Unchosen Champion

“I found the first sapphire jewel right over there.” Coop attested as he pointed to the empty divot in the middle of the mana bath. The flow of mana was barely detectable, but if they looked closely, they could see that a pocket had formed in the center of the next coral platform. Shane and Arthur diligently took note.

Coop was playing the role of tour guide for Shane’s party as he retraced the steps he took in navigating the Coral Forest. They were only at the start, descending from the entrance and arriving at the coral platform where he encountered the first One That Hunts.

After Coop had explained the nature of the scavenger hunt inside the mana well, the Illusionist had immediately spotted one of the lower quality jewels hidden within a stream of water that fell from the entrance that Coop had missed on his initial run. One of the perks of utilizing the well would be the availability of some of the more difficult to acquire materials. The fact that they could contribute just as much as Coop left them enthusiastic to take up the task.

The mana bath that had contained the jewel was already reoccupied by one of the shrimp monsters. This one had a fire engine red carapace and was alert enough to face the group of intruders even before they moved toward its claimed territory. Coop inspected it, checking its current level to see if he needed to help Shane’s party defeat it.

[One That Hunts (Level 63)]

[(Agility)]

[Of The Feast]

Level 63 was slightly higher than the average level of his companions, but it was pretty close to even. Since this was the first monster he had defeated when he began his expedition into the mana well, he expected it to be the highest level of the respawns. His preliminary conclusion was that they defaulted to one level a day when they spawned, wherever in the depths they were coming from, then received more at a rapid pace once they claimed a mana bath, maybe up to two levels a day. Of course, variable mana quantities would probably have some impact on their rates of growth, but he was ballparking things for the sake of his estimations.

It was day 60 and this specimen was slightly outpacing the baseline, but if it started at level 55 when it claimed the spot, its current level would be more or less in line with Coop’s expectations. It may have needed to fight to claim the spot first, delaying its mana accumulation a bit. Either way, it was certainly within range of Shane’s party and hadn’t evolved to the variants that Coop had battled. It was smaller and only had the two claws to defend itself with, exactly like the ones Coop had seen when he first entered the well, months previously.

“They really are much lower level.” Shane confirmed as they stood on the ledge, shoulder to shoulder. The relief he was feeling was obvious in his voice. The first time they entered, they spent more than a day just to end up finding monsters that were so far above them, their levels were presented as question marks. They stayed near the entrance to the well, but only found specimens they didn’t dare engage with.

“Come on, you doubted me?” Coop feigned indignity. “I wouldn’t set you guys up like that.”

Arthur nodded. “Five more levels and we’d be out of our depth, and we all know you barely pay attention to levels. You don’t need to be as mindful as the rest of us when it comes to those gaps.” Coop thought that was probably true given that his stats hardly reflected his class level, but he was way more conscientious than that when it came to his friends. Sure, he’d be willing to challenge just about anything to the point that he occasionally took unnecessary risks, but it was mostly because he saw those challenges as opportunities when they came up. Even he would hesitate when it came to double question mark enemies, as long as he had a way out. Not to mention, he paid attention when the monster levels became too low to give him experience.

The Illusionist scrunched her face. “It’s way uglier than I expected. Calling it a shrimp monster didn’t do it justice.” The Tomb Blade chuckled at her discomfort, not feeling as disgusted. They were used to fighting mechanical enemies, so this was a deviation that might take some time for most of them to adjust to.

“Definitely… and I don’t do seafood.” The Dragon Knight agreed, suddenly sounding like a picky date.

“You don’t need to eat it.” Coop pointed out, earning an annoyed look from her as she was confronted with the idea.

The party spread along the edges of the deep red coral they stood on and started checking for a convenient way to the next platform. Coop had underestimated how difficult the Coral Forest was to navigate for those who couldn’t simply mistjump over the gaps. In particular, getting back up would be tricky unless they had some specific method of leaping more than a dozen feet up, so they were forced to plan ahead.

They had carefully selected their path through the well so far, marking coral platforms with garden flags, and leaving ropes with other tools to help them traverse back to the entrance. The party had prepared equipment for their adventure, and Arthur and the Tomb Blade carried packs that made it seem like they would be spelunking. More than getting individual experience for their party, they planned to establish the mana well as a proper grind zone for Ghost Reef as a whole.

The group had been forced to meander back and forth to adjacent, but more closely arranged platforms, compared to Coop’s straight path through the well, in order to create a proper trail. It was adding significant travel times that Coop hadn’t anticipated during his first expedition, but they were carefully tracking the route so that others could follow in the future. Coop may have explored the mana well, but they were properly pioneering it with future utilization in mind.

“Over here!” The Tomb Blade called from the northern edge. A smaller brain coral had squeezed between the platform that they stood on and the wall of the cavern. It was only the size of a bus, small compared to the more extravagant coral features, but it provided a convenient stepping stone between the two larger platforms. Anyone could climb out, even without tools to aid them, as long as they could do a few pullups. A knotted rope would make the path universal as they refined the route.

Helping each other down, they arrived on the next coral platform. They approached the territory of the waiting One That Hunts and once it was within range Coop watched the party all turn to him as if they were of one mind.

“A demonstration, if you would?” Arthur formally suggested on behalf of the group while the Dragon Knight nodded along.

Coop had already relayed every detail he had uncovered about the mana well’s inhabitants the night before. Even Derek had hung around, pretending to be uninterested, but paying attention in case he found himself hunting with a party. Coop communicated the dangers as he saw them. Namely, the incredible physical resistance, the extraordinary speed of the claw strikes, the horizontal mobility with the tail, and the tendency to grapple.

He just shrugged, understanding that seeing was believing, especially when he recalled the first time they fought a Primal Kite when he took them to scout the pig’s island before he left them alone on the island for the first time. Back then, he had warned them as much as he could, but they jumped straight into the fight themselves, overconfident, only to be stymied by the much lower level normal monster. It seemed like everyone was evolving over time, from the monsters, to the former Chosen, even to the wildlife.

“Alright, watch this.” Coop prompted as he summoned his brittle shield and hammer before slinging the shield at the waiting shrimp monster with a flick of his offhand.

The shield predictably exploded as the shrimp defended itself with an incredibly fast claw strike. The other claw immediately followed, smashing a piece of ethereal shrapnel out of the air. Coop followed with a mistjump that took him above and behind the monster, about six feet off the ground. While in the air, he activated Legacy of the Mists, and a fully armored phantasm simultaneously struck the shrimp from the left with a ghostly one-handed warhammer when Coop smashed it from the right.

The One That Hunts dissipated into mist as Coop landed on the coral. He waited for Shane’s party to approach. If he was being honest, he wasn’t sure exactly how they could recreate his tactics, but they had a full party’s worth of skills to utilize. The Dragon Knight and the Tomb Blade both had magical components to their damage, and Arthur’s abilities weren’t primarily physical damage as much as they were physical drains. They should have the tools necessary to take down the physically strong shrimp creatures.

“Why did you close the gap?” Arthur asked first.

“The range of my magic damage attacks isn’t as long as my movement skill.” Coop readily explained. Launching phantasms from an even greater distance would be extraordinarily potent, but that wasn’t how his current set of skills worked as he understood them. “The monster will use its tail to lunge forward if you pressure it enough.”

“Just how physically resistant are we talking?” The Dragon Knight wondered as her jagged sword’s flames ignited.

“Strong enough to be completely unfazed by my attacks.” Coop revealed. “I only hit it to combo with my magical attacks. They are tougher than anything else I’ve fought, including the Siege Bosses, I think. It’s like they redistribute the force somehow, but magic damage really works well, and I don’t think it’s entirely because of my stats. They are just weaker against it in general due to their physiology.”

There was a moment where the party looked at each other, confirming that they didn’t have any more questions.

Shane nodded, satisfied with the demonstration. “Alright, we’ll take the next one.” Shane declared. “Clones and projectiles before a magic boosted onslaught, but don’t fully commit unless both of those claw strikes bite on the initial salvo.” The rest of the party nodded along with his instructions.

Shane had to keep track of everyone’s abilities, but that meant he could easily direct them in combat or come up with party-wide tactics. Coop thought it must be tricky to track others’ cooldowns and resources, since he lacked the other members’ system interfaces, but the fact that he could coordinate their entire siege defense meant he was actually really good at tracking so many things at once. Coop had no cooldowns at all and immense resources, and he was still occasionally surprised when an affliction, like those from the Excavators, altered his status. Shane certainly had a talent.

The group slowly made their way across several more platforms, looping south before heading west again, in order to find the most convenient path. When they found the next shrimp, the brown carapace gave its faction away, and Coop inspected it to make sure there weren’t any surprises.

[One That Hunts (Level 63)]

[(Agility)]

[Of The Hunger]

Shane confirmed that everyone in his party was ready before a golden dome expanded from his position. Four clones of the Illusionist rushed forward, waving their wands like they intended to physically stab the creature with them while their brown robes billowed from their movement. The shrimp took notice of the attack and didn’t simply wait in its position as potential enemies encroached on its claimed territory.

The One That Hunts slammed its tail into the ground and charged the incoming clones, defending its territory from the interlopers, regardless of being outnumbered. It flew slightly above the ground as if it was in water, closing the gap in an instant. When it slammed the initial illusion, its claw smashed all the way through, into the ground, with seemingly no resistance at all.

The illusion shattered like crystal, sending sharpened shards forward. The launched shards sliced into the monster, leaving tiny wounds all along its abdomen and injuring multiple of the smaller grasping legs, revealing its eruption as a magic based counter attack.

The shrimp monster maintained its composure, and continued its lunge to grapple with a second illusion as its momentum carried it forward. The second and third illusions were destroyed in the collision with the forward limbs and the fourth shattered when it was smashed by the torso of the aggressive shrimp as the smaller limbs attempted to grapple. Only one of the two claws was used, and it was only a matter of time before the first recovered.

Arthur had slid around the side of the shrimp while it tunnel visioned on the clones, and was employing a short bow to pepper the monster’s flank with seemingly weak arrows. Despite them having very little velocity, they still embedded themselves through the carapace of the monster, revealing a magical component that Coop didn’t expect from the archer. The arrows released streams of blood red particles that chased Arthur as he spun around the shrimp, keeping behind it while he added to the pincushion forming in its shell.

Another pair of clones came to try and bait the other claw, after Shane called for the other party members to wait until they could get the second claw to commit, but the monster was more focused on Arthur. Eventually, the shrimp rotated enough to slam its final claw into one of the arrows that Arthur fired, deciding that it wanted to stop one of those even more than the Illusionist’s replicas.

“Now!” Shane shouted, and the Dragon Knight left a stream of fire as she launched herself directly into the shrimp.

The Tomb Blade lumbered forward, jogging in her wake with a wide stance. Halfway to the shrimp, he smashed his small shield against the ground and a gray skull rose from the ground beneath the shrimp. The jaw latched onto the tail, preventing another rushing charge. The Dragon Knight assaulted the monster with a flurry of flaming strikes that sizzled in the damp air and left scorch marks against the creature, but again, left it without critical damage.

Coop was getting nervous. They were taking too long to defeat it. He had expected their magic damage to be more effective, and even though he didn’t want to worry prematurely, he knew the first claw would be ready to attack soon.

“Back!” Shane ordered, anticipating the first claw’s reset as well just from a visual assessment.

Another pair of illusions, this time of the Dragon Knight appeared on either side of the real person while she stepped back out, Shane had been correct to anticipate the first claw’s recharge. The first claw struck out, after only a few more seconds, annihilating one of the illusions as the fake Dragon Knight raised its shield to block. The resulting destruction of the illusion sent pink, gleaming shards in all directions, smashing primarily into the monster due to the close proximity. The damage finally had the impact Coop anticipated, and the shrimp’s armored carapace seemed to give out, losing pressure under a hundred new wounds. The Tomb Blade finished the monster off with a giant floating skull from above. The boney teeth chomped through the torso and split the shrimp in half before it faded. The monster’s two halves disintegrated into mana smoke.

Coop breathed a sigh of relief as two of the party members leveled from the fight.

“Those things are crazy!” The Dragon Knight exclaimed as they regrouped. She was showing everyone her arm, which was blistered and burnt from merely being near the last claw strike, behind the illusion. “I have extreme heat resistance, and it still burned the hell out of me. I wasn’t even the target!” Coop winced at her peeling skin, it was like she had an absolutely atrocious sunburn.

Shane’s golden bubble rippled and morphed into a vaguely green dome that could regenerate her health as they analyzed the damage. She was fine, but if it had been any of the other party members, they would have needed to pause in order to recover.

Coop let them discuss the fight, not really having any notes other than for them to kill the monsters faster. He was sweating more than if he had been fighting himself and his heart was pounding. Spectating sucked.

The rest of the trip further through the coral was slow, as they continued to pick and choose their path to make sure they would be able to easily return to the entrance. Coop let them fight another monster and the result was a significant improvement over the first. They would quickly become comfortable with the Stage 1 monsters of the mana well with some more practice.

Arthur and the Tomb Blade set up a base camp on the coral platform adjacent to the coral colony, where Coop had napped so many times between confirming routes through the folds of the foliose coral. They had brought enough equipment to turn the edge of the coral platform into an actual campsite, with recovery and rest areas along with a simple cooking station. Coop was a little jealous of their foresight.

Coop was going to leave them to it, but he wanted to check on the heart of the coral colony, so he mistjumped his way through the spaced out shrimp baths to take a look. He was hoping to find another Stage Boss already, which would make it an incredibly lucrative farming spot. If it was there, he would be swimming in Legendary crafting materials in no time at all.

He traversed past the coral courtyards, through thick beds of anemones and sea fan screens until he was working his way down the smooth horseshoe shaped tunnel, letting the mana breeze flow along with him. In the distance, he could hear a cacophony of clicking, echoing along the glowing tunnel, and knew that there wouldn’t be an individual boss waiting for him.

Instead, the central chamber was practically bursting at the seams, full of shrimp. There were hundreds, each engaging with another as they fought in a massive team-based battle royale to see which would claim the thickest mana bath of the coral colony. Interestingly, the shrimp only grappled with shrimp of the opposite color scheme. It didn’t matter that they were fighting over a single mana bath and there could only be one in the end, for now they stuck to the Hunger versus the Feast.

Coop left them alone. They weren’t high enough level to be worth defeating and they didn’t have any quests associated with them to put them on his radar otherwise.

When he told Shane’s party about what he found, they quickly decided not to go anywhere near the core. That meant it would be up to Coop to return and check the progress of the central chamber, but he’d give it some time for the shrimp to establish a hierarchy again.

He finally left the party’s camp site, which they declared as the Adventurer Guild’s first outpost, and headed straight to the entrance. There was another project he was excited about, one that was a long time coming.