Unchosen Champion

Coop had done his best to be hospitable when he welcomed the ship full of people to the island. He thought he was improving his ambassadorial skills with all the practice he had been getting between the aliens and the refugees, but he didn’t think it had gone very well. The leader had been kind of hostile from the start. He wasn’t sure where he went wrong.

As soon as he and Jones had seen the ship, they saw it as the perfect opportunity. Coop needed a ride to what they assumed was an oil rig. He was hoping to get in the visitors’ good graces in order to hitch a ride. He glanced at the crowd as he led them down the main street. Most of them were gawking at the few buildings and the outlines of the future city. They were all sort of matching, it was clear their equipment had all come from the same place, but each one had individual customizations.

He led the visitors to the Tavern, where the hospitality experts, Maeve and Desmond, would take over. He noted that before any of the visitors entered the establishment, they each openly stared at the civilization shard. It seemed like most of them had never seen one before. Another oddity from the obvious group of Chosen.

The squad of Chosen didn’t seem all bad. Their stated purpose was to collect stranded people and bring them back to the safety of their own settlement. He thought that was a noble task. If they had arrived at Olani’s village a week ago they might have saved lives.

Their attitudes, however, had confirmed a few of Coop’s predictions. When he had first seen the leaderboards he thought that Chosen would see themselves as special and not be able to quickly adapt to leveling on Earth when the training wheels were taken off. At least with this group, he believed he was correct.

Based on their levels, they had all been back for at most a week, when the factions had sent back level 25s, yet, none of them had made very much progress. Two levels in a week didn’t impress Coop in the slightest. Hell, any of them could walk outside the fort for 10 minutes and kill enough Ancient Defenders to gain two levels from completing the first stages of the quest. Instead, they seemed to be leveraging their headstart to consolidate territory. That might be the right decision for a faction, but he didn’t think it was the correct move for individuals. He didn’t know enough about their plans to fully condemn their organization, but if it was him, he would be trying to leverage the headstart into momentum for even more levels.

Coop meant to slip away to update Jones and Olani on their guests, but Charlie and her beautiful friend, Camila, stuck with him instead of their companions.

“So, how about that tour?” Camila suggested.

She seemed eager for an excuse to leave the rest of the squad behind, so he obliged. He wasn’t Jones, so his guided tour wasn’t practiced, nor was it particularly informative. They still listened intently as he pointed out the buildings they already had and some of the general plans that Balor and Jones had worked out. Once they returned to the entrance he led them both to the mess hall. Charlie would be familiar with the interior of the fort from her visits as a park ranger.

“Well Charlie, we’re gonna have to change our plans.” Camila stated as they sat at one of the bench tables.

“Definitely.” Charlie agreed.

Coop looked at each of them in turn, waiting for the explanation. What was their faction planning? Did they have the authority to change plans like that? When they both just looked at each other pensively, seeming to forget he was even there, he asked. “What plans?”

Camila spoke up. “Me and Charlie started this little expedition to come pick you and Jones up and bring you to the safety of a settlement. We were gathering Charlie’s family and other people we didn’t want to leave behind. Once we gathered everyone, we were going to decide whether to stick with the faction or make a break for it. With our levels we thought we would be able to survive the journey through the wilds until we found another settlement, as long as we left early enough.” She sighed with a weariness that surprised Coop.

Camila continued by explaining where she thought things went wrong. “We already screwed up by letting our faction know that we were leaving and bringing people back. We didn’t want them to retaliate, thinking we had already gone awol. They ended up agreeing with the idea and added the rest of these people to the expedition and made it a whole thing.” She gestured her hands as if asking ‘what can you do?’

“Then it turns out you and Jones have your own settlement, and have gone above and beyond developing it. Obviously, you guys shouldn’t leave. How the heck did you build it up so much already anyway?” She queried Coop.

“It’s not like anyone else was gonna claim it and I make a lot of credits with my profession, I guess.” He had suspected scavenging combined with his grinding was a strong combination, especially when the settlement had upgraded and jumped onto the leaderboards way ahead of where he expected.

Camila nodded, “I don’t think the Empire’s settlement has constructed any buildings at all.” She looked at Charlie who shook her head. “The faction keeps the civilization shard locked and secure, so we don’t have professions yet either, and we’re among their elites. The only time people see the shard is if they are making an official pledge to join the faction. Meanwhile, you’ve got one sitting in the middle of your courtyard.” She laughed at the contrast. “Of course you have a fortress for security. The Empire is using its residents as a meat shield to protect the shard and their core members.”

Coop cringed at the idea of a human wall protecting the shard. “You could just stay here.” He openly invited.

Charlie responded sadly to the offer, “My parents should be in the other settlement soon, if they aren’t already. We’ll need to go get them. And there were other people I wanted to look for back on the mainland.”

Camila chimed in as well, “That’s not even the worst of it. The rest of the squad knows there’s a civilization shard here, once they bring that information back, The Empire won’t want to leave you alone. Hope you’re prepared to play politics.” She added.

It was Coop’s turn to sigh. “Damn. And I was just hoping to catch a ride on your boat. I’ve got a quest I have to get off the island to complete.” Coop piled on.

“Well, we can help with that…” Camila pointed to Charlie, “She’s the only one that can drive it. She’s got wind powers. They can’t say no if we want to go somewhere.”

Coop explained the location of the quest. Charlie was confident that it was doable, but was worried about what the rest of the squad would do. They decided they would wait until the next day to break the news.

“So Coop, how have you leveled so much? Our faction told us that we would be way ahead since people would only get a level a day, but you’re pretty much caught up.” Camila asked.

“I dunno, I’ve just been killing a lot of monsters while completing some quests.” Coop responded truthfully.

“A lot of monsters?” Charlie led Coop to elaborate. “How many would that be?”

“Should be almost 20,000 so far.” Coop estimated. Charlie looked at him like she was expecting a punchline. Coop thought his quick math was about right.

“You serious, man?” Camila asked, flabbergasted. ”I guess that explains the ridiculous aura. It freaked out the whole ship.”

“That guy was serious? I thought he was just being a jerk.” Coop wondered.

Camila nodded, “He was serious, but he was also being a jerk. You really do need an aura skill. Your aura is something else.” She explained.

“Your first impression is like a bloodthirsty ghost.” Charlie offered. “Scary.”

Coop would think more seriously about taking an aura skill after all. It seemed like he was broadcasting more information than he meant to without one. A more sophisticated reading of his aura would probably reveal his class, affinity, and titles. But there were so many different utilities he was hoping to add that would round out his build. Before he started dreaming about skills, he was interrupted by Jett hopping into his lap.

The pair of girls were lavishing praise on the purring Jett when Jones and Olani also arrived. Coop informed both of them of the possibility of his boat trip as well as the demeanor of the visiting squad. Jones wasn’t happy about getting the attention of a potentially aggressive faction so early, but it couldn’t be helped. They would just have to be good hosts until Charlie sailed them away.

When Jones found out about the state of the Empire’s settlement he was surprised. They estimated over one million people were residents and they hadn’t made any progress on their settlement. They were concentrating on strong-arming loyalty and registering people for their faction. Olani was just bewildered by the scale. She had lived her entire long life around barely more than 50 people.

Eventually, Coop suggested they take the girls to see what professions they had available. He was curious if they would have synergistic ones since they had already established their classes. The group split up as Coop led the way to the shard.

It was already evening after his day of chores and the unexpected arrivals. The sky was promising a spectacular sunset. The fluffy clouds were reflecting oranges and pinks from beyond the horizon while the sky remained blue. Coop had planned to take the day off before a ship arrived at their dock, but now he was fired up to get some levels just to shove them in his doubters’ faces. He would be hunting Ancient Prowlers tonight.

As they reached the town circle they met Balor. He was leaving the Tavern a bit earlier than normal and stopped to speak with Coop.

“Oi, lad, you got some rowdy ones banging around the Tavern. It’s like a bunch of fresh recruits on their first leave.” Balor reported.

“Are Maeve and Desmond alright?” Coop worriedly asked. He felt bad about dumping the entire squad of visitors on them.

“You don’t need to worry about them. Either one of those two would be able to put me out their door and on my arse. And I’m a lot stronger than the lot o’ them. A lot heavier too!” The stone elemental answered, flicking his thumb at the bar. “I reckon they’ll all be put to sleep by the ale soon enough.”

Balor glanced at Coop’s companions. “Are these lasses yours then?” He asked, gesturing to Camila and Charlie seemingly just noticing them. “Can’t say I’m surprised, but I prefer mine sturdier! And with bigger beards. But good for you, Champion.” He patted Coop’s shoulder with a heavy stone hand.

Before Coop could answer, Balor changed subjects. “Oh! We’ll be working on your bridge soon enough. We’re almost done with all the most important repairs. We can continue the mana reinforcement while starting the bigger project. I’ll make that bridge a wonder to match the walls, don’t you worry about that either.”

Coop just thanked him as Balor waved over his shoulder, walking down the main street to his workshop. He looked toward Camila and Charlie to apologize about the Dwarf-like alien, but Camila was quicker.

“You’re the Champion? Not Jones?” She asked with an eyebrow raised, deliberately ignoring the other parts of Balor’s conversation. Coop nodded. “The rest of the squad are under the impression Jones is the Champion and you’re just the muscle.”

He decided not to correct their mistake. After their brief stop with Balor, they continued to the shard. When they reached it, they discovered that neither Charlie nor Camila could access any menus. They only had options to renounce their faction. Camila was going to go ahead and drop the Empire, but Charlie cautioned her in case the faction had some way to keep track of their status when they still needed to return.

Coop was disappointed that they couldn’t get a profession. He tried to figure out why they were locked out of his shard. The only thing they could come up with was that they had already established they were residents of the other settlement. Residents might be bound to a single settlement. They weren’t sure though. They knew the Empire planned to control more than one shard, so there might be some other mechanics that hadn’t been revealed. At least they confirmed that they could easily drop their faction. They already knew that joining a faction required accessing a shard, as that was how the Empire was recruiting, but now they knew how to leave one as well.

With the profession acquisition a bust, Coop had another idea. He Identified both girls to make sure.

[Human (Level 26)]

[Human (Level 26)]

Double checking the leaderboards he confirmed that it was possible to boost both of them into the top 10. Other than the undead, none of the top 10 was level 30. If they completed the first two stages of the Ancient Defender and Ancient Prowler quests they could jump straight to 30 themselves.

He explained what he was thinking to Camila and Charlie, but also added the caveat that he wasn’t sure if it was worth it in the long run. Personally, he felt like he had no choice but completing the quests because how else would he get experience other than defeating the monsters? It was impossible for him to avoid the quests and there was no point in saving the quests for later if he never leveled anyway. With his grinding tactic the quests were essentially just the cherry on top. For the girls, they might want to save the quest chains for higher levels that would otherwise take longer to get the experience for.

While they discussed his idea, he led them to his favorite palm tree on the beach. When they arrived he invited them to sit down and enjoy the sunset. He would have been more self conscious if it wasn’t something he already tried to do everyday. Camila and Charlie shared a look but joined him in the sand, avoiding overthinking the unintentionally romantic gesture.

It was a strange contrast, taking the time to appreciate a tropical island paradise while also experiencing an apocalypse, but they enjoyed it all the same. The trio had already begun establishing a camaraderie that they hoped would endure into the unknown future. Charlie had already been a thoughtful friend and Camila wasn’t afraid to advertise her ride or die personality. Coop valued the effort the girls had already put into helping him and he was happy to offer his aid in return. In the end the girls decided to save the Ancient Defenders for when they were able to settle into Ghost Reef, but they’d give the Prowlers a shot.

Coop wondered how their faction planned on leveling. They explained the faction’s doctrine. After Day 30, when all Chosen were returned, they would form balanced parties of five and enter special zones, like Mana Wells or Dungeons, where they would fight difficult encounters and rest before continuing. They were expecting settlement events to carry them for the bulk of their progression, but the parties would fill the time in between.

The factions concluded that traveling to complete many of the invader quests was simply not worth it and favored occupying particular hunting grounds instead. It was more or less what Coop had assumed. He still thought Ghost Reef had an unusual density of invaders that altered the calculus.

When he pointed out the Mana Well directly in their line of sight they were both shocked. It was another thing to keep secret from the rest of the squad, as Mana Wells were essentially strategic resources. Coop pointed out anyone could just look and see it, but they didn’t think people would realize what they were looking at.

After the sun had fully sunk beneath the horizon, he led the girls across the dunes to the scrubland that the land crabs and sandpipers yielded to the Ancient Prowlers at night. He explained how the quick little monsters fought in packs that relied on a series of ambushes and applying the Vulnerable debuff, then offered them a demonstration. He would start his grind and they could hunt other packs together when they were comfortable. They barely hid their self-assuredness as they were both higher level than the monsters and Coop himself.

He used Salvation to summon his ethereal armor and cast Retribution to summon an ethereal glaive, preparing to engage the first pack. But he paused at the surprised looks he was getting. They hadn’t expected him to equip himself so thoroughly. One of the advantages the factions provided was gear while everyone else struggled with collecting any armor at all. Settlements would eventually be able to craft equipment, but that would still be further along the timeline.

Camila asked him if he sculpted his abs into his armor deliberately or what, but he told them that was just how it appeared. He believed it was mist and it just happened to be formfitting. She remained skeptical, but didn’t hide her stare. He left them to start his hunt, but Camila wasn’t done discussing his armor.

“What is it about a man in a skirt that’s so sexy? I know he’s got shorts on under there.” She asked Charlie.

Charlie agreed. “I blame Hollywood. How many times have you seen a hot gladiator or spartan?”

“True.” Camila was easily convinced.

The pair watched as Coop approached the first pack of monsters.