Coop woke with a start and sighed dramatically as his blurry vision revealed the old wooden ceiling in his bedroom within the lighthouse. The excitement of whatever he dreamed about lingered, but the details had already slipped his mind.
He rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and lazily stretched his arms above his head. The covers were already shoved off of his torso, but he needed to shift Jett off of his chest before he rolled out of bed. She didn’t protest, or even wake up, like a purring weighted blanket, when he placed her against his pillow.
“Today should be a big day…” Coop reminded himself as he shook the remnants of a deep slumber from his consciousness. One more hunting session with the Ruin Excavators would be enough to complete the quest chain. That meant another Slayer title was on the horizon. He hopped out of bed, invigorated by the prospect of progressing past yet another threshold.
He was astonished that he had fully recovered from the intensity of the previous day. The fact that he wasn’t sore at all, despite bench pressing for the first time in months, was a miracle. And that was ignoring the actual inhuman amount of weight he had moved. By all conventional logic he should need more time to recover, but mana broke his sense of reason.
Then, there was all the sparring. He and Ledwidge contended with each other for hours. The treant trainer had put Coop through the wringer, slowly isolating his weakest techniques by eliminating his most proficient weapons from Coop’s quick swaps, one at a time. Coop was forced into drawn out combat with each of his selected weapons which gave the trainer plenty of time to analyze his weaknesses.
Coop was still able to land a glancing blow without his spear, but Ledwidge dismissed Coop’s ethereal glaive second. Without his spear and glaive, Coop already couldn’t win the basic challenge of landing a single blow. He had even fallen back onto his ethereal swordsmanship with additional misleading double mistjumps that incorporated his shield, but it hadn’t been enough.
Ultimately, his sword techniques were mostly defensive in nature, relying on deceptive movements to avoid damage while exposing his opponent to surprise attacks, but Ledwidge was completely passive, dodging and blocking without ever counterattacking. It was impossible to ignore that the treant was also unambiguously faster than any human on Earth. Coop envied the raw stats that such a higher level accumulated. It further fueled his drive to keep leveling. Being slower than a literal tree landed with a twinge of shame.
The difference in attributes was obvious when Ledwidge was able to react to Coop’s mistjumps. There was simply no way to time his teleports to catch Ledwidge off guard. Ledwidge was able to respond to the forming mists before Coop was fully transported. It was a reminder of the difference in speed Coop had enjoyed when he returned to the Ancient Prowlers and no longer needed to guess at their ambushes, he could simply dodge out of the way as soon as they engaged.
Ledwidge was particularly disappointed with Coop’s swordsmanship. He spent a significant amount of time trying to adjust Coop’s form. It seemed like the Haunted title had guided Coop into a savage barbarian style that contrasted with the more formal, fencing style Ledwidge promoted. At least, Coop assumed it was due to his title’s guidance. It was also possible it was his own personal inclination manifesting through his technique and the title just nudged him along the course that he chose himself.
While Coop accepted the tips he received from Ledwidge, he really preferred the brutal hack and slash approach that he had already settled into. Coop was a brawler at heart, but maybe he would be prepared for a more formal duel if it ever came to it. His glaive techniques had benefited from acquiring the skills to adjust his pace after grinding the Primal Trackers, so he fully embraced the idea of alternating between a formal style with brutish assaults. If nothing else, it would make him unpredictable when he faced more sophisticated opponents that attempted to get a read on him.
There was less to say about the morning star as the challenge in wielding the weapon was almost entirely based on decision making rather than technique. Choosing the right time to commit to a heavy slam was the essence of the combat style with his two-handed mace. Out of all of Coop’s weapons, the morning star’s style benefitted the most from Coop’s highest physical stat in Strength. Ledwidge tried to correct his understanding of what the weapon even was, pointing out that Coop was using an oversized one-handed weapon rather than an actual two-hander, but it was just one of the limitations of his Retribution skill. Larger and heavier two-handers simply couldn’t be summoned. Perhaps if he was a Reaver rather than a Revenant it would be different.
Coop’s trident was a surprise highlight. His experience with the spear carried over to a significant degree, providing Coop with a high propensity for the weapon. It may have been the weapon he had practiced with the least, but Ledwidge claimed that his aptitude was on par with his sword and morning star. His spear and glaive were both a step above, but that combination of experience actually helped assimilate into a solid trident technique. Coop accepted that it was a spear with the ability to leverage orientation. It was a stylistic parallel with the glaive and only his lack of experience held it back from joining his other polearms in terms of effectiveness.
When Coop revealed the flail, Ledwidge’s expert advice was to put it away before Coop hurt himself.
Instead, Ledwidge offered a polearm alternative that he expected Coop to be able to immediately incorporate into his quick swap style, and two more that might become valuable with a bit of practice. The treant wasn’t shy about offering to spar more in the future to develop the newer weapons, but especially emphasized that they could have a proper matchup after Ghost Reef acquired a colosseum. It seemed like he was a bit eager to beat Coop up, which the expensive system service would allow without violating any contracts or permanent damage to the Champion.
The weapon that Ledwidge suggested would be useful immediately was a two-pronged polearm, a war fork. It was a sibling to the trident. The center prong was missing and both outer prongs were more like pointed blades, instead of spikes, with the edges aiming out. Ledwidge believed it would be a nice bridge between his thrusting spear, and his slicing glaive, since Coop utilized the styles and weapons interchangeably already. It was the perfect weapon for his current strengths, capable of implementing both at once.
The other two weapons were a bo staff, naturally, as that was Ledwidge’s own preferred weapon, and a battle staff that took Coop a few tries to properly summon. The treant claimed that both weapons would bridge a gap between Coop’s polearms and his morning star in terms of technical style. The bo staff was closer to his polearms while the battle staff was more similar to a double sided mace.
The potential diversification of Coop’s repertoire left him motivated to grind the rest of the evening away. So after Coop’s extreme workout session and extended sparring, he spent hours more smashing Ruin Excavators. He spent half of the time wielding the bo staff, so Coop was already practicing with one of his newest options. It was equally effective against the squat monsters when compared to his usual choice, but there was something satisfying about the raw crunching power that the morning star provided.
Night had fallen by the time he exited the pearlescent chambers, rounding out almost an entire day of exercise. The final stage of the Ruin Excavator quest was at 5,823 out of 11,111. It put him well into striking range for finishing the quest off.
All in all, it wound up being an intensely physical day that rivaled the siege event in how much he exerted himself. Coop thought it was amazing what a good night’s rest supplemented by mana could do, as refreshed as he was.
He led Sunny along the dunes, walking straight to the fort beneath the recently risen sun, but the retriever had to stop and visit the handful of residents who fought Ancient Defenders. Sunny ended up starting his own hunt, leaving Coop to get breakfast alone before he went to the library again. Coop was sure the dog was already more popular than he was.
Balor and his laborers had completed all of the planned roads within the fort. Most of the blocks remained empty or just partially filled, but the hub and spoke configuration, centered around the bridge connections, was distinctly noticeable. There was something particularly gratifying about all of the completed roads, like the fort’s courtyard was finally properly adorned. It really looked like a rapidly developing settlement with all of the infrastructure in place.
The stonemason was already starting his next project in the center of the southern town circle. An octagonal stone gazebo was taking shape, leaving room for crowds to access the shard in the center, lounge on shaded benches facing the shard, and enjoy angular gardens between the entrances. The whole structure would double as a proper citadel in the event of another siege, and because it would be the focal point for anyone arriving from the main entrance, Balor was going all out.
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Coop noted their progress as he walked along the canal to the library, passing a handful of market stalls doing some early morning business.
Inside the library, Abithik greeted him politely. “Good morning, Champion. What are you looking for today?”
“Could you direct me to where I can learn about monster levels.” Coop requested.
“A popular topic it seems.” Abithik observed as he flipped a switch, referring to Shane’s party and their more recent visits. “Third floor, Champion.”
“Thanks!” Coop went up the steps, excited to learn, but also because it was Asha-Kali’s floor. Hopefully, she had recovered since she did her mana reading on him. Apparently, her recovery had taken multiple days. The length was even a surprise to Shalatha, who knew the other librarian best.
Asha-Kali was waiting at the landing of the third floor with her arms crossed. Coop looked up at her and smiled as he approached, glad to see her, but before he had a chance to start a conversation, she spun away. “This way.” She directed in her regular, cold tone. It was nice to see her back to normal.
“Hey, wait.” Coop called as he rushed up the last few steps. He had to jog across the carpet-like floor to catch up. “Hey, are you okay?”
“I’m fine.” She stated without pausing.
“Can we talk about what you said before? It seemed important.” Coop broached as he matched her quick pace. She took long strides without slowing down.
“We cannot.” She responded definitively.
“But-” Coop started.
“I do not have any recollection of what was said, nor do I know for what purpose it was said. I cannot offer you any advice beyond not to obsess over the dreams of unreality.” Asha-Kali explained in a terse, if familiar, way.
“I’m not obsessing, but you mentioned strong foes and told me to beware. It’s hard to ignore that completely.” Coop argued, hoping to find a way to get her to elaborate on the message.
“I really don’t know what was said, but you are in the early stages of an assimilation. Strong foes should be expected and being wary is sound advice.” Asha-Kali’s lips curled on one side. “You can safely heed that bit.” Coop got the impression that Asha-Kali just took a while to warm-up. She always started taciturn when he first met with her.
“Is it possible to get another message?” Coop wondered.
Asha-Kali raised an eyebrow. “No. Kali is, at best, a memory that echoes within my subconscious. There is no rhyme or reason to such an outburst.”
“We could spend more time together, just in case?” Coop offered, trying to find a compromise. In his opinion, there was no harm in gathering more intelligence, even if it was unreliable. As long as he knew it wasn’t necessarily accurate, he could take it with a grain of salt and behave accordingly.
The reticent librarian finally stopped her march among the shelves and faced him. Her arched eyebrows furrowed as she stared at him for a moment. “That was the worst attempt at courtship I have ever experienced.”
“What?” Coop was just expecting another ‘no.’ He squinted at her suspiciously, but she was unreadable.
Asha-Kali quietly chuckled before she led the way for a few more steps and directed Coop to a shelf of tablets. “Here you are.”
Coop gave up on Asha-Kali and concentrated on finding tablets with the information he wanted. He was just looking for information that would explain how monsters leveled up. After he obtained his next skill, he would be heading into the mana well to discover what sort of challenges awaited them. According to Shane’s party, the monsters had been growing unusually fast, so he wanted to brush up on the rules as they were understood by the factions. It should be basic enough information.
He found a comfortable seat and started browsing the handful of tablets that he had gathered. Asha-Kali quietly sat down across from him and just watched whatever was going on outside the window. Coop raised his eyebrows waiting for her to tell him what she wanted, but she just serenely checked her nails.
“Asha?” Coop broke the silence. If she was going to hang around, he might as well ask her some questions directly. It would help him cruise through the tablets if he had a baseline of information to begin with.
“Yes?” She looked up from her nails.
“What determines a monster's level?” He asked innocently.
“Mana concentration.” She stated simply. That was the same information he already knew, that every Chosen seemed to have been told, and what Shane’s party had explained.
“What determines mana concentration?” He asked as he tried to get into the specifics.
“Mana density and time.” She continued in an easy monotone, like a confident student who was bored with the answers.
“What determines mana density?” Coop genuinely wondered. As far as he could remember density and concentration had been used interchangeably, but she was suggesting they were two separate concepts when it came to mana.
“The planet’s physical characteristics and the flow of ley lines.” She pointed a single manicured finger down and tapped it against the table indicating underground.
That was more or less how he had already understood the fundamentals, but he had been under the impression that mana density was consistent across the planet with settlement territory providing the exceptions, like islands in a turbulent sea.
“Thanks.” He nodded as he started looking at the first tablet he had collected. Asha-Kali just smirked and went back to her nails.
Coop scanned the tablets and found a few interesting bits of information, but like Shane’s party, he could only conclude that Ghost Reef must have unusually high mana density leading to increased mana concentrations relative to the expected quantities.
Monsters leveled up passively as they collected mana. If the rate they collected mana exceeded a threshold, they would evolve into elites. According to timetables included in the tablets, elites would be expected to appear after a monster spent 10 or more days within a high density area. That didn’t seem right to Coop. He and Jones had fought their first elite on Day 4 and he wasn’t likely to forget the experience. He doubted monsters were already on Earth before the assimilation began, so he was further led to believe that Ghost Reef really did have high mana density.
“Asha? Is this graphic accurate?” Coop asked as he slid the tablet to her.
She glanced at it before responding. “It is oversimplified, but it is the conventional wisdom for monster generation within the galactic community.”
“Do planets keep getting invaders even after the assimilation ends?” Coop wondered, a bit confused by what he was reading. He had associated the presence of monsters with the Primal Constructs specifically, for obvious reasons, but the tablets implied something different.
“Not invaders, but, of course, monsters.” She corrected while returning her attention to her nails.
“Huh.” Coop was moderately surprised, though he supposed it made sense that the Slayer quests were more exclusive to assimilations. “What are the monsters based on, if invaders aren’t involved?”
“Native phenomenon or local species if there are any. Mana tends to establish its own varieties.” She explained, remaining patient with Coop’s questions.
While the idea of mana mutations was interesting, he didn’t linger on something so far into an uncertain future and brought the topic back to his current target. “What exactly is a mana well?”
Asha-Kali pursed her lips as she decided how to explain it so that Coop would understand. She took a little too long, implying she thought he was a bit simple, but she responded eventually. “You have wells on your planet, do you not?”
“Like, for water?” Coop asked and Asha-Kali nodded as he slowly got there. Coop shook it off. So what if he was a little simple sometimes? He was dealing with alien magical garbage, he couldn’t be blamed just because sometimes the answer was literally in the name. The mana seed that initiated the well had thrown him off. It’s not like water wells had a water seed at the bottom that was supposedly emanating or otherwise magnifying the water supply.
He cleared his throat and regrouped. “So, say a mana well is inside of an area that naturally has particularly high mana density in the first place, what happens?”
“If you are wondering about your settlement, the mana density is only marginally high from what I have experienced in the past. Stronger monsters correspond with more mana and there would be more treasures, presumably.” She stated too calmly.
“What kind of treasures?” Coop asked eagerly, completely recovered from his embarrassment as the prospect of riches distracted him from other things.
“Crafting materials of course. I will not explain to you how crafting works.” She preemptively stopped follow up questions, but she inadvertently reminded Coop to pay a visit to his crafters before he went delving. Coop was a bit disappointed because crafting materials didn’t particularly excite him with the overwhelming convenience of Scavenging.
“Thanks, Asha.” He had only spent an hour of his morning in the library, but he was satisfied with what he had learned. Basically, he concluded that he shouldn’t dally too much as the monsters were likely to be growing even while he prepared. More importantly, he trusted Shane and Arthur to have been thorough in their own research on the mana well and anything else that he needed to know would have been relayed to him.
Besides, there was nothing like hands-on experience.
He stood up. “Alright. It’s time for me to go hunting.”
“Good luck little Champion.” Asha-Kali smirked without shifting her gaze from her nails.