Unchosen Champion

Coop rested for a while, slowly catching his breath despite his injuries. He idly considered if he had learned anything.

When he and Jones had first battled an elite they had come to the hard realization that there was a significant difference between normal and elite monsters, even when they were the same type and same level. When he was on the oil platform, Coop had spent several days fighting elites that were as high as level 40 in order to retrieve the spectral relic. At this point, he felt like he had a good idea for how strong elites were. He felt his stats matched up favorably against elites of an equal level to himself and maybe even a bit higher.

If elites were ten times stronger than normal monsters, then he would say that the Field Boss had been at least ten times stronger than equivalent elites. Most likely even more. Coop was thinking that monster stats might escalate the same way the number of kills grew during each stage of a quest chain.

Coop remained on his back and checked his notifications after defeating the Primal Tracker Field Boss.

[You defeated Field Boss: Primal Tracker (Level 35)]

[+40147 Basic Credits]

[+3 Blighted Destruction Gem (Legendary)]

[+2 Blighted Guardian Crystal (Legendary)]

[+6 Perfect Blight Fang (Rare)]

[+4 Perfect Blight Claw (Rare)]

[Congratulations! You have leveled up!]

[Congratulations! You have leveled up!]

[Congratulations! Your profession has leveled up!]

[Congratulations! Your profession has leveled up!]

[Congratulations! Your profession has leveled up!]

[You have acquired a new title!]

Coop firmly decided that he had learned nothing, the risk he had taken was totally worth it. Defeating a field boss had yielded a ridiculous amount of rewards. It had been lower level than he was, but it still boosted him two levels.

Scavenging had given him more materials than any single monster had in the past and the number of credits from a single fight was absurd. Not to mention some of the items had a new rank that he hadn’t seen before. The gems and crystals were the first legendary items he had scavenged so far. Coop felt like he was becoming a dragon with the hoard of materials he was accumulating inside his spatial storage.

He placed his free points into Mind and felt like he was ready to go again, despite his afflictions. He checked out his new title first.

Dauntless - First Raid to Defeat a Field Boss.

+100% damage dealt to bosses.

Coop was more excited about being the first to defeat a field boss than the actual bonus the title provided him, even if the bonus seemed completely amazing. It also clearly stated that it was meant for more than a single individual. Coop didn’t think it would have been a good idea for anyone else to engage the boss at this stage of the assimilation. He didn’t think they would have been able to survive the initial howl’s blights. It was good that he defeated it on his own, he probably saved some lives.

The Dauntless bonus would benefit him when he fought bosses in the future, but really it didn’t seem like damage was the way he defeated this one in the first place. Maybe with the huge damage boost from the title, he would be more effective, but Coop was thinking that he should be focused on seeking out critical areas when he fought such imposing enemies. If he just tried to stab it to death it would have been a ridiculous slug fest, one that he would be guaranteed to lose.

Coop still had a few more questions about Field Bosses. He wanted to know if they would respawn, what conditions brought them in the first place, and what other types there were. He’d keep an eye out, but his best bet would be to once again seek information back in the library at home when he had free time after things calmed down.

He put his questions aside and checked his status.

[Status]

HP - 3500/3500

MP - 6400/6400

Class - Revenant (Level 43)

Profession - Basic Scavenging (Level 39)

Affinity - Spectral

Race - Human (Rank 1)

Faction - None

Strength - 30 (+640)

Agility - 30 (+320)

Body - 30 (+320)

Mind - 640

Intelligence - 30

Acumen - 30

Unallocated - 0

Titles - Champion III, Haunted, Ethereal, Reaper, Slayer II, Dauntless

Skills (Active) - Retribution, Salvation, Presence of Mind

Skills (Passive) - Common Language, Mind Over Matter, Adamance, Practical Application

Quests - Defeat Primal Trackers V (868/11111), Defeat Primal Kites II (21/25), Upgrade Village to Town

Basic Credits - 158,381

His Reaper title had fully recovered his health and mana after defeating the Field Boss, but he still had at least one broken rib and the Tracker’s Blight that prevented his health regeneration would last 50 hours now that it wasn’t being reapplied by the monster’s aura. That meant his ribs wouldn’t even start healing for two more days. Just a few parting gifts from the defeated boss that he’d rather not have.

He’d gained three levels in one day so far. Anyone watching the leaderboard would be amazed, but he didn’t bother checking. It wouldn’t be enough to catch either of the undead faction members in the top two spots and the rest of the leaderboard wouldn’t have changed much in the short time since he last checked. He was chasing at least one more level in the near future anyway, when he completed the chain.

Coop really wanted to level his profession and have it surpass his class level. It would be a massive pool of hidden stats that were even further amplified by his passive skills. He also wondered if he could reach level 50 before Day 30. There was a decent chance he could push it if they returned to Ghost Reef and he blasted through a few of the early quest chains that he hadn’t started yet, but that depended on how soon he was back.

He wanted to be as prepared as possible when the settlement events began. In the back of his mind he was worried that they didn’t stand a chance. If the events were balanced around settlements in cities with millions of residents, like the Empire’s, they would be in deep trouble. He’d need to do his best to gather his own strength to give them a fighting chance.

Coop painfully got up, despite his full health, and went around the crater toward the putting green. He resummoned his glaive. There was no sense in wasting daylight. He could hunt Primal Trackers for several more hours and still be back at Peacock Park to meet with the girls. He was still shooting for another 10,000 Primal Trackers defeats before he returned to Ghost Reef and to meet that goal, he’d need to be relentless.

He hunted more monsters and noted that the density had peaked on the 8th and 10th holes. When he finished with the 18th hole he didn’t turn around, instead walking across the rear courtyard of the country club to return to the first hole. He didn’t have enough time for another round of 18, and he didn’t want to risk a Field Boss respawn preventing him from leaving on time. He’d reclear the front nine of Primal Trackers before turning around and heading back to Peacock Park.

He snagged another profession level on the green of the 6th hole, but other than dropping the points into Mind, he didn’t pause to slow down his hunt. As the tall trees on either side of each hole started to cast long shadows across the fairways he wrapped it up. He headed back to Peacock Park, walking along the state road and checking his notifications.

[You defeated Primal Tracker (Level 25)]

[+16 Basic Credits]

[+1 Blight Fang (Uncommon)]

[Congratulations! Your profession has leveled up!]

…

[You defeated Primal Tracker (Level 25)]

[+16 Basic Credits]

[Defeat Primal Trackers V (2995/11111)]

The progress was good, but he would still need a solid 25 hours before he finished the chain. If the girls already brought Charlie’s parents back he’d come back and start getting it done right away. Hopefully, they’d have good news.

The light of day was fading when Coop took a seat at the entrance of Peacock Park. He hadn’t seen any Primal Trackers on the way back and the park was also completely empty. No people either. He took the opportunity to take a break, laying on a bench and admiring the sky as dusk transformed it from a swirling sunset to a starry night. His eyelids grew heavy and he started dozing off.

The girls returned before he fell asleep, finding him laying on his back on a park bench looking like a real bum without the beach to justify his appearance. He sat up a little too quickly and winced at the reminder that his ribs weren’t quite right.

“What the heck happened to you?” Camila worriedly asked.

“Got a little beat up fighting the boss dog.” Coop admitted, waving off her concern, “What about you guys? How’d it go?”

Charlie’s frown said it all, but she still told him, “We couldn’t even find the prison. We narrowed down the possibilities but everyone we spoke to either didn’t know or wouldn't say.” She looked at her feet, radiating disappointment.

“The airport is huge with some private areas we couldn’t check.” Camila explained while Charlie trudged over and sat on the bench next to Coop. “We also had to sneak in since the security has gotten better. They might have some questions if we arrive without the rest of the people we left with.”

Charlie looked up at Coop, “We were hoping you had some ideas.” Her brows furrowed, “Better than getting yourself captured on purpose.”

Coop considered the situation. How could he get a hostile faction to reveal information to a potential rival? It was a tricky situation, but he had another idea.

“I could just go through the front door and ask.” Coop suggested. Before the girls could shoot him down he elaborated. “I can introduce myself as an ambassador of another settlement looking to establish relations with them, I’ll ask for a tour.”

Camila sighed with relief. “When you said go through the front door I thought you meant you were going to fight their whole army…”

Coop thought about it for half a second. “That can be plan B. If they don’t let me in the front door, I’ll kick it in.” Both girls groaned, but Coop continued. “I won’t try to fight an entire army, but I bet I can make a big enough distraction for you two to have a closer look around the private areas.”

The girls looked at each other, not hiding their surprise. “That’s actually a decent idea?” Charlie wondered.

Camila agreed, “A distraction could definitely help… seems like it’s worth a shot.” She smirked and added, “I guess you’re not just a pretty face after all.”

“Is that all you thought of me?” Coop complained with mock offense.

Camila put her hands on her hips and shrugged while looking away, earning a giggle from Charlie.

They hashed out the details of their plan. The girls had been downtrodden from their initial failure, but had renewed hope with Coop’s added involvement. They decided they would need to wait a bit longer to enact the strategy. It would be best if Coop approached the settlement during the daytime, and that they had a getaway prepared in the nearby city port. That meant they would have to wait until Captain Kayla returned to set it up.

Coop explained what he had been up to while they were away. Charlie was glad that her neighbors and family’s friends were prepared to go and both girls were surprised that he had managed to find others hiding around the city. Apparently, the settlement had exploded in population with people building their own shelters in a wide ring around the airport. The settlement had been upgraded since they left and the territory expanded to include more of the surrounding downtown. While people were squatting inside some of the still standing structures, most of the expansion blocks had been repurposed as a perimeter defense and checkpoints for the settlement.

Camila didn’t like that it was set up to keep people inside as much as keeping people out. They had an easier time sneaking in, compared to sneaking out, which said something about the city’s priorities. The settlement had finally been named while they were away and it was now called Empress City. Coop found it on the leaderboards at 346. It seemed surprisingly low given it had a huge population so he figured it was still an Outpost, needing an upgrade. When it was upgraded to a Village he expected it to leap above Ghost Reef based on its population alone unless other factors were that much more important.

The girls decided to go to the golf course and hunt monsters to progress their quest chain and let Coop try to finish his. Coop led the way, feeling like he had done almost as much walking as he had hunting so far.

They checked out the inside of the country club. It had a comfortable lounge area that tempted them away from getting to work, but decided to leave the break area for after they had earned it.

Just in case, Coop told them about the Field Boss at the ninth hole, so that they wouldn’t run into it by accident if it had respawned. He planned on avoiding a rematch, but also didn’t think it would be back. It was just a precaution.

The girls were nearly done with the second stage of their quest chain so it didn’t take long to complete. It also helped that they had experience fighting the Primal Trackers. Even though the monsters they had defeated in the past were lower level, the higher level monsters didn’t introduce any new tactics for them to deal with. The Trackers were just a lot more straightforward compared to the Ancient Prowler’s on Ghost Reef.

Camila and Charlie stayed on the first hole and would return to the club house when they needed to recover. Coop left them to it and pressed forward, wanting to finish the quest once and for all, even if he needed to rush to be done in time. He had estimated needing 25 hours to finish, but he wanted to finish with enough daylight to return to Crane Point and also head to Empress City, so he’d aim for even faster.

Coop hustled through the densely packed monsters, taking his usual aggressive fighting style and turning it up a notch, pushing himself physically. Unlike his previous grind sessions in the sand on Rock Key, the limiting factor wasn’t his travel times. The groups of Trackers were near enough each other that even if he sprinted between packs he wouldn’t make up more than a few seconds. He spent most of the time actually fighting when it came to these monsters.

The improvements came as he focused on minimizing his time to kill. The wide sweeping attacks with his glaive weren’t maximizing his efficiency, and he tightened his control, restraining himself from overextending and eliminating extraneous movements. When he fought the Prowlers he was constantly repositioning to react to their ambushes, but the Trackers presented and maintained their positions from the start of each engagement in an effort to maintain the group’s teamwork. He didn’t need to react as much when fighting these monsters compared to the Prowlers, instead he was able to focus on enhancing the precision of his strikes.

A swing with his maximum power wasn’t just unnecessary, it was also made more difficult by his injured ribs. A monster would be killed by the sharp blade of his glaive whether he hit it hard enough to send it through a wall or if he merely sliced it like he was a chef preparing lunch. Compensating for his injury resulted in strikes that were far more deliberate. Coop was developing discipline within his fighting style.

Time flew by as Coop entered a flow state between the 7th and 8th holes of the golf course. The monsters were by far the most numerous between the holes around the 9th so he cycled back and forth rather than pressing any further. He didn’t stop even when the sun rose above the corridor of trees. He was completely immersed with his glaive. The precise cuts were even deadlier than the sweeping and crushing swings he relied on previously. There was a time and a place for both, and being able to do either would only improve his combat versatility.

Morning came and went, but Coop remained absorbed in his hunt. Afternoon was waning when he flashed in white light that finally pulled him out of the zone.

[Quest Complete! Defeat Primal Trackers V]

[Slayer title upgraded!]

[Congratulations! You have leveled up!]

Checking his notifications he also found his profession leveled up again, but his only class level came from completing the quest. He was hoping for at least one more from defeating the monsters, but he still completed an entire quest chain in less than three days. That was roughly 16,400 monsters defeated in total and he hadn’t even been hunting every minute.

Admittedly, he had been grinding through the nights without sleeping and the Primal Trackers were another favorable enemy for his unceasing hunts. Not every monster would have an unlimited window of activity, he only needed to remember the nocturnal Ancient Prowlers for an example. He also wouldn’t always find monsters in such a perfect battlefield. He was sure the Primal Kites would present a much longer challenge thanks to their location in the shallow waters between islands.

Another 115 attributes were allocated to his Mind stat as he headed back to the clubhouse. He walked along the golf cart path, avoiding more monsters and winding between massive oak trees and thick grasses.

Camila and Charlie were lounging in the clubhouse with drinks when Coop returned. They raised their glasses to him.

“There’s the man of the hour!” Camila shouted as he walked inside.

“What’s got you two all excited?” Coop asked

Charlie perked up, “We gained four levels!”

“No kidding?” Coop asked while inspecting their auras.

[Human (Level 32)]

[Aeromancer (Intelligence)]

[Legend of the Endless Empire]

[Human (Level 32)]

[Interceptor (Agility)]

[Chosen of the Endless Empire]

“Mhmm! But the next stage wants us to defeat 5,000 more monsters. There’s no way we can do that without a lot more time, so we decided to celebrate defeating 250!” Camila explained while pouring Coop a drink. She handed it to him with a sly smile, “You better pick it up, mister. Just one level? We’re gonna catch right back up when we get back to Ghost Reef, we’ve got all those free levels waiting for us.”

“Bring it on.” Coop responded, happy to rise to her challenge. He’d welcome some friendly competition. He thought they might actually be able to catch up in levels, but the real sauce was in the attribute bonus for completing the chains.

The three toasted each other, before they said goodbye to the golf course of the Primal Trackers and headed onward. It was time to set everything up and begin their plan to infiltrate Empress City.