Unchosen Champion

Coop carefully picked his way across the root bridges inside the mangrove forest. The massive mangrove roots created excellent pathways, keeping him high and dry, but still below the lush canopy of leaves. He was moving slowly, with his spear and shield ready, constantly scanning for ambushers.

The threat of another field boss hidden in the tea colored water below or lurking within the thick mass of leaves above made him travel cautiously. Coop hadn’t culled the monsters in the mangrove forest at all and he was worried that would be something he came to regret. Even though the forest was near enough to the civilization shard to be within the settlement’s territory, there was still the possibility that a boss was present. Felrog, the Ruin Excavator Field Boss, developed a hive despite being inside the fort, after all.

The sunlight trickled through the thick mass of leaves and tangled branches, forming narrow slivers of light that penetrated the dark water. Coop paid close attention to the tiny spotlights because he knew the Primal Serpents were in there, somewhere.

During his first visit to the mangrove forest, a Primal Serpent had been the monster that tried to ambush him, diving out of the water as Coop tried to leave. Ancient Devourers were the other monsters he had scouted, and they were the ones he wanted to find on this trip. The large armored monsters seemed like the better target for Coop to find and defeat five for a quick level. Coop’s experience trying to defeat Primal Kites had soured his impression of hunting pure ambush monsters like the Serpents simply because of how difficult it was to find them at a consistent pace.

The breeze was non-existent inside the humid marsh, but he could hear it teasing him when it rustled the leaves in the canopy. Bird calls echoed through the woods and a steady cacophony of cicadas and crickets drowned the silence in between. The difference between the inside of the mangrove forest and outside was like two different planets. There were some openings in the canopy, where small clearings had formed shallow sunlit lakes, or where a handful of trees grew beyond the rest and crowded out their competition.

A splash in the water beneath Coop caused him to reflexively dodge and take a combat stance, but further inspection revealed a fully grown horseshoe crab scuttling along the submerged portion of a mangrove root, heading further into the murk. Coop was feeling jumpy. His most recent fight with a new monster hadn’t started too well, and he wanted to avoid a similar experience. He was trying not to underestimate his next foes.

In the distance, he spotted the metallic reflection of what could only be a Primal Construct, so he diverted his course, jumping onto a different root to follow it deeper into the forest. When he was close enough, he inspected the monster, worried that they had continued to get stronger since the last time he checked.

[Ancient Devourer (Level 32)]

[(Strength)]

[Minion of the Primal Constructs]

The first Ancient Devourer he had spotted had been level 25, but it had been nearly two weeks. He wasn’t sure if they had grown or if this was still within the normal range of levels for a monster. The minor difference in levels didn’t matter too much to someone like Coop, whose stats were only marginally tied to his level, but he was still piecing together the actual impact of a settlement’s territory on monsters. The Ancient Defenders, Ancient Prowlers, and Primal Kites all seemed to be completely frozen in their levels, but the Primal Trackers and Ruin Excavators both continued to increase in levels over time. Coop thought it was possible there was a correlation with Field Bosses developing and the monsters leveling.

He’d try to be careful and avoid venturing deeper while he was inside the mangrove forest in order to avoid a larger encounter. He just wanted to defeat five monsters and head back out to select his skill.

The Ancient Devourer that would be his first target was moseying along the same root that Coop was traveling on, looking something like a metallic tank. It moved like it was on treads, with no legs to be seen. The ‘shell’ was really a metallic cylinder, almost like a gray metal keg that was laying on its side while protecting the monster’s back.

Coop was behind the monster, and from a distance, took his time to aim his spear and line up a full force throw. He planted his foot and threw the spear using all of his Strength, directly challenging the shell of the monster and its durability.

The spear struck dead center with the shell. Birds took flight from the canopy, calling warnings as they fled the sudden bang that echoed through the forest. The spear was flung past the Devourer, flipping end over end through the air after it left a deep indentation in the shell. It failed to penetrate, but it almost made the cylinder collapse and fold in on itself, leaving it warped.

The monster, however, didn’t budge. It quickly spun around, more like a vehicle than an animal, facing the source of the attack. Its movements were smooth until it jerked forward, beginning a charge along the oversized mangrove root, directly toward Coop. Coop was disappointed his spear throw didn’t simply overpower the monster’s defenses, it would have made his goal a lot easier to accomplish. He resummoned his deflected spear and helped close the distance, prepared to joust with his spear aimed low, at the uniformly gray, scaled body of the monster.

Before they collided, the monster reared its front up, revealing hundreds of tiny grasping claws on the end of pencil-sized, jointed legs covering the bottom of its body. Countless tiny red lights appeared between the base of the legs that seemed to flicker as the claws undulated in front of them.

Coop felt himself recoil at the sight of the tiny feet, their rippling movement was enough to put him on edge. It seemed like the Devourer wanted to slam down on Coop, so he halted his own charge and changed directions, hopping backwards and preparing a lunging counter attack with his spear. However, the monster remained with its front half upright as it continued sliding forward with its back half of legs, albeit slightly slower now that half of its legs were in the air.

The exposed feet formed a growing square ring in the center, caving into the interior of the shell on the other side of the body. It felt like looking down the barrel of a gun, so Coop did his best to sidestep on the mangrove root. For the first time, he was feeling like the root paths weren’t wide enough after all.

The Devourer’s shell started to change colors, like metal overheating, then it launched a solid metal bar forward, like a battering ram, extending six feet forward, out from the square barrel. Coop swayed even further over the edge of the mangrove root to avoid the punching attack and ended up slipping down, falling into the murky water, back first.

When Coop splashed into the water, he strained to get on his feet as quickly as possible. The water was only about two feet deep, but the ground was a soft muck that absorbed another two feet of Coop’s lower legs. He looked up and watched as the monster seemed to swallow the metal bar, reloading it into its shell, then put its front half back down. It rounded the edge of the branch, defying gravity as it clung to the side of the mangrove’s giant roots and jerkily moved down with the help of its many tiny claws.

The gap between the bottom of the root and the water was too far for either of them to reach each other, but Coop didn’t want the monster dropping down on top of him. He tried to maneuver away, but the muck clung to his feet like quicksand. If his gladiator sandals weren’t conjured, they would have been ripped off when he forced his first step. Once he freed his legs, he had to awkwardly float away in the shallow water to get out from underneath the Devourer.

Coop put his feet back down after floating a small distance and the monster seemed to realize he was out of range, but stayed as close as possible, clearly intending to try another attack if Coop moved any closer. Coop threw his spear back to the top of the branch, ready for another round, and mistjumped just as he realized multiple wakes were closing in on his position in the water. Multiple Primal Serpents had been attracted by all the splashing.

The Ancient Devourer was climbing back up to the top of the root, but it was Coop’s turn to wait for it to get in range. He finally had the chance to land an attack, stabbing his spear almost straight down, over the edge of the path. The Devourer had elevated itself into its attack position again, even while it climbed, but Coop’s spear plunged into its exposed underside before its shell began to glow. The tip of his weapon cracked through the scale plated surface of the exposed underbelly after destroying all of the tiny legs that were in the way.

Coop had the high ground and he wouldn’t yield it to the Devourer. The monster struggled to go forward, giving up on its own attacks, but Coop kept up his assault, jabbing so that it was forced to brace itself against the root lest it be shoved off. He had significantly more lateral speed than the monster, and now that he had the space to sidestep along the length of the path, the monster couldn’t face him long enough to launch its attack again. The Devourer would turn to face Coop and he would strafe to the now exposed flank and land another series of attacks, driving it down.

The monster was surprisingly durable, but Coop eventually defeated it. It dislodged from the side of the root and fell into the water with a heavy splash, sinking rapidly into the water and muck as it dissipated into mana.

Coop frowned, unhappy with how the fight had gone. He was hoping to quickly defeat them, but he was disappointed that he couldn’t simply overpower their defenses. The shell seemed too robust to target, and even though he was much faster than the monster, he didn’t have enough room to rotate around it when they fought on the linear paths that the roots formed. It was vulnerable to flanking attacks since it seemed to only have the one, front-facing attack, but it wasn’t obvious how he would leverage its weakness without more space to maneuver.

On the bright side, his mistjump cost had dropped by one mana when he escaped the water. It now had a total cost of 30 mana. Progress was progress, even if it was one mana at a time.

Before he moved on, he noticed more Primal Serpents closing in on where the Ancient Devourer had splashed into the water. One of them even lunged out of the water like a harpoon to attack the air where the Devourer had landed, further churning the water. Coop spotted multiple blades extending as the monster breached the water. One long, slender blade came out of its upper back, another straight down out of its stomach, and one from each side of its tail. With all of the blades extended it looked more like a fish than a snake.

The monsters didn’t notice him watching. They had tunnel visioned onto finding their target in the water. Coop experimented by throwing his spear into the water. He was happy to see multiple wakes charging toward the splash. It seemed like these ambush monsters wouldn’t be so hard to find. If he could find some way to bait them while keeping his spear ready, he could try some classic spear fishing.

He resummoned his spear and leaned on it while he tapped his shield, thinking about what he could use as bait. Ideally, he could continue to use the Ancient Devourers and get credit on two different quest chains at once. He could also try to use his spear to attract them, resummoning it after it splashed, and quickly throwing it again to attack, but he thought something else would be better.

Coop stopped tapping his shield and lifted it up. He shook his head in disappointment at himself. He’d realized something that he should have back when he first experimented with throwing the spear around the courtyard with Jones.

Not only could he throw his shield to use as bait, but he could resummon it with Retribution just like his spear. It was another weapon as far as his skills were concerned. The fact that his shield was a weapon actually opened up so many possibilities. He relied on his spear so much because it gave him ranged attacks and a long distance teleport; tools that he was missing when he used weapons like his sword. But here he was with a giant frisbee strapped to his arm.

The hoplon was too big to throw exactly like a frisbee, but the part that went over his forearm had a rigid handle in the center of the shield. He could easily hold on to it and fling it with a sidearm throw, letting it fly like the flat disc that it was. He’d need to experiment with the weight of the shield, but he could imagine it working. He’d be able to cover a lot of distance if it would glide properly. He could also hold on to the edge and throw it overhand like a tomahawk if he needed a more direct toss.

The one major problem was that he’d need to throw it with his left hand. Coop was relatively coordinated, but he wasn’t ambidextrous. It would take some practice to be usable.

Coop thought there was no time like the present. He aimed for a particular mangrove knee that was jutting through the surface of the water and sidearmed his shield toward it. The motion felt unbelievably awkward, and the throw fell way short, not even getting close to where he was aiming when it splashed into the water. He readied his spear and tried to make up for his left handed throw by pitching a line drive that would defeat a Primal Serpent.

His aim was perfect with his spear, but his timing was off and the monster escaped unharmed, back into the murky water. The extra splashes attracted more Serpents, so Coop resummoned both of his weapons and readied himself for some training.

Hours went by inside the humid forest before Coop finally managed to defeat five Primal Serpents. His spearfishing tactic had only yielded one kill. The rest had come from the monsters noticing him perched on the roots and attacking him directly. The Primal Serpents were easier to react to than an ambushing Ancient Prowler, so when they came after him he was even more effective in defeating them. They had a longer way to travel to reach him, made a lot more noise when they leapt from the water, and most of all weren’t able to change trajectory once they were in the air, making them sitting ducks for someone as quick as Coop was.

Coop wasn’t discouraged that what should have been a quick trip ended up taking so long, he was practicing shield throws the entire time. Muscles that he had neglected due to his right hand dominance were now sore. His neck and left arm were tired, and his back and hips were sore from twisting in the opposite direction than he was accustomed to when throwing something. His aim with his shield had barely improved, but he was still focused on the mechanics of the action. He was relying on his Haunted title to improve his fundamental technique and hopefully precision would come later.

Coop didn’t leave the forest right away. He figured he was already there, and had already taken so much time, he might as well defeat four more Ancient Devourers as well. He went on the hunt. He was already drenched in sweat and caked in mud, anyway.

The Devourers were all over the place once he ventured deeper into the forest. They were clinging up and down the trunks and roots of the mangroves. Coop got the attention of the first one by throwing his shield at it. The hoplon harmlessly clattered off the shell and the monster rotated to face Coop. Before it could start charging, Coop’s spear smashed into its body, nearly dislodging it from the branch that its tiny legs were clinging to.

The monster rushed toward Coop more urgently, but Coop retrieved his shield and tried another shield throw before it reached him. The shield ended up off target, again, sliding along the branch, but when it clashed with the Devourer it managed to get underneath the monster's body and tip it over the edge. The tiny legs were exposed as a weakness he could target.

Coop already had his spear ready again when a Primal Serpent leapt toward the splash of the rapidly sinking Devourer. His timing with the spear was good enough to clip the Serpent, drawing its attention but not defeating it.

Coop resummoned his shield and his spear to wait for the monster’s retaliation. When it came, launching itself out of the water from the opposite side of the bridge, he deftly sidestepped like a matador avoiding a bull before he thrust the spear into its side. The Serpent’s momentum was completely stopped by the spear thrust. It began to dissolve into mana smoke while Coop held it up on the end of his weapon like a prize catch.

The Devourer never resurfaced, and Coop confirmed that it had been defeated in the water. Coop had to ask himself whether the robots could drown, or if the Serpents were blindly aggressive enough to defeat even the Devourers that landed in the water. The underbelly was covered in the red eyes that Coop had identified as a weakness in the Primal Constructs, so his shield may have smashed enough to defeat the monster as well.

Coop continued until he was done with the first stage of the Ancient Devourer’s quest chain. Destroying their tiny legs with his shield turned out to be a solid strategy when it came to fighting them on the narrow branches. One way or another, they ended up defeated once they were in the water. Using them as bait for more Primal Serpents was just a sweet bonus.

He mistjumped his way out of the forest, utilizing both his shield and his spear. It would have been faster if he just used his spear, but he was determined to catch his shield arm up through repetition. He checked his notifications as he headed to the fort where he would find a quiet spot to select his new skill.

[You defeated Ancient Devourer (Level 32)]

[+17 Basic Credits]

[+1 Ancient Steel (Uncommon)]

[Congratulations! Your profession has leveled up!]

[You have a new quest!]

…

[You defeated Primal Serpent (Level 31)]

[+15 Basic Credits]

[+1 Primal Blade Edge (Uncommon)]

[Congratulations! Your profession has leveled up!]

[You have a new quest!]

…

[You defeated Primal Serpent (Level 34)]

[+19 Basic Credits]

[Quest Complete! Defeat Primal Serpent I]

[You have a new quest!]

[Congratulations! You have leveled up!]

[Skill options available.]

…

[You defeated Ancient Devourer (Level 31)]

[+15 Basic Credits]

[+1 Ancient Steel (Uncommon)]

[Quest Complete! Defeat Ancient Devourer I]

[You have a new quest!]

[Congratulations! You have leveled up!]

A few new materials to hoard, a few new profession levels, a couple of class levels, and he couldn’t forget his Practical Application progress. All in all, sneaking in another level had taken more of the day than he wanted, but he couldn't help smiling to himself in satisfaction.

He checked the leaderboards, believing he would be number one after completing three stages of the Ruin Excavator quest and one of each of the Ancient Devourer and Primal Serpent quests. Five levels in a day and a half was an unsustainable pace that surely put him in front.

Day 29

Ix-Hau (Level 52)

Coop (Level 51)

Banshee (Level 46)

Ak-Hau (Level 46)

The Lich (Level 45)

Chel-Hau (Level 42)

Un-Hau (Level 41)

Xul-Hau (Level 40)

Vul-Hau (Level 38)

Puch-Hau (Level 38)

“C’mon, man.” Coop muttered to himself. Ix-Hau had leveled six times already? He was actually pulling even further ahead, and Coop wouldn’t be able to recreate such quick leveling again, with the untouched quest chains around Ghost Reef being finite.

The newcomers to the leaderboard really were strange. Ak-Hau gained nine full levels! Chel-Hau got five, and Puch-Hau got three, but all of the rest got none. Whatever they were doing gave them massive amounts of experience in short bursts.

Coop wasn’t ready to waver from his strategy, whatever they were doing might be even less sustainable than his quest grinding strategy, especially when the settlement events were right around the corner. The factions had told their Chosen that the events would be opportunities to level, so maybe Coop should be looking forward to them, rather than being worried about Ghost Reef’s prospects.

In any case, he had a new skill to select.