Unchosen Champion

Coop was worried that he had just unleashed some evil sorcery upon Ghost Reef. The spectral relic had exploded with energy when he placed it at the top of the lighthouse. There was no visible damage to the island and the ghostly mist had slowly disappeared. The island looked the same as it did before, except the lighthouse had a new gemstone lightbulb that gently glowed with a shadowy teal color.

“Well, that was way more dramatic than I expected.” Coop told the girls.

“No kidding!” Camila looked over the island, “What the heck was that?” She asked with some concern.

“I guess it was mana shifting to my affinity?” Coop presumed. “I can’t tell if anything is different though.”

“You have a spooky mana affinity, Coop” Charlie observed, glancing at him from the side.

“Pretty much.” He admitted. “Let’s go to the fort, I want to talk to Shane and you two have some new places to explore.”

They passed by the slumbering Jett. It seemed like the mana pulse hadn’t disturbed her in the slightest. Coop thought that was good, hopefully it didn’t disrupt any of the new residents. He didn’t want to make a bad impression so early on.

They strolled along the trail, underneath the palm trees and between the dunes of the sandy beach, collectively admiring the island’s beauty.

“When we get back we’re gonna have to have regular beach days.” Camila stated. “You shouldn’t be allowed to live next to sand like this and not enjoy it.”

Coop wholeheartedly agreed. He needed the reminder before he relapsed to his old habits. It felt like he had already taken a major step forward, where in the past he would have been stuck in a cycle of guilt and avoidance, now, after just one good night’s sleep and the company of friends who had his back, he was already moving forward to tackle the challenges as they came. He couldn’t help Jones if he didn’t, afterall.

When his parents died, he didn’t have anyone that would have even noticed his internal turmoil. That obviously wasn’t the case anymore. The handful of friends and residents that had been in Ghost Reef for more than a few hours noticed right away, and gave him their support without pressuring him to just flip a switch and get over it. He definitely appreciated them for respecting that he might need a little time and encouragement after learning about Jones’s state that day. But he was the Champion of the settlement, so he needed to keep it moving.

At the entrance of the fort, Shane and his whole party were waiting for them. Coop wondered if they had been anticipating his return and was momentarily impressed by their diligence before he remembered the mana pulse. Apparently, it hadn’t gone unnoticed after all.

As they got close they could see that all of them except Arthur were clearly alarmed. Shane stepped forward as Coop waved to them.

“W-welcome back. There’s something you need to see…” Shane tried to encourage Coop inside.

“Ah, sorry about that, I just upgraded the settlement and it was a little more spectacular than I thought it would be.” Coop explained.

“Oh? The mana wave? Yes, that was impressive, but it’s something else, you should just come and see. They’re all around the shard.” Shane continued encouraging Coop inside.

Coop nonchalantly went inside, not grasping what had them so spooked. Maybe there were monsters attracted by the mana that they wanted him to take care of. He couldn’t imagine the five of them being incapable of handling anything that Coop could by himself at this point of the assimilation. Plus, it was sort of their job to handle things like that now.

As they went forward and Coop noticed the wide space that the Dragon Knight and Tomb Blade gave him, he decided to get something off of his chest, “Hey Shane, why is it that you guys seem so deferential to me? I’m just some guy that happens to be Champion.”

“Oh, that… I tried to get them to relax, but it’s hard to convince them when I’m also a bit nervous.” Shane sighed. “It’s because we didn’t know who you were until we were in the tavern. Maeve told us your name and then we found it shooting up the leaderboards. It freaked a few of us out and made us worried about offending you.” Shane explained.

Coop nodded at that, finally understanding. Knowing that one quick way to get lots of experience was killing other people, he could see how someone who also knew would be concerned about someone suddenly leveling quickly.

“Well, you don’t need to worry as long as we are on the same side. I want everyone to be comfortable in the settlement.” Coop assured him. Shane nodded in understanding. He’d still have to convince the others.

Once they were inside the courtyard, Coop realized what had Shane’s party so concerned. Even Balor was on his stoop with his hands on his hips looking toward the shard. Desmond and Maeve were also in front of the tavern. Vronk had kept on baking at least.

Coop followed their gazes and saw an army had formed around the civilization shard. It extended in orderly rows along the canal. It was difficult to estimate how large the group was, but it was clearly in the thousands. Calling it an army was no exaggeration, but the soldiers had a variety of different uniforms equipped. They looked more like a militia, but they were arranged in a systematic fashion with individuals quickly taking charge.

Coop went on alone. Shane’s party didn’t enter the town circle at all. As he passed the tavern Maeve gave him a thumbs up with a look of approval. Coop wondered if Jones had taught her such a human gesture.

He approached the center of the army, near the civilization shard, to figure out what was going on. Once he was close enough, he inspected the nearest soldier, one who looked like he had taken the lead of the entire group. He gave directions and pointed at others who ran his messages to the leaders of the forming squads.

[Spectral Human (Level 1)]

[(Mind)]

[Phantom of Ghost Reef]

Coop hesitated. Were these ghosts? They looked material at first glance. When he looked closer he realized they gave off bits of the ghostly vapors that his ethereal armor and the spectral relic released. Coop forced himself forward. It was always something, ever since mana had entered his life, the strangeness was constantly escalating. Coop hoped he wouldn’t need to fight an army of level one ghosts. He didn’t have the area of effect skills for that.

“Yo!” Coop yelled toward the center. He was interrupted before he could demand answers about who they were and what they were doing in his settlement.

“Attention!” One of the phantoms shouted and the entire crowd stopped what they were doing to face forward. More shouts extended through the army and even the furthest wings stopped what they were doing. Some saluted in various ways while others changed their stances. It was simultaneously a very disciplined reaction while still being chaotic. They didn’t seem to belong to any specific army, but were rather individuals from all sorts.

“Sir!” The phantom that Coop had assumed was in charge stepped forward and saluted.

“Uhh, at ease?” Coop guessed at an appropriate response. The phantom placed both hands behind his back and relaxed his stance, though Coop could tell there was nothing relaxed about the ghost man.

“Thank you, sir.” The phantom responded. Coop had practiced greeting strange aliens enough to roll with whatever this was.

“Explain to me who you are and what all of this is.” Coop ordered. “Actually, come over here and speak to me.” He beckoned the phantom away from the crowd so that they wouldn’t be as easily overheard. Coop didn’t want to pretend to be an army general in front of so many.

“Yes sir!” The phantom followed Coop back toward the main street.

“Alright, please tell me what’s going on, and do it like you’re speaking to a civilian at a bar or something.” Coop directed once they were isolated enough.

The phantom hesitated and stared at Coop to make sure he was understanding the assignment. Coop shrugged at the ghost. He could already guess that they were meant to be his army with the way they treated him, but he didn’t exactly know how, why, or who they were.

“I’ll start with myself.” The phantom began, “I was Rear Admiral Gideon Hamilton of the U.S. Navy. Born December 1, 1802 in Hartford, Connecticut. My last assignment was sinking blockade runners. Apparently, I was dead. I didn’t know it until I accepted an offer to return in your service. I am bound to you and Ghost Reef. I have knowledge of my own situation and the arrival of a new system on Earth, but I only remember my past life from an outside perspective, like it was a different version of myself.”

Coop raised his hand to stop him from continuing. He rubbed his temples with his fingers.

“Are you a real person?” Coop had to ask.

The rear admiral took a moment to think about it before responding, “I believe I am more like a vessel controlled by the copy of a real person.”

Coop kept rubbing his temples, unsure how to interpret this situation. He poked the ghost man’s shoulder and found it to be just as solid as his own.

“Are you alive?”

The ghost nodded confidently. “I am.”

“Do you have any aspirations?” Coop was curious.

“Only to serve to the best of my ability.” The rear admiral responded seriously.

Coop winced as the idea of enslaved souls came to mind. “Do you have free-will?” Coop couldn’t help but go down the rabbit hole.

“Do any of us?” The rear admiral asked back. “I believe I do, insomuch as I was given the choice to return and have the choice to continue.”

Coop accepted that but was still worried, “Alright, a quick test. I order you to hop on one foot.” The rear admiral hesitated, momentarily lifted one foot off the ground, and then stopped and put it back down. Coop wasn’t sure if that proved anything at all.

“Can I free you?” Coop kept wondering.

“I suppose you could fire me.” The rear admiral responded. “I believe I could resign. I won’t age, but retirement is also an option.”

“What about the rest of them?” Coop gestured to the waiting army.

“They all took the same deal. They are from a variety of backgrounds, nations, and time periods but, now, they are all loyal to Ghost Reef and you.” The rear admiral explained. “There are 5,000 fighting phantoms and 2,500 support staff who are a mix of phantoms and wraiths.”

Coop took a deep breath. “That many? We’re not prepared for such an influx of people.”

“We don’t need to rest or eat. We would be happy to take up stations and remain prepared.” Gideon offered.

“Nah, I don’t want anyone working 24 hours a day, even if they can.” Coop didn’t like the idea of overworking. “People need free time and a place of their own.”

The rear admiral looked a little confused, “Uh, sir? There are 25 hours in a day now.”

“What?” Coop asked skeptically.

“I’m surprised you hadn’t noticed yet, unless you were testing my updated knowledge.” Gideon stated.

Sometimes the littlest things blew Coop’s mind. Was that why he was always waking up before dawn, even without an alarm? It was like Jett being incredibly high level all over again. No, Coop was going to pretend he knew all along since he was sure everyone else did.

“Right, I knew that.” Coop pretended.

Gideon nodded, and brought them back on topic. “We can assign beds in the barracks of the fort. There’s enough room. Then we can work in shifts.”

Coop thought about it, he could contract with an alien that made beds and give them the project. That would have to be a good enough solution. They wouldn’t be able to afford regular housing for that many people for ages.

“That should work for now.” Coop agreed.

“What about our orders?” Gideon asked.

Coop wondered the same thing. What was he going to do with 7,500 level one ghosts? He turned and yelled for Shane to join them.

“What is it?” Shane quickly asked.

“Reinforcements.” Coop gave a simple explanation. “I was thinking about having them work in shifts. Think you can coordinate their duties?” He asked Shane.

“Well, I could try, but I was meant to be more of a field leader, do you mind if Arthur handles it. He’s better at managing everything else.” Shane responded.

Coop just nodded and yelled for Arthur to join them. He quickly caught Arthur up to speed and the old man took it in stride.

“I will have schedules drawn up, administrative work delineated, patrols assigned, and an advisory council of ranking members formed to develop protocols based on your doctrine.” Arthur planned. “Shall I manage their off hours as well?”

“No, just let them have free time.” Coop responded. He considered whether or not he was giving a fox the authority to organize the hen house, but he hadn’t been given any reason to be suspicious of Arthur yet.

“As you wish, Champion Coop.” Arthur accepted.

“They need to level though, should we have everyone grind monsters?” Coop asked openly.

Gideon responded, “Actually, we have a completely different system for leveling. We don’t get experience from defeating monsters the same way that you do. We need to complete our duties or have training instead. There are system facilities that provide those services and there is a hard cap determined by the development of the settlement.” He explained.

“Of course there are system services.” Coop realized he’d need more basic credits after his spending spree the day before. “For now, just have work and training schedules prepared. I’ll see about getting the facilities.”

“Yes, sir!” Gideon saluted and Arthur bowed his head slightly as Coop left them to figure it out. He’d check their work afterwards, just to be safe.

In the meantime, he went to the civilization shard to check how many basic credits he needed. The army parted to make way. He inspected a few more just to see if they had different specializations already.

[Spectral Human (Level 1)]

[(Body)]

[Phantom of Ghost Reef]

[Spectral Human (Level 1)]

[(Intelligence)]

[Phantom of Ghost Reef]

[Spectral Human (Level 1)]

[(Agility)]

[Wraith of Ghost Reef]

They were different indeed. He wondered if they would all get classes at level five. Coop also noted the wraith was noticeably more incorporeal than the phantoms, looking like a legit ghost from stories while the phantoms were more like humans with ghost fumes. He shook his head at the strange development of receiving an army of ghosts. It seemed like that optional quest would end up being worth it. Jones was right. Coop wasn’t sure if the settlement would continue to thrive without the old caretaker’s wise input.

The prices for the various martial yards and training facilities varied just as much as any other service. Coop didn’t want to skimp on his defensive army though, so he was going to wait until after his next hunt to purchase something.

He checked the settlement status screens. The population had exploded to 7,532. The territory now extended beyond the reefs into the ocean and encompassed more of the islands in the chain. There was a new tab for his army and he was surprised to find more than just the personnel. There were naval vessels waiting to be claimed.

The vessels were behind the same prompt he had gotten when he had the laborers available for recruitment. However, instead of giving him a list of options, the vessels were predetermined. Only one was allowed at the moment, as he needed even more facilities to accommodate a navy.

He selected the lone highlighted option, a Galleon, and expected to see details about the ship, but instead it was immediately accepted into the settlement.

Coop watched as an enormous ship erupted from a rotted ship skeleton east of Ghost Reef. A huge ship splashed to the surface leaving waterfalls of ocean water cascading from the upper deck and through the port holes. The three masts rose into the sky while the ship quickly stabilized in the shallow waters of the reef.

Instead of raising the sails, like Coop expected, 60 oars were pushed out of the sides of the ship. They slowly rotated the ship to face the fort before pushing it directly across the shallow coral reefs straight for the canal. There was no way a ship that large should be able to avoid running aground anywhere around Ghost Reef, and yet Coop watched as it picked up speed at a steady pace thanks to the efforts of the oars. Ghost ships were just built different, he guessed.

The menus revealed that the ship had a crew of 300 and was 150 feet long, 50 feet wide, with 125 foot masts. Coop counted 80 cannons using the perspective of the civilization shard to observe both sides. It made the ship that Camila and Charlie brought look like a rowboat, and Coop had thought that was a huge ship. This galleon was on another level.

Coop noted that the ship also had the ghostly green swirls he had been associating with his ethereal summons. It seemed like Ghost Reef would have a ghost army and navy. The settlement was still tiny even with the sudden surge of residents compared to the scale of cities, but it was a massive increase compared to the island’s previous population of two caretakers.

The name of the galleon was, according to the civilization shard’s menu, The Eye of the Storm.