Unchosen Champion

Every time Coop made purchases for the settlement, Jones was there. It was Coop’s fault he wasn’t with him this time. Coop shook his head in an effort to ward off the wayward thought. Instead, he recalled all of the things he wanted to purchase but couldn’t until he saved enough credits.

He had almost 200,000 credits to spend now.

The quest to upgrade the settlement from an Outpost to a Village required one defensive building and three other buildings, a population greater than 10, and 25,000 credits. It also had an optional objective to retrieve a relic, which he had completed on the offshore oil platform.

After upgrading the settlement, the quest was completed. He hadn’t even checked the quest rewards yet. The previous upgrade gave them the ability to recruit five workers. This upgrade had added an advisor slot and a subordinate shard slot.

Coop could claim a second civilization shard and have it become a vassal city as long as it was lower in development than his primary settlement. The subordinate city would retain its own standing, but the primary city would receive a small bonus. The Empire had just been greedily trying to gobble up his settlement before they had advanced their own to the point that they could have vassals. Coop wondered if Ghost Reef’s superior development would have reversed the roles of primary and subordinate cities.

He shook his head at the empty advisor slot. Obviously, it would have gone to Jones. He would have been granted more access to the shard’s menus and been given more freedom to act on behalf of the settlement without being the Champion. Coop would leave it open for him, but he’d talk to Olani about it. He didn’t think she was interested in taking over development of the settlement, but she might be interested in managing the residents. It seemed like that was more or less her role in her village.

His new quest, to upgrade the settlement from a Village to a Town, was another step up in difficulty. He needed one public building and ten total buildings, stability for 22 days, and 150,000 basic credits. How the system determined stability was unclear, but his quest had a countdown that was currently ticking down so he guessed the settlement was stable at the moment.

There was also a new optional objective. He knew that Jones would advocate for prioritizing the optional portion and Coop was inclined to agree with his reasoning. As long as it was feasibly done, Coop would chase the optional objectives. The new optional objective was to collect a ‘siege boss’ trophy. Coop had at least 22 days to figure out what a siege boss was before he would need to weigh the pros and cons of delaying the settlement’s upgrade in favor of the optional objective. Unlike the previous quest, this one didn’t declare any particular reward, which would make the calculus slightly more difficult.

For now, Coop scanned the list of buildings and noted that, while many had become available for purchase, many still demanded further settlement upgrades. A Village wasn’t enough to impress most of the alien contractors. Coop reckoned it was their loss. He was willing to bet that Ghost Reef would be a paradise even on a galactic scale.

His first choice was easy enough. He purchased a second apartment building to match the first. He placed the second building next to the previous one and watched the construction process take place. All of the new residents swung their heads and watched in astonishment as the walls manifested themselves on top of the foundations.

“All of you can have an apartment in one of those two buildings,” Coop told them while pointing toward the apartment buildings. “Each one has 12 units, and the first one only had four occupied, so there’s enough room for everybody.”

“You’re ready to move in together right?” Mikey B asked Amanda, nudging her with an elbow. “Not too soon?”

Amanda just rolled her eyes in mock exasperation, her smile told the real story. So that would be six more apartments occupied at the most. There was still plenty of room for new residents.

“Do we need to pay you for them?” Shane questioned Coop.

Coop shook his head, “The system takes care of it. If you weren’t working you would get charged automatically, but since you all have positions in the settlement you’ll receive compensation instead. I’m sure it’ll cover it.”

“Oh thank God” The bus driver turned Tomb Blade suddenly expressed relief. “I was afraid of running out of credits and not being able to afford more drinks. We’ll actually be getting paid.” His shoulders eased after ridding himself of the previously unspoken anxieties.

The Dragon Knight laughed out loud at her party member. “Maybe if you were better at cards it wouldn’t be such a worry.” She teased. The Tomb Blade just glared back at her.

Coop went back to shopping for more buildings while the party got more comfortable with the settlement. They were still coordinating professions amongst each other, but they paused when the building was constructed. They had never seen one be built before. The Empire’s settlement wasn’t as developed as Ghost Reef and hadn’t built any buildings when they were there. None of them had been allowed to see the civilization shard either. So it was all new to them, despite having faction knowledge ahead of time.

The next building Coop chose was an expensive one. It was to empower Olani’s chosen profession. He selected it and scrolled through the variants until he found one without a faction. He built an Alchemist’s Workshop across the street from the Brewery.

Once again everyone stopped to watch as the building’s foundations appeared and it was magically constructed from the ground up. It didn’t take up much space, but it was tall enough to be three stories and had multiple chimneys on top of the shingled roof as well as other exhaust pipes at various levels along the solid walls. Coop had spent 50,000 basic credits for it, but it didn’t look like much. He went to invite Olani and investigate the new resident.

Olani joined him as he knocked on the alchemist’s door. Neither of them were ready for the alien that appeared in the threshold. Olani physically recoiled from the creature.

It was like ooze that had been shaped into a human mold. It was light blue with purple swirls shifting inside its body. It was partially transparent allowing Coop to see the interior of the workshop like he was looking through an aquarium. The body itself was just a uniform light blue with none of the expected organs. It was less than five feet tall and even though it had imitated a face and a wavy bob haircut it was decidedly inhuman.

“Ooh, a young alchemist!” Friendly, excited words came from a mouth that instead of opening and closing to speak, seemed to melt back into the face and reform with each sound, “I am Sojjah! Come inside?”

Coop recovered enough to be polite and introduce himself, “Nice to meet you, Sojjah,” He tried to pronounce the name the same way he heard it. “I’m Coop, the Champion of this settlement. We just wanted to welcome you and introduce ourselves.” He looked at Olani who was still not used to aliens. She wasn’t ready to interact at all. “Ah, this is Elder Olani, she is indeed an aspiring alchemist.”

Sojjah made a sound like chimes echoing underwater that Coop surmised was a happy expression. “One so young is called Elder!” Sojjah giggled.

“Not so young.” Olani muttered, finally getting a grip on herself.

Coop continued after the chimes had faded away, “Anyway, do you happen to know any cures for blood curses?”

“Need a ritual, but I don’t know. I make tinctures, potions, elixirs…” Sojjah responded while making hand gestures where the hands disappeared into the arm and then reappeared in a new shape while listing off the wares.

“Do you need anything else to do your alchemy?” Coop asked.

One arm disappeared and reappeared pointing at the brewery across the street before disappearing and returning to Sojjah’s side. “Brewery, Herbalist, and this Young Elder will be everything for a very long time.” Sojjah answered with a gesture for each.

“Alright, if you need anything, have Olani let me know.” Coop said, abandoning Olani to get used to the alien. He watched as Sojjah suddenly lost its form and turned into a blob that fell next to Olani and then grew back into its humanoid form with one arm around the elder.

“Come, I will show you the cauldrons.” Sojjah announced to Olani. Olani just looked at Coop like she couldn’t believe his betrayal. She’d be fine, he thought, and went back to the shard.

Shane’s party were all still there, working out their professions. Coop chuckled to himself, remembering how much thought went into every decision he made at the start. His profession was the only thing he just grabbed. They were actually taking longer to make a decision than he had. Jones had chided him for being overly cautious.

Coop sighed as he was inadvertently reminded that it was his fault Jones wasn’t there.

He accessed the shard and found a factionless herbalist. He placed it next to the alchemist, closer to the middle of the block. It was significantly cheaper than most of the other constructions since it was one of the starter services. Closer to the cost of the stonemason than the tavern or the alchemist.

The herbalist was a modest construction that left room for small garden plots on both sides and behind the building. The building itself was more like a hut under a thatched roof with a wooden door and a single window.

Coop remembered seeing some other options and switched tabs in the construction menu to the Food Production section. There was an Herb Garden option. He fiddled with it to see how large it was, since it was in the same section as the various types of farms, plantations, and ranches. He was surprised to find that the Herb Garden wasn’t very large at all. It would even fit in the interior of the block, though Coop and Jones had planned for the interiors to be green spaces with walkways to allow for more scenic walks that avoided the main roads.

He wished Jones was there to talk it over. Coop figured the garden could be arranged in a way to allow walking paths and benches to run through it. He would just have to discuss it with the alien that showed up. He purchased the Herb Garden after selecting an independent variant and placed it on the interior of the block that only had the alchemist and herbalist so far.

The herb garden only had a single building despite having the largest footprint of any construction so far. Coop would describe the building that was nestled into a corner as a cottage. It was a tiny wooden home with a tall chimney and round windows. The roof was also thatch, but it was green with life. He headed over to the new herbalist and herb garden to welcome the contracted residents.

The herbalist was in her garden scrutinizing her flowers and making sure everything was accounted for. Coop called out to her. As she turned he realized she was naked.

Well, she wasn’t exactly naked, she was a plant. She was shaped like a woman, but everything was wrapped in delicate leaves that he had assumed was a strapless dress. Her skin was pale green, her eyes were pale pink, and more leaves sprouted from her head, imitating flowing locks of hair. What Coop had assumed was a strapless dress was actually a series of large leaves that wrapped around her body and were growing from her back. He didn’t understand why a plant would need cleavage but the universe remained a mystery.

Coop needed to stop being surprised by every alien he met.

“Helloo, there!” The herbalist called to him in a light voice as she strolled through her flowers to meet him. “You must be the Champion, my name is Caisalya.”

“Nice to meet you, you can call me Coop.” Coop greeted the new resident.

She responded with a smile, “The pleasure is all mine, Champion Coop. Thank you for accepting my service.” She said with gratitude and a subtle curtsy.

“Do you have any herbs that could remove a blood curse?” Coop ventured.

She scrunched her face, remembering her stock before responding. “I don’t have any prepared, but I do know some that can be of use in the appropriate rituals.” Caisalya finally gave Coop some good news.

“Could you prepare some and put them aside for me?” Coop asked. “I don’t have a timeframe but I will be needing to remove a blood curse in the future.”

“Of course, I will have everything prepared when you are ready.” Caisalya promised with a tilt of her head. “Do you have any foragers for me?”

Coop scratched his head worried about letting the flower lady down. “Not yet, sorry. We’re actually on a small island chain so there isn’t very much to forage.” He winced.

“Oh, but there is so much in your territory. It would be a shame to ignore it.” Caisalya surprised him. She noticed his expression and continued, “There are innumerable resources beneath the waves of your ocean.” Coop hadn’t even thought about applying herbalism underwater. He hadn’t thought of any of the professions other than fishing in the ocean. Caisalya covered her mouth and giggled as she watched Coop’s expression change while he realized his ignorance.

Coop nodded, “I can get you two foragers.”

“Ah, that would be so wonderful! I’ll make sure they are put to good use.” She promised. “I’ll be able to keep the alchemist and brewer well supplied, and the tavern will unlock more of their menu.” Caisalya beamed before she asked, “Can I manage the Herb Garden as well or did you have something else planned?”

Coop shook his head, “No, it’s all yours. I was going to meet them next and see if they needed anything.” Coop answered.

“You’re spoiling me,” Caisalya professed. “Shall we meet them together?”

Coop followed Caisalya as she led him through her garden. They followed a winding path to avoid disturbing any of her plants. Coop briefly wondered about the ethical implications of a plant growing other plants for consumption, but he quickly shoved the thoughts away.

They walked past a series of carefully organized dirt filled troughs that went up to Coop’s knees. They had trellises set up among the troughs while leaving space to move between. In Coop’s eyes, the herb garden was already more ornate than any agricultural operation he had ever seen. Nothing was planted yet, but the foundations of an impressive garden were already obvious.

They neared the cottage and found another humanoid insect. One of the laborers that was working with Balor had been an insectoid, but this one was very clearly a different species. The other one was really just a huge insect that stood upright and moved more like a human. This one was a lot more human-like in appearance, wearing clothes, and having hands and feet and smooth skin that could have passed for a human’s if it wasn’t a shade too purple. It even had a straw hat and looked the part of a farmer. The overly large and completely black eyes, the fuzzy antenna that poked through the hat, and even fuzzier wings extending out from its overalls were the biggest giveaways of its nonhuman nature.

The insectoid waited so Coop offered his greetings and welcomed it to the settlement.

“Greetings, Champion. I am Ixia. What would you like me to grow?” The insect responded.

“I’m going to leave that to Caisalya here if that’s alright.” Coop answered.

Ixia’s wings made a shrugging motion that paired with a casual sway of its antenna, “I don’t mind as long as I get to tend to my garden.”

“Would it be okay to have a public path through your garden? I don’t want to disturb you if it’s too much.” Coop queried.

Ixia smiled wide at the idea, “It would be an honor for others to enjoy my garden. As long as they don’t touch the plants.”

Coop nodded at that, “We’ll put some signs up if not a physical barrier.” He promised.

Ixia matched his nodding, “Then it will be arranged. You have a magnificent star, so the garden will thrive. Does the star have a name?”

Coop glanced up at the sky. “We just call it the sun.”

“The sun… I will nurture gardens worthy of its tribute.” Ixia proclaimed.

“Alright, well let me know if you need anything, Ixia.” Coop started to return to the shard, he still had plenty of credits to spend. “I’ll see you later too, Caisalya.”

“See you, Champion!” She called after him with a light sing-song voice.

Shane’s party had finally dispersed when he got back to the civilization shard. He guessed they went to explore the new apartments. Hopefully they had managed to select their professions and weren’t still trapped with indecision.

Coop accessed the shard and quickly recruited two foragers using the last two recruitment options from the previous quest reward. Two more aliens appeared next to the shard. One was like an aquatic ape, about half the size of Coop, and the other was a symmetrical gem-like object. Coop stopped himself from viewing his own reflection in the surface of the forager and welcomed the two to the settlement. He pointed out the apartments and the way to the herbalist while warning them about the dangers outside the fort. The gem alien lit up in amusement like a visual laugh and the ape waved off Coop’s concerns and assured him that they would be fine before they left.

Next, Coop moved to the construction options. He was going to make the rest of his purchases all at once. First, Coop was going to purchase a Bakery. The synergy that Caisalya’s service offered the tavern had given him the idea. He had almost selected the bakery before the tavern, but now he was thinking the bakery would feed into the tavern. Desmond’s stew with some nice bread would be amazing.

He thought putting it on the main street would be okay, he just wished he could confirm with Jones first. It wouldn’t be on the town circle like the tavern, but up the street more toward the entrance of the fort to leave room for future construction on the corner. Of course, he made sure to select a factionless variant and let it build while he kept shopping.

He had barely made a dent in his savings at this point. The Alchemist had been a huge 50,000 credit purchase but the rest were 1,000 and 5,000 credits. He had one really big purchase in mind and with some quick math he figured that it wouldn’t be a problem. It would also be a public building which would meet the requirements for the settlement upgrade quest.

He made another long awaited purchase before the big public building, selecting a Clothier and putting it on the next street on the other side of the block behind the bakery. Olani and the grandkids really needed clothes, and he had already joked with Camila about building it so that she could go shopping. If she was so jealous of his skirt she could get one herself.

Finally, with the remaining funds, he burned 125,000 basic credits purchasing an independent Library. He placed the largest building in the fort across the street from the water, giving it a nice view on one of the undeveloped blocks. It was a monster of a building that he couldn’t wait to explore. Charlie would love it too. He thought she might need a pick-me-up after finding out about Jones.

Coop would go greet the rest of the new residents next.