, using his spear for leverage, and taking advantage of the momentary weakness, roared as he put his Strength into launching it into the air like he was flipping it on a grill. The creature flailed as it was tossed backwards and a powerful flick of its tail reoriented its body and sent it shooting back to the ground, but Coop hadn’t been idle. He followed his toss, seeking to combo the setup with quick attacks.

When the shrimp slammed into the ground, it was battered three times with his spear to the side of the head, then smashed with a massive overhand blow with Coop’s spiked morning star as he quickswapped weapons in the middle of his flurry. Coop figured the blunt damage would be more effective against the shrimp, but even the morning star failed to properly destroy the armor. It felt like he was tenderizing tough armored meat with the way the carapace flexed underneath his attacks and its body refused to yield. His spear hadn’t done much better, but now that Coop had the creature off-balance, he didn’t let up.

During his followthrough, Coop finally utilized his newest upgrade, Legacy of the Mists, giving it a proper field test, and a phantasmal caveman leapt out of the mists to deliver a shocking side swing with its own morning star shaped club. The phantasm delivered a mighty blow that nearly chopped the shrimp in half, exploding through its torso like dynamite. The Legacy summon stepped forward with its weapon raised above its head, preparing to deliver a final slam to the toppled creature, but it evaporated into mist while it was in its backswing.

Coop imitated the motion, following the lead of his temporary companion, smashing his weapon against the still armored shrimp. Despite having an enormous, gaping wound in its abdomen that prevented it from holding its upper half upright, Coop still barely did any physical damage himself.

He spent another chunk of mana to cast Legacy again and watched as a bald headed, brown-robed monk crushed the creature’s head with an unadorned morning star. The ghost turned and Coop imagined he was being judged before the monk disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Coop leaned the morning star over his shoulder and shrugged. “Magic damage, huh?” Coop concluded that would be the creature’s primary weakness as he checked his notifications.

[You defeated One That Hunts (Elite Level 101)]

[+1012 Basic Credits]

[Congratulations! Your profession has leveled up!]

[Fortune Seeker (17/50)]

Coop took his time evaluating his initial exposure to the Coral Forest’s residents, starting with the information provided through the notifications.

Even though the creature had an Elite designation, it still counted toward Fortune Seeker’s progress. Fortune Seeker only counted progress when he looted a normal monster for the first time, so he could make a few conclusions. First, One That Hunts was technically not Elite, but had some additional scaling that was pushing it well beyond system limitations for a normal monster, probably thanks to being within a mana well, so the system gave it the particular designation when it displayed the information. Second, the creatures of the mana well were in fact monsters and not something else. Coop thought it was possible they could have been animals, but was ready to dismiss the idea. He knew he couldn’t kill a fish and progress the Fortune Seeker quest.

Scavenging more than 1,000 basic credits from a single creature was a pretty significant bonus. The combination of levels for his target, and all the bonuses applied from progressing his Scavenging quests meant that he was getting 5 to 10 times more credits when compared to the elites he encountered on the oil rig. If nothing else, the mana well could be a good place to grind funds, if all his opponents were this generous.

When it came to the fight itself, Coop could confidently say that the mana well elite creatures were far and above where he expected a typical elite to stand. Even if an elite creature was focused on physical defense, he could anticipate punching through those defenses with his overwhelming stats, and yet the One That Hunts had withstood all of his physical attacks, presenting an even sturdier constitution than Field Bosses and lining up more closely with the Icon of Mana’s protective forearms and shield limb specifically. It was proof of Arthur’s warning, that the mana well would present additional variability outside of system limitations. It was clear he would be leaning heavily on the significant magic damage Legacy of the Mists brought to the table. He was just happy to avoid a down and dirty punch out with each of what amounted to trash monsters.

The phantasms may be short lived, but they had had magical firepower that he could never have claimed previously. The first devastating blow from a phantasm had essentially ended the fight and Coop was feeling comfortable with his future prospects against other opponents after the experience. When he experimented with the phantasms on the beach, they had annihilated the Ancient Defenders, but that didn’t mean much given the incredible level disparity. Field testing them against a particularly strong, equivalently leveled opponent had confirmed they would be a beneficial addition to his repertoire.

The phantasms may cost 500 mana, a huge chunk for what amounted to a single attack, but it seemed more than worth the cost. Coop’s firepower was still limited by his attributes, even with Legacy, but now he had even more variety than his arsenal of weapons provided. The phantasms would double the variety if he considered every weapon a different type of physical damage, but he wondered what the difference between blunt and slicing magical damage would be. Was there a difference? Charlie had her sharp edged water blades, and those were definitely magic and definitely cut through things, so there probably was some distinction.

Coop shrugged, ignoring the physics of magic, looking forward to finding out for himself before he observed the aftermath of the battle. The vicious claws of the shrimp hadn’t even landed glancing blows on his arms when they destroyed his shield, but he still ended up with small scratches and burns that had been enough to deal a few hundred points of damage each. Dealing any notable damage to Coop’s fully armored kit, with his defensive stats and increased durability, was no small feat. Shane’s party was wise to avoid pushing themselves to progress within the mana well until they were more prepared.

His health was practically full, despite taking damage, thanks to his Reaper title and his huge total. However, even though the kill also returned a significant amount of mana compared to the average monster, the expenditures of Fog of War, Legacy of the Mists, and some Mind Over Matter effects had drained more than he recovered. He’d gained about 250 mana after spending 4,000 and losing another 600 to damage.

The next creature he found would be met with more aggression from Coop’s side. He wasn’t sure if he would have managed the charge and grapple without Fog of War and Presence of Mind, but he wouldn’t bother with attempting the disorienting fog next time. A thin mist, if anything, and pressing an attack with phantasms aiming for the killing blows would be the basis of his strategy. Coop thought he had the general gameplan down, but he would need to find more monster spawns before he refined it.

The coral platform had completely held up, not even getting scratched when Coop and the shrimp scuffled, and there were no indentations caused by the slamming of ethereal morning stars, magical or physical versions. There wouldn’t be any cause for concern over collapsing a coral head and falling deeper into the abyss as he fought, but he was curious exactly what was up with the coral itself.

On the other hand, Coop’s Fog of War domain was much worse for wear. The misty presence had been diminished significantly by the shrimp’s claw attacks, tail movements, and rush across the arena. Now that his fog skill was supplemented by a massive pile of Intelligence, he hadn’t expected anything less than boss monsters to be able to wave the mists away, since it wasn’t actual fog, rather more of a mana-based approximation of the natural phenomenon, like his equipment couldn’t possibly be mists. However, the first shrimp had managed to do quite a bit of damage to the domain on its own. The fragility of his domain would need to be something he kept in mind. Putting himself in a situation where he relied on it, only for a counter to unexpectedly appear, would be irritating at the very least and more likely just plain dangerous.

As Coop crossed the coral platform, ready to continue his delve into the mana well and satisfied with his first real test of Legacy of the Mists, he paused as a glow caught his eye. He didn’t expect to find anything that his Fog of War missed, but in the exact center of the arena, a marble-sized blue orb illuminated a small area in white light around its perch. It sat in a nest of coral that had woven itself around the object.

Coop jogged over to it, unwilling to risk missing a treasure before he moved on. Coop hadn’t spotted it, even when it was inside his domain of fog, because the shrimp had been positioned directly on top of it. The stone wasn’t an egg, so he wasn’t concerned with looting it. Instead, it reminded him of an uncut jewel. Upon retrieving the treasure, he found that the blue orb had a rough surface, but it was still vaguely oval. With some polishing the stone might end up being a massive sapphire-like mana gem.

The center of the platform was probably the point where the most mana accumulated. The shrimp was essentially lounging in a mana bath that was dense enough to form a huge jewel.

“Huh.” Coop thought he discovered something about the mana flowing through the well, and thought back on how the Icon of Mana had formed, greedily vacuuming as much mana as it could. The powerful monsters of the mana well were still only passively accumulating power, they just happened to be in an ideal environment.

Coop pushed the blue orb into his spatial storage, feeling like even though the first monster had only yielded credits, he still received a treasure as a reward for the challenge.

He looked forward to finding more as he leapt down to the next gray-green brain coral platform and continued his expedition.