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Chapter 200: Fighting Fair
🕑 Added 2024-02-21 16:11:01 +0000 UTCCoop’s ethereal spear blasted through the mana vortex, tip gleaming with the calm blue glow of scattered bioluminescence. A gentle tornado in the center of the cavern was already in the process of collapsing, smothering the arena with a blanket of thick mana. It was beautiful, as if the northern lights were forming at knee height, deep underground. Visible waves of mana, lit by tiny motes of soothing light, rolled across the coral ground, and reflected off the iridescent walls. When the light highlighted the mother-of-pearl hidden within the jagged ceiling, it revealed cloudy rainbows trapped beneath the smooth surfaces.
The path of the spear was traced by a lingering glow of mana-infused diatoms, spotlighting the perfectly straight trajectory from the mouth of a tunnel to the center of the coral chamber. Rather than a thrown object, the weapon seemed like a hazy laser beam, burning through the briny fog of mana that swirled around the room. A moment later, the missile struck the outer carapace of the still unfurling boss, adding a dramatic crash to the steady strumming of a guitar that had risen within the chamber upon the arrival of outsiders.
The Ravenous barely had time to assess the intruders that disturbed its mana bath before Coop had opened up his assault. While the monster stretched to its full height, a full 10 feet taller than its previous 25 foot iteration, Coop mistjumped into melee range, finding himself about the size of the creature’s head. He swapped his spear for a pair of his one-handed warhammers, confident in their efficacy. The weapon type had proven itself against the shrimp more than a month and 50 of his levels earlier.
Using his mainhand, he struck the monster in the mandibles, providing the oversized shrimp with a violent introduction to the guests in its throne room. While Coop prepared to pummel the boss of the first level in the Coral Forest Mana Well, he simultaneously cast Legacy of the Mists to summon a squad of phantasms at the creature’s flank.
After the long grind sessions in the Yucatan Peninsula, Legacy’s mana cost had decreased to nearly 300 mana per cast. Practical Application, his Agility passive, was steadily bringing the price of each phantasm down, with Coop randomly bringing phantasms into existence even while traveling. At this point Coop’s mana pool could sustain more than 80 phantasms at once.
Each phantasm also claimed a single point of durability from his weapons, so the cost couldn’t become completely eliminated with mana cost reductions, and soon, Coop would need to be considerate of the strength of his weapons. The last time he had seen the stats on his summoned weapons, the maximum durability was 100, but they had received a few upgrades since then, including one that he was testing against The Ravenous shrimp boss inside the Coral Colony of the mana well.
Coop was dual wielding weapons for the first time. A pair of identical warhammers were firmly held in his fists, but only one was pummeling the dazed boss as the creature struggled to identify the intruders while regaining its footing. Coop wasn’t nearly coordinated enough to immediately pick up a weapon in his offhand and use it with remotely the same effectiveness as his mainhand, but that hadn’t been its purpose in the first place. He was actually testing whether or not he could utilize one weapon for himself and one for casting Legacy of the Mists, like a magical focus with a pool of durability that he willingly sacrificed to summon his allies, saving his actual weapon for himself.
When the phantasms began leaping through the swirls of increasingly turbulent mana, streaming a mixture of mists and microscopic plankton in their wakes, they smashed the limbs of the massive shrimp monster, utilizing dual warhammers as well. Unfortunately, Coop’s little experiment hadn’t had the result he hoped for, as the skill utilized both weapons rather than one, but the fact that he was still hypothesizing new ways to apply his skills was a testament to the seemingly unlimited possibilities that lay in his build.
A dozen of the dual-wielding Phantasmal Breakers swarmed the wavering boss. Coop witnessed a stout bearded ghost spin his off-hand hammer around so that he could use the spiked end to pierce the shiny carapace and provide himself with leverage as he smashed with his mainhand. Another muscle-bound phantasm simply smashed with both weapons simultaneously, raising them above his head and crossing their shafts like he was offering a sacrifice to some unseen god before letting the heads of the hammers crash into the armored segmented abdomen. A third, fully armored ghost chained his swings with both hands, displaying a level of ambidexterity and coordination that Coop wasn’t ready for.
Instead, Coop flipped his offhand hammer and used the spike to smash into the top of the monster’s head, imitating at least one of the phantasm’s tactics. Rather than use the second weapon as a proper offhand weapon, he was bracing himself like an ice climber and letting muscle memory take over with his other.
The shrimp reared itself up, thrashing in a panic as it was ambushed by shockingly powerful enemies. Coop hung from his weapon, being lifted more than thirty feet off the ground while he hammered at the side of the monster’s head with his mainhand.
When the one undamaged mandible nearly pierced his stomach after the boss flicked its body to the side, he let go of his embedded hammer and was flung across the chamber. But a moment later, he was back in the monster’s face, mistjumping to his released weapon with his mainhand already cocked back for another crushing attack against the armored creature. Coop wasn’t so easy to get rid of.
The shrimp’s furled claws blasted to the ground from its shoulders, vaporizing half of his phantasms with sudden strikes that carved shallow burns in the coral ground, melting the mana-enhanced surface with their extraordinary power. However, its claws weren’t an answer to those that had clung too close to the monster. It could only whip its body around in an effort to disengage from those that were too close, like Coop himself.
He was jostled from his position when the shrimp flopped back down onto the coral, and was forced to use both of his hammers like an ice climber barely finding purchase on a collapsing glacier wall. Mists leaked from beneath the shrimp’s body after another handful of phantasms were crushed by the bodyslam, and a wave of visible mana cascaded away from the center of the chamber, but more than one phantasm had rolled out of the way and resumed their attacks.
Coop swung himself around the monster, releasing his grip on the embedded hammers and rising to the top of the shrimp's head. He dismissed his remaining phantasms with a quickswap that desummoned his abandoned warhammers and gave him something with more finality against the oversized target.
The ethereal battle axe sliced through the mana-thick air, coming down like a guillotine, as Coop applied all of his Strength into mimicking an executioner.
Coop tumbled to the ground and dismissed the weapon as the shrimp rejoined the flow of mana and the rousing song that resonated throughout the chamber came to an end with a flourish as if expecting an applause.
[You defeated The Ravenous (Boss Level 168)]
[+294510 Basic Credits]
[+3 Kinetic Destruction Gem (Legendary)]
[+2 Kinetic Guardian Crystal (Legendary)]
[+1 Raptorial Claw of Blinding Acceleration (Unique)]
[Congratulations! You have leveled up!]
[Congratulations! Your profession has leveled up!]
[Congratulations! Your profession has leveled up!]
[Congratulations! Your profession has leveled up!]
“Mate.” Derek murmured with a shaking head as he approached the Champion. “You don’t fight fair at all.”
“Fair? What are you on about?” Coop asked dubiously of the Virtuoso that had provided the musical accompaniment to the bout.
Derek shrugged. “I thought you were gonna take it on mano a mano, but you brought a whole squad out of your little mists. That’s hardly fair.”
Coop frowned at the annoying bard. He had been impressed with the setup of the Last Chance Cantina, all of the coordination that had been required to develop the mana well’s hanging bridges, and the scoring systems developed under Derek’s leadership, but the guy had a way of sinking evaluations.
“You didn’t have a problem applying your buffs to me while I fought.” Coop pointed out.
“Well, I wanted to make sure I got credit for the kill.” Derek obliviously admitted the hypocrisy Coop was trying to reveal.
“So, it wasn’t a fair duel to begin with if you were buffing me.” Coop objected. “And what about them?” Coop pointed at the 10 others Derek had brought along as his own squad, almost as many as Coop’s phantoms.
“They just wanted to see the boss in action, so they can fight it later.” Derek explained like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
“Maybe they wanted credit too?” Coop suggested sarcastically.
“We’re quite satisfied with the demonstration. Thank you, Champion.” One of them responded on behalf of the others. Apparently, they were the 3rd and 6th rated adventure parties. They just happened to be in the Cantina when Coop swept through. Coop thought a few of them looked familiar from the siege, but they were now making names for themselves by delving the well in between grinding for Slayer titles.
Coop sighed, feeling like he didn’t have time to argue with Derek. “Alright, well, I’m gonna head back, I still have a bunch of stuff to do today.” He conceded as he headed out. The others seemed content to scour the cavern for treasures on his behalf. They wouldn’t leave anything behind.
Coop spent the rest of the day catching up with friends and colleagues around Ghost Reef. Despite so many being off on their own adventures, he still found himself rushing from place to place to make sure he saw familiar faces before he left again. They would still be in contact, via the ships traveling back and forth from Corozal, but passing messages wouldn’t be the same as speaking in person.
The Cleary Brothers were hard at work, turning their barn into what was essentially a mix between a laboratory and a workshop. They had parts and tools strewn about, hanging from the walls, and even suspended from the ceiling, like an actual barn, but they also had carefully arranged containers along spotless cabinets where they were testing the reactions of mana to different conditions. The cooling boxes were done, but they were still trying to understand some fundamental rules that mana followed.
In the end, rather than air conditioning, they had settled on a kind of reverse swamp cooler design that cycled the mana that was present in the air. Whatever they were doing, Coop could immediately tell they worked, finding the temperature in the barn at least ten degrees cooler than the courtyard outside.
When Coop entered the barn, Elly announced his presence by shouting in excitement that he was back, abandoning what appeared to be homework to climb onto his shoulders while he checked out the research and development barn. She started the little reunion by recounting what she had been learning in school: fractions and decimals, and she regaled him with tales of a book report that had her researching in the archive for prominent aliens.
There were eight kids in her class, including Olani’s grandkids, but Coop was surprised to learn that they had enough students in the school for ten different classes at once. The largest groups were also the youngest, with the eldest being young teenagers that were more interested in joining the phantom army than attending classes.
Apparently, the parents were still debating how to transition the kids' early education into proper training in preparation for the realities of the demands in a post-mana world. Their physical education was being organized by Ledwidge for the time being, but they wanted the kids to wait as long as possible before dedicating themselves to any of the system-specific advanced courses. The kids, on the other hand, wanted to start training right away, regardless of a path, but many adults were still hoping that they wouldn’t all be forced into fighting, dreaming of a world that was peaceful enough to return to pre-mana normalcy. For now, recruiting a system approved Academy for secondary school was a majorly debated topic, with most people wanting to establish their own curriculum with advice from the contracted residents instead of handing the leadership over to some unvetted aliens.
In the long run, should they survive the assimilation, it seemed like a human academy system would eventually be put in place, much like the Adventurer’s Guild. Even Coop could envision a future where these were fundamental pillars of society, but that was a long way away and assumed their actual survival. At the moment, they were simply laying the groundwork as they did their best to set the kids up for success. Coop had to admit, the whole process seemed like a supremely hopeful outlook, with the residents of Ghost Reef confidently planning for the long term.
As the guardians for Elly, the Cleary Brothers weren’t worried with the direction of her education. They agreed that she was already the brains of the family, and were happy to leave many of the bigger decisions up to her. Coop raised an eyebrow dubiously at the little kid, but she just smiled back at him like she had all the answers in the world, if only he’d be brave enough to ask them.
Considering a significant portion of the island’s population was contributed by the phantoms, Coop didn’t expect there to be so many kids in the first place. He hadn’t done a great job establishing a good environment for them beyond providing security, but others had stepped up in his place. He supposed that’s what happens when a bunch of new mothers are recruited into a sprouting community and given the opportunity to influence its development.
Coop only interrupted the Cleary Brothers briefly, updating them on his experience while they warned him about the leaderboards. They were worried that he would be caught by Hai Yun or the Kitawa pair because they had been rapidly climbing the ranks over the last few weeks, gaining levels even faster than he was. He told them not to worry, but the conversation had his knee bouncing while he sat, already desperate to get back to the grind.
Coop’s visit to the Clumsy Shark Tavern was less satisfying. Both Desmond and Maeve had been rare sightings, letting Jonah take over as head of house while other humans took over their duties. The demon-like aliens weren’t around when Coop stopped in. Admittedly, the stew was still good, even if it was missing something that he couldn’t quite put his finger on without Desmond wielding the ladle.
The Tavern wasn’t the only place that wasn’t quite the same. Elder Olani was essentially Alchemist Olani the past few weeks. The additional responsibilities: maintaining a stock of elixirs, potions, and tinctures, had her profession leveling rapidly. She had made friends with the visitors from Corozal, intending to simply evaluate the guests as was her tendency when it came to new faces. Instead of suspicious people to gossip about, she found them agreeable and took some of their advice to heart. She didn’t grumble about being an apprentice to the alchemist, but looked at it as an opportunity to maximize her time and powerlevel her profession. The fact that Corozal’s profession masters had surpassed her lit a bit of a fire beneath her. She made sure he was restocked before he left.
The Archive was also operated by human workers. Losing the Lich from the front desk really changed the vibe of the place. It was a little less spooky, but the whole experience of visiting the library had become a bit too normal for his taste. However, it was the first place that he found one of the unaffiliated contracted residents. Ryseth, the least agreeable of the librarians, with his spiky dark red hair and angry eyes, was the only one present while the rest were meeting together in private.
Coop had to corner him to have a conversation, but the handsome zombie man provided him with a firm declaration before Coop got any answers about the absentee aliens. They were trying to build a consensus before they made an announcement regarding their stance on Coop’s faction. Ryseth made it clear he was generally opposed to whatever they were planning, but he still wouldn’t be the one to spill the beans before a decision was made. At the very least, he admitted that it wasn’t something that Coop should worry about, as the primary impact would be felt by them, one way or another.
Coop would find out what they were cooking eventually, so he left it alone. If he really wanted, he could put together some of the clues and take a guess at what caused all of his contracted residents to be absent from their roles.
They needed to amend their system contracts if they wanted to stay in Ghost Reef, but taking that step would mean throwing their fates in with the humans. Turning Earth into their headquarters so early into an assimilation would have been a difficult ask even without the threat of the Eradication Protocol in the future. He imagined that quite a few of them wouldn’t stick around, Ryseth included.
Coop would make sure to have a big going away party before the time came to make The Lighthouse an official faction in the galactic community, as he anticipated it would become an early goodbye for many. When the Eradication Protocol began, it would cancel their temporary contracts and send them off of Earth. He resolved himself to make sure Ghost Reef survived so that they could reconnect with the alien companions during more peaceful times in the future. He doubted Ghost Reef would have gotten as far along as it had without their help and he wouldn’t look down on their contributions even if they didn’t stick around. Coop had come to the conclusion that the success of their settlement was based on cooperation.
Garod’s smithy wasn’t spared from relying on human replacements. Coop almost spun around and walked out when he realized he might not have the grandmaster’s experience on his side, but the apprentice blacksmiths promised Coop that Garod would personally see to any orders he left with them. Rather than delay his order, Coop had a better idea. He would be getting his discounts after all, and Garod was nowhere to be found to counter his demands.
Coop let himself go crazy, letting his imagination run wild as he placed a few special orders. Garod wasn’t there to apply any limits to his proposals, and it wasn’t like the contracted residents had a problem requesting payment from the Champion later. Coop had been slowly accumulating another treasure trove of crafting materials, and even though he wasn’t even close to done, he had enough to get started on what he hoped would become an arsenal of mythical items the likes of which would be remembered beyond the assimilation.
Between Garod’s smithing, and the clothier, Erasimus Doomthread, he thought they would be able to cover everything he wanted. They were both capable of reaching the level that he expected, and they had proven to be flexible enough to meet his needs. Coop’s Under Armor and Jones’s Bloodstone Cane were each outside of Coop’s expectations for a typical item, but both had been items worth acknowledging.
To begin with, Coop filled the settlement’s storage space with Legendary materials, allowing the crafters to sift through everything he had collected. Then he added the Unique materials and relics that he knew would be useful for the next set of crafts. The brand new Raptorial Claw of Blinding Acceleration was the first to be tossed in. He thought it was obvious who it would be perfect for, considering The Ravenous boss appeared to have a Kinetic mana affinity, identical to Camila’s, based on its drops.
Following the claw, he threw in the very first of the Unique items he had seen, the Splinter of Ashen Legacy, and also the Eye of Shadow from the most recent Icon of Mana, for Sunny and Jett respectively. Neither of them utilized any equipment at all, but much like Coop, that didn’t mean it was impossible. They just needed the right things.
Coop smiled to himself as he made sure the absentee residents would be kept busy. There would be no dodging of responsibilities in Coop’s settlement, and if he was going to lose any of them, he would get his money’s worth from them first.
Comments
Tyromeinabox
I was surprised the chapter went back to Coop. Felt abrupt. Thought we'd see Platinum getting back to Charlie's group.
