Unchosen Champion

Coop’s routine was interrupted even before it started. Jett was gone before he woke up and none of his companions were interested in joining him, not even Sunny! Inside the fort, The Clumsy Shark was closed to customers, and everyone was busy diligently preparing, from the contracted residents closing their shops to complete commissions, to the phantoms and the residents applying new professions or old skills to work on last-minute projects. Everyone was filling a role. Everyone except Coop.

The Champion was repeatedly shooed away from the open air kitchens that had spawned in the grassy area behind the cafe and Vronk’s bakery. An assortment of enticing smells drifted across the fortress, but Coop wasn’t allowed to offer his taste testing services or sous chef expertise. The residential apartments overlooked hundreds of tents, like there was some kind of food festival setting up in the open grassy areas of the courtyard. The area hadn’t been developed because it was demarcated for future residential development or greenspace and Marcus was deciding whether or not to use system construction or human development based on the options offered after the next settlement upgrade.

Citizens, human and phantom, were hustling back and forth with massive crates of ingredients, while others mixed them in enormous specially purchased cauldrons, wearing aprons and not just a few chef hats. Apparently, several residents had taken cooking related professions and used their windfalls from the siege event to commission profession specific gear with unique bonuses. Overnight, the Ghost Reef atmosphere had shifted from one that concentrated on class levels to one that honed profession levels with equal seriousness.

Coop wanted to help, but everyone he spoke to insisted that they had it under control, and some even suggested the Champion stick to his own lane, which the consensus agreed was grinding monsters.

“The skills are transferable.” Coop insisted to Emmanuel, who had been conscripted into protecting the workers from any busybodies, which seemed to be Coop and a few curious Chosen animals, all attracted by the delicious aromas.

“Of course they are.” Emmanuel gladly agreed. “Still can’t let you in there, though.” His perfunctory followup statement came dryly.

As they approached the first big party, they were all working hard to complete last minute preparations. Laurie’s wedding planner friend had coordinated the entire settlement into a frenzy, and they still had time before the event. A party with around 8,000 guests was a massive undertaking and required significant preparations. It was only now that they bubbled up to the surface. Orders and preliminary setup for the materials they would need for the physical venue as well as the ingredients for the food had taken place over the last two weeks while Coop had still been on vacation, casually grinding monsters while catching up with various residents.

Coop was naturally attracted to the flurry of activity, but when he tried to sneak his way into the process for the third time, he received a ladle to the forehead as his comeuppance. The ladle was fine and the message was received.

Coop wandered toward the entrance of the fort, where another batch of assiduous workers were hammering and sawing. The woodworkers were busy creating foldable picnic benches, enough for thousands to be seated, since they planned on hosting the entire set of returned phantoms. They also had no need for Coop’s interference, even when he offered his prodigious strength for hauling materials.

Hana’s father, the principal of the new school, was among those sweating in the sun as they labored on the seating. “Nuh uh!” He warned as Coop moseyed in his direction, waving a single finger at him. “We’ve got it all handled.” He promised and pointed to the stacked piles of completed and folded tables lined up against the fort’s inner wall. Balor’s deep laugh followed as Coop left with his tail between his legs.

The completed party materials were neatly stacked around the edges of the repaired iron gate, all along the interior walls. There weren’t only tables ready to go, but there were also hundreds of kegs filling the shaded interior patios. Brewbot was gingerly adding another one before the robot resident returned to the brewery with a quick bow, acknowledging Coop but too busy to chat.

Instead of lingering on the fringes of the settlement’s activity, he mistjumped up to the ramparts, where the only other groups of excluded residents were busy patrolling, on guard duty. The phantoms nodded at him and a few smirked, knowing what Coop had been up to as they observed from their perches among the battlements. At this point, they had all been equipped with the Ghost Reef Standard Issue gear. The armory was so full of the slick gear, they almost had enough to completely regear the entire phantom army as soon as they returned.

“How’s it looking?” Coop asked, trying to make some casual conversation with the professional looking phantoms that lazed against the stone edges keeping an eye out.

“All clear, Champ.” One of them responded casually as they watched the horizon.

“The pirates do most of the work anyway.” Another observed, gesturing toward a ship navigating in the distance, well beyond the reef. “We just keep an eye out for anything that slips through, and listen for messages.”

The Tempest Fleet was back to its full historical capacity with the last two corvettes being spawned by Captain Kayla, or really Admiral Kayla as far as the system was concerned. She had applied her newer advisor authority to grab them each as soon as they had the mana to do so. Coop hadn’t checked the new ships out, but he knew their names were All That Glitters, and Reef Hunter. He was willing to bet that each had a quirky captain with uniquely customized weapons, otherwise they wouldn’t fit in with the rest of the fleet’s crews. Coop thought it was fifty fifty if they would be silent types.

Those weren’t the only new additions either. They also added another boat through the Shipwright, which had successfully recreated the special features of the ghost ships, injecting the ship with spectral mana that drained the settlement as the resource slowly accumulated in their stores. A new phantom captain had been selected by the rest of the pirate leaders and a skeleton crew assigned until they received more members from the returners.

The pirates would eventually need to expand their numbers beyond the original fleet, as they added more ships to their collection, and from what Coop understood, they were debating between recruiting regular humans or transfering phantom soldiers. There were arguments to be made for either, with humans being more flexible and the phantoms' ability to properly bind to the ships still up in the air but also having more in common with the other spectral humans, including the teleportation and ability to come back.

A second ship frame was being put under the same process, which they expected to finish before the settlement upgrade occurred, though the hull would also need to have the process done upon its woodwork afterwards. Then a captain would be selected and their preferred armaments would have to go through a third spectral injection process. They wouldn’t make ships quickly, but they could still make them, and they would have all the benefits of spectral mana. The factionless alien was happy to work with the pirates to create their preferred designs. Apparently, most factions had their own characteristics applied to their ships, so it was fitting to develop new features for what was becoming a new faction.

The navy was progressing steadily, even at roughly half capacity for the pirates. The two new ship summonings bolstered their crew numbers to nearly the previous levels from before the siege, though the individual crews were still missing many members and they were spread across even more ships.

The navy was led by the flagship galleon, The Eye of the Storm, still captained by Kayla herself, seeming like a floating fortress. The rest of the fleet was composed of four corvettes, each with their own unique armaments: The Fearless, Sea Burial, All That Glitters, and Reef Hunter, the almost cute in comparison, non-ghost ship Windchaser, gifted by Camila and Charlie, and the newly introduced double-masted ship dubbed Ghosts in the System. Most of the dozen salvaged sailboats that had survived thus far had been temporarily abandoned until there were more pirates to sail them. They were, at best, local patrollers that lacked the adaptability that came from mana’s influence, unfit for combat, and more suited for taxiing people and supplies between islands within the chain.

Windchaser was still on the scouting mission, led by Amanda and Mikey B, as they sought out the location of the Chakyum character. Whether they had a settlement or just a hideout, he was sure the Outrider would find some clues and give Coop a direction to begin his quest. As her skills developed, she was able to claim more abilities that helped her specialize in searching, rather than strictly combat, and she was already equipped with abilities that allowed her to detect settlement territory, even going back to when she arrived on Ghost Reef.

Chakyum had knocked on Ghost Reef’s door after the siege event highlighted their settlement on the global stage, but in doing so, they had put themselves on Ghost Reef’s radar, and not in a good way. She’d find them and Coop would return the favor.

The rest of the ships were cycling along the horizon, completely encircling the chain of islands that delineated Ghost Reef, well-beyond the settlement’s actual territory. They were spaced out so that they were nearly equidistant from each other. Only one ship sat in the port.

“Why are they all out at once?” Coop wondered, it seemed like a lot more of them were on duty than necessary.

“The two new crews were level one, so they’re getting experience.” The phantom explained easily, reminding Coop about how the phantoms actually leveled.

“That makes sense.” Coop nodded, approving of the pirates’ version of grinding.

The pirates that had never been respawned in the first place had never gotten a chance to gain experience, so they would naturally be at level one. The phantoms that had been defeated early on, and resurrected, had also come back at level one, but it was before they had started training, so it wasn’t clear if they had lost experience or if they just hadn’t accumulated any yet. They would have to wait a few more days to see if the phantoms that came back were around level 75, back at the start, or anywhere in between. As long as they came back, it was fine with Coop.

Coop strolled along the ramparts, impressed that they had cleaned up so well. There were still gaps where the breaches hadn’t been completely refilled, but scaffolding and flat boards provided walkways and the ledges weren’t so far apart that he couldn’t leap across, even if he couldn’t mistjump across the entire fort. With Jones back, the repairs were in full swing. The outer walls were the first to be sealed, securing the fort once again. Coop expected the interiors and rooftops to be fully completed within days of the phantoms returning. Ghost Reef would be back to 100% in terms of personnel, equipment, and structure after the settlement upgrade.

Coop would still have to mistjump to reach the northern half, which he did in order to visit the burrowing owls. The fact that they remained on the wall was a surprise as the animals’ preferred habitat was on the fully repaired dunes. They could have just as easily returned.

Before he greeted the birds, there was some commotion below. Garod was forced by other contracted residents to stop working on a project in his shop in order to help them finalize their preparations for the party. Garod wasn’t quiet about his complaints. Even the contracted residents were heavily involved in the party preparations thanks to the diligent coordination between the other citizens.

Coop squatted near the owl burrow and peeked into the dark recess. It seemed significantly larger than the original on the beach. The owls had upgraded to a mansion. Perhaps that was why they opted to stay. The nest was carefully cordoned off, warding away curious humans, and the roof was wide enough that there were no problems steering clear of the owls for anyone on patrol.

The Chosen owl hopped out and chirped at him, saying hello, Coop assumed.

“Hey little buddy,” Coop said. “You guys aren’t gonna move back to the beach?” He didn’t really expect an answer. When he spoke to the animals he was mostly doing it for his own benefit, though they seemed to understand quite a bit more than would be expected ever since the assimilation.

The bird just cocked its head to the side in a way that was typical of owls, then its feathers fluffed up, turning the whole bird into a downy blob. It seemed comfortable.

Coop glanced into the darkness of the burrow, wanting to check the rest of the family for more Unchosen levelers. While he did spot two dozen yellow eyes peering back at him, a quick inspection revealed that none had started getting any experience, remaining unleveled.

Coop shrugged. “You know, the pig herd started leveling at some point recently. What’s up with that?”

The bird just gazed back at Coop quizzically. Then, after it seemed to consider something for a few seconds, let out a screech that was loud enough to send Coop off balance.

“Dang, that was loud.” He muttered at the bird, rubbing his ear with a pinky, but the animals just ignored him. The smaller ones in the burrow were all peeking their heads out of the darkness, shoving each other out of the way for a better perspective, staring in the same direction as the Chosen owl. Coop followed their eyes and spotted another owl darting across the fort, from the direction of the mangroves.

It swooped and landed with three large hops forward before joining the Chosen owl as if it had been summoned. The birds all chittered at each other for a moment before they calmed down and the two larger owls stood side-by-side, staring at Coop. The smaller ones were receding back into the burrow, becoming nothing but glowing eyes once again.

“What?” Coop asked. He inspected the Chosen owl to see how much he had progressed since the early stages of the siege. He was about to ask about the fruit bats when he realized both of the owls in front of him had levels.

[Burrowing Owl (Level 76)]

[Windripper (Agility)]

[Chosen of the Birds of Prey]

[Athene (Raptor)]

[Burrowing Owl (Level 43)]

[Stormwing (Acumen)]

“Whoa…” Coop whispered. He was ninety nine percent sure that there had only been one owl with levels the last time he checked, but physically they were very difficult to tell apart. He would have noticed if he spotted an Unchosen animal with Presence of Mind though. “Would you look at that?” He muttered. “Such quick progress, too.” The Chosen owl had his feathers all puffed up again, sitting proudly.

Coop hadn’t given the wild animals enough credit when he assumed they couldn’t level. If he had been alone on the island, without Jones, and still Unchosen, how long would it have taken him to figure out he could level and get magic powers? It wasn’t like he would have needed to hunt in order to survive, and even if he did, would he have killed something that yielded experience? There would have been a long period before he stumbled upon the system, and he probably would have been killed first. He liked to think he was smarter than at least some animals, but he still doubted he would have uncovered the system on his own.

The only humans he was sure couldn’t gain experience were the children. Olani’s grandkids hadn’t been shy about trying, but they hadn’t had any luck yet. He was coming around to the idea that animals might be in a similar situation as humans, where they had the capacity, but not necessarily the opportunity.

They also leveled really fast. But he didn’t think it was an inherent trait that was benefiting them more than humans. He thought it might actually be the same reason some of them weren’t leveling at all. Basically, because of the pressures on their survival even before the assimilation, they relied on their lived experiences and instincts to succeed. An alien robot would probably not be an appealing target for a predator, most of the time, anyway.

Specific circumstances might change the evaluation, like if the mechanical invaders were encroaching on the predator’s nest, or like in Jett’s case, the predator was already a dedicated and territorial pest controller. Coop guessed that in most situations, these animals were just way more accustomed to hunting and killing without tools than the vast majority of humans, so the ones that were made aware of the situation were quick to power up, which fed back into their success, continuing to push them forward.

The fact that more animals were leveling up just seemed like an inevitability, assuming they had the capacity for it and they survived long enough in the first place. ‘Adapt to survive’ had been the name of the game for as long as Earth had life at all.

“Are the fruit bats gonna come back?” Coop wondered, thinking about how the vast majority of them were Unchosen, and that they also might have a difficult time getting experience at the start. As far as he knew their diet was entirely fruits and flowers, so why would they get into a fight with an Ancient Defender?

Both owls spun their heads almost directly behind them to look where Coop had indicated, but neither responded when they turned back.

Coop shrugged. “If you see them, let them know we’ll have a spot for them again soon.” He doubted the message could be delivered, but it was worth a try.

Instead of lingering around the interior of the fort, where he had become temporarily unwelcomed, he self-exiled himself to the sandbar, and continued his Primal Kite grind. It wasn’t long before he received another level and entered the final stage of the Slayer quest. He had been nearly there after catching up with Jones.

[You defeated Primal Kite (Level 21)]

[+19 Basic Credits]

[Quest Complete! Defeat Primal Kites IV]

[You have a new quest!]

[Congratulations! You have leveled up!]

[Defeat Primal Kites IV (0/11111)]

The rest of the day, he chipped away at the 11,111 total. The mana cost of Legacy of the Mists was coming down, at 470 per phantasm, but it would be a while before he considered it affordable.

That just meant he needed to grind more.