JaceVAmor
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Chapter 147: Mindbender
🕑 Added 2023-10-20 15:11:01 +0000 UTCCoop seriously considered resuming the slaughter. His frustration had settled on Subcommander Jackson Hobbs, and he barely held back from pummeling him. The end result would inevitably be a battle with the rebels as well. Coop would win, there was little doubt, especially after Presence of Mind revealed their most powerful individual was weaker than the phantoms back home and already firmly within his grip.
[Human (Level 70)]
[Wild Mage (Intelligence)]
[Red (Challenger)]
Coop was breathing through his teeth as he considered exactly why the situation frustrated him so thoroughly. It wasn’t that he fundamentally didn’t want to kill, because, while true, he had already been forced to accept the horror of taking lives. During an apocalyptic situation, it seemed inevitable if he wanted to maintain his own agency. It also wasn’t that people were dying, generally, because people were dying somewhere, constantly. It was far beyond the scope of his existence to take responsibility for everyone else’s actions, so he wasn’t taking that burden on his shoulders either.
There wasn’t even a good reason to blame himself for the chain of events that had led to the conflict specifically in Empress City. The one at the root of the problem was their distrustful Champion, and by proxy, the alien factions that were treating Earth as a planet-wide territory grab.
“That’s the Nomad?” The rebels whispered to each other. “What’s going on?”
The rebels shifted nervously as they looked at each other, trying to figure out what to do. They were torn between the duty to protect their leader and the hopes they had put on the Nomad. The revolution’s leader had derived his original credibility through his connection with the mythical Nomad, declared that Coop was their savior, the very mythological figure he had built up, and now found himself desperately tapping at Coop’s forearm, begging for release.
Coop glared at Jackson’s watering, fear-filled eyes, and came to his conclusion for what was so difficult to accept. People were essentially dying in his name, seemingly on his behalf, and they had done so at Jackson’s behest. It all felt unnecessarily manipulative. Coop narrowed his eyes and Jackson’s grew wider.
They had been fighting to the death when they could have walked away. Ghost Reef would have taken them in, just like the last minute refugees they had sent on the cruise ship, who proved that it had been an option the whole time. Coop would have happily protected them, and done what he could to enable them to progress themselves. There must have been a better way.
He didn’t like that this Jackson Hobbs guy then had the gall to summon Coop, like he was in his personal army, or a trump card he could play after he had made a mess. The enthusiastic prisoner had provided a distraction when they escaped the Empire’s jail, but Coop would hardly even count that as a favor, self-serving as it was, and considering Coop had done much more in breaking the soul tethers and opening the cells.
“I warned you to not do anything that made me come back.” Coop raised his other arm and gestured behind him, to the highway full of death and destruction, still crowded with surrendered, and terrified people. “I warned you. Didn’t I?” Jackson did his best to nod, obviously remembering Coop’s words even better than Coop did, having used them to send a message that forced Coop to come and deal with his problems.
Coop released his grip on Jackson’s neck, dropping him to the ground. Jackson landed on his butt and immediately started massaging his neck. Coop bit his tongue as he tried to calm himself down. The revolutionary leader seemed to have understood that he needed to rethink his role, and whatever limited relationship he had with Coop.
“Hey! What’s going on here?!” A voice yelped as a woman pushed her way through the muttering, confused rebels. “What is this?” She demanded, looking from Coop to the obviously defeated Jackson.
Only Coop’s eyes shifted, as he sought the newcomer out of the crowd. Once people recognized her, they had dutifully made more room, and Marcus, Charlie, and Camila followed behind her as she pressed forward, right up to Coop. Marcus dipped his head, acknowledging Coop and obviously prepared to back him up no matter what actions he took. Only Charlie looked particularly concerned, while Camila was clenching her fists, ready to fight at the slightest provocation from any of the rebels.
The woman tore her stare away from Coop and turned to Marcus, upset. “You said you were here to help! Why-”
“Have we not?” Marcus cut her off with a quick flip of his hand before she could continue. “Perhaps you misunderstood our respective positions. We certainly aren’t subservient to you, no matter what fantasies you built up before. We’re merely cleaning up your mess. You would do well to remember that.” Marcus looked over at Coop and extended his hand toward the airport, indicating they should continue.
Coop didn’t think the job was done either. He still needed to take care of Empress City itself, and he didn’t want to make his friends fight any more than they already had. He nodded, happy that they were on the same page when it came to the rebels, even without needing to communicate. He wasn’t even sure if he could properly articulate his frustration anyway. He turned around and started walking along the highway, avoiding the scattered debris and bypassing the surrendered Chosen of the Empire.
“Hey! Wait!” The woman knelt next to Jackson as the subcommander waved at her to calm down, but she still shouted after Coop. “Wait, Nomad!” She continued, while she helped Jackson back to his feet and pulled him along, still trying to get Coop’s attention.
He ignored her, checking his neglected notifications as he walked away instead. Marcus, Camila, and Charlie caught up to him, flanking him as they marched through the debris. Coop shook his head at the quantity of messages he had received during the fighting.
[Congratulations! You have leveled up!]
[Congratulations! You have leveled up!]
[Skill options available.]
[You defeated a Champion - Civilization Shard claim priority enabled.]
…
[Congratulations! You have leveled up!]
Coop ignored everything for a moment as he discovered he had defeated the Empress City Champion at some point in the battle. He shook his head at himself, wondering how he hadn’t even noticed the guy that had been plaguing the city for so long. There hadn’t really been a single standout opponent in the entire fight. The thought made the damage to his consciousness worse. He grunted as he distracted himself with the notification.
The civilization shard wouldn’t allow anyone except Coop or his advisors to claim it for a period of time. It seemed analogous to if he had challenged the shard himself, with length based on the stage of the settlement’s upgrades.
“That’s good.” Coop reflected quietly, hoping that there wouldn’t be much resistance left. Similar to when the shards were challenged, the residents should have received a notification that the Champion had been defeated. Hopefully, that would be enough to prevent them from continuing to fight.
“What’s good?” Camila wondered from his shoulder.
“The Empress City Champion is dead and I have a priority claim.” Coop explained, trying to keep the feelings that lingered from leaking into his voice.
“That is good!” Marcus agreed enthusiastically. “Since you’re already a Champion, you should have the opportunity to select who takes over.” Marcus made a face as he made a quick decision. “Listen, about that,” He hesitated, having cooked up his endorsements previously and having to adjust on the fly.
“Before I saw your confrontation with Jackson, I thought he would be the best choice to get the city stable.” Marcus noncommittally suggested, trying to gauge Coop’s animosity.
After all of the killing, Coop wasn’t in the best mental state, wanting to slip into old habits, feeling mentally drained, but he focused on the idea of making Jackson the Champion and found himself largely indifferent. If it became a problem both he and Jackson knew what the end result would look like. He doubted Jackson had any interest in provoking Coop if he could help it.
Coop wasn’t completely sold, though. Preferably, he would begin a working relationship with someone in a completely different manner. He wanted to know Marcus’s thought process. “Why not some diplomat that you’ve been training? Someone we definitely know we can trust.”
“Ah, well, I think bringing in what amounts to an outsider would put the people who fought this whole time on edge. They already have a pretty distinct revolutionary spirit. If we gave them a reason to feel slighted, I have no doubt they would direct that toward us rather quickly.” Marcus argued. “They already look to Jackson for leadership and he’s at least as familiar to us as anyone else that meets that criteria. He’s the highest level in the rebel army, his heart is in the right place in terms of aiding people, and his fiance is something like the brains behind him. He’d make a good Champion, as long as he has some suitable guidance.”
“That lady was his fiance?” Coop asked, confirming the relationship.
“Yes, Commander Fabiana. She’s actually the one who organized the whole revolution from the start.” Marcus responded as he continued his musings. “It seems like it would be best to have the Champion be something of a leveling meathead to avoid losing the shard to challengers, and let someone like his fiance actually run the settlement.” Camila snorted, elbowing Coop, and Marcus paused.
“Meathead, huh?” Coop questioned with a raised eyebrow, noting that Camila was trying to make sure he didn’t fold in on himself, easily recognizing Coop’s inner discomfort. He appreciated her intuition, but he thought he was in better shape than he had been in the past.
Marcus raised his hands. “I just meant, fundamentally, that’s the best arrangement for maintaining a settlement, right? That’s more or less what the factions intended, though the individual actors don’t always understand their role. You might not be a meathead, but your basic function in Ghost Reef is to be so strong no one can challenge your position, for all of our sakes. Of course, that doesn’t mean you have no say in policy, just that you have advisors who concentrate their attention on those things on your behalf, with your guidance of course.”
“Relax, man. We’re just joking around.” Coop consoled him, not actually disputing anything he had said. It was more or less the arrangement Coop viewed they had, anyway.
“Sorry.” Marcus sighed. “To be honest, it feels like a lot is happening all of a sudden, I’m worried about keeping up, and I sort of feel responsible for this whole mess.” Coop was surprised that Marcus felt like he deserved the blame as well.
“You boys are too far from the beach.” Camila interrupted their accountability game before it started. “Just keep looking forward.” She suggested, gesturing toward the airport.
There wasn’t much to see. The warehouses in the zone between the port and the warehouse were largely burned or otherwise wrecked, and even from a distance, it was clear that the outer perimeter of the airport had been completely overrun and abandoned.
Coop suspected the damage to the airport was from the siege event, he doubted the rebels had started the fighting that close to the shard, but the end result was that the outer ring, formerly filled to the brim with ramshackle huts, had been leveled. The inner circle around the airport was instead surrounded by barren dirt fields that were crammed full of discarded metal and other debris that had been previously used to create the structures.
Coop belatedly realized that the sun was already sinking in the sky as the afternoon waned. He weirdly had no idea where the day went but also felt like it was the longest day of his life. Coop shook his head and returned to his notifications.
Another look at all of the level up messages had Coop curse at his progress. Feeling revulsion all over again as he was confronted by the sheer scale of destruction he had brought. The worst part was that after counting the levels, he felt like he should have been rewarded even more. Eleven levels wasn’t worth the losses. He supposed that he needed to concede that the increased experience requirements to reach his level really were escalating. The level gap between himself and everyone else was making its presence felt in a tangible way. He had been enjoying too many special circumstances, letting him continue at a pace that was unreasonable, with guaranteed levels from quests and major opportunities from special monsters.
He opened up his skill selection choices and counted the number of options. The first round of the Mistwalker path had offered 21 skills. This time, he received 15. There was no point dwelling on his selection, knowing what he wanted to take ahead of time, and not in the mood to make longer term plans. He selected the Acumen passive, Clarity of Purpose, and accepted it.
“Make deliverance swift.”
Clarity of Purpose added almost 1,000 stats to his effective total, in the form of bonus Acumen. Now that he had a skill that actually had some scaling with Acumen, it would have some impact other than making his status look prettier. The passive skill added one Acumen for every two points of Mind, just like Adamance did for Body and Practical Application did for Agility.
Also, like the Agility and Body passives, it applied a secondary bonus in exchange for a less efficient passive conversion. He found it to be more similar to Practical Application, giving a small bonus that could potentially stack into something valuable, but not particularly impressive at first. Where Practical Application lowered his mana costs by one mana at a time, over the course of thousands of repetitions it obviously added up, Clarity of Purpose would allow his damaging abilities to ignore a minor portion of his current target’s defenses each time he landed a blow.
The actual bonus would ignore between one and five percent total defense, varying based on the efficacy of his attack. It would apply the result like a permanent debuff to his target that stacked with each hit. There were a handful of bosses, such as both of the Icons of Mana, who would have had their defenses shredded as they tanked attacks from Coop’s hits, but it wasn’t something that would help him in his grinding, since it only applied to each individual monster, and he hadn’t encountered a grinding target that took more than a few blows once he figured out a method to defeat them. He thought it was too bad that it wouldn’t be a global affliction that allowed his allies to do additional damage as well, or at least one that helped him against an entire series of the same variants.
On the bright side, he could also attack significantly faster with the phantasms essentially being an attack speed multiplier to his own efforts. The fact that it ignored ‘defenses’ and not something more specific, like ‘armor,’ implied that it was effectively a multiplier, which could be huge. Anything that could withstand his initial bursts would be disappointed to find their defenses being ignored as time went on, and Coop wasn’t the type of fighter that could be easily swept away, with his tanky skirmishing foundation. It was a fitting secondary effect from the Revenant class.
He checked his status to find some solace in his new stats.
[Status]
HP - 10620/10620
MP - 16281/19740
Class - Revenant (Level 134)
Profession - Scavenging (Level 104)
Affinity - Spectral
Race - Human (Rank 1)
Faction - None
Strength - 75 (+1974)
Agility - 75 (+987)
Body - 75 (+987)
Mind - 1645 (+329)
Intelligence - 75 (+1974)
Acumen - 75 (+987)
Unallocated - 0
Titles - Champion III, Haunted, Ethereal, Reaper, Slayer IV, Dauntless, Stacked, Defiant, Siegebreaker, Mindbender
Skills (Active) - Retribution+, Salvation, Presence of Mind, Fog of War
Skills (Passive) - Mind Over Matter, Adamance, Practical Application, Arcane Comprehension, Clarity of Purpose
Quests - Fortune Seeker (17/50), Defeat Ancient Devourers III (0/250), Defeat Primal Serpents III (0/250), Defeat Primal Kites V (3103/11111), Upgrade Town to City
Basic Credits - 4,024,324
He couldn’t feel good about the huge leap in levels. The cost wasn’t something he would be willing to pay under different circumstances, but progress was progress. At least it felt like his attribute list was finally filled. The gap that the Acumen line left when the attribute had no bonus stats was ultimately gone.
Before he dismissed his status, he realized he had a new title, Mindbender, as well. Double checking his notifications, he could see it was granted after he selected his new passive skill. Mindbender was awarded for collecting five Mind related Revenant passive skills.
“Okay, here we go.” Coop nodded to himself as he investigated what the very specific sounding title would yield.
The title provided ‘Mind bonus elasticity,’ where, depending on his ‘state of mind,’ the bonuses from unused stats would be incorporated into the ones under demand.
“Huh.” Coop felt like he needed to experiment right away.
He stopped walking and his companions stopped with him, confused as Coop had become immersed in his own notifications and status, but letting him work through it, since it wasn’t the first time they had witnessed the type of situation. Coop’s glazed over eyes as he read system notices in his vision was a frequent occurrence.
Coop tried a simple test. Keeping his status screen open, he put the palms of both his hands together in front of his stomach and squeezed them against each other. Nothing happened at first, but he kept pressing, escalating the force until he was clenching his teeth and shaking with effort. His companions observed with various levels of confusion, amusement, and concern.
As he watched his attributes, they remained unchanged until he knew he was pushing his limit, feeling beads of sweat form on his forehead and giving himself a headache from the effort messing with his blood pressure. Finally, his bonus Strength went from +1974 to +1975, then +1976. The numbers started going up faster and faster until the last digit was a blur. At the same time his Intelligence bonus was shrinking at the exact same speed. He’d walked right into a way for the system to make fun of him.
Coop kept going until his Strength bonus was climbing over 3,000 and both Intelligence and Acumen were shrinking below 900. When he finally released the pressure, all of his stats returned to normal in an instant.
“Holy crap.” Coop muttered as he released the pressure and immediately saw stars as his head spun.
For a long time, Coop had viewed the primary advantage of his Revenant class as the flexibility it provided. Whether it was through the expansive assortments of things like weapons, the attribute stacking that he had latched onto, or the variety of skills offered at the start. Mindbender was the quintessential illustration of that flexibility.
Depending on how smart and reactive the adjustments were, pushing his limits could take on a completely different meaning. Could he actually control it? Did it work on individual repetitions, like if he was slamming his weapons against something? How would he get it to apply to the magic based attributes? He felt like he needed to stop everything he was doing to go grind and see if he had any sway at all. He subconsciously swapped to his morning star, wanting to continue experimenting with the Strength bonus since he found it to be the most straightforward of the stats.
“What’s up, Coop?” Camila finally chimed in, bringing his thoughts back.
“Ah,” Coop coughed as he shook off the distraction. “Got a new skill and a title that seems like it could be kind of ridiculous.” Coop answered, still considering different ways to test it.
“Hmm.” Marcus started. “Why don’t we finish with the task at hand.” He gestured behind them, pointing with his chin. “It seems Commander Fabiana and Subcommander Jackson will be joining us momentarily.”
Comments
DuskDeadman
Man is gonna nuke someone at some point with enough raw kinetic force to split atoms
Nyroe
YES! FINALLY THAT SWEET, SWEET ACUMEN!!! Doesn't even look at the other options! No more temptations only moar numbers!
