Charlie joined Camila in leading the way as Coop observed every detail of the city. She figured he was just surprised by how much things had changed. The metropolitan areas had no way of disguising the damage that the assimilation of mana had caused. Compared to natural landscapes, it was a lot more obvious when smooth pavement was suddenly cut off, or a modern building was falling apart like it was left derelict for decades.
Not every structure was deteriorated, like how not every tree had grown enormously, but most had been damaged in some way. They hadn’t passed any that actually collapsed though, but there were definitely a few that she would rather not enter if she had a choice. Really, she would prefer to avoid entering any strange buildings, but that was just her own constant apprehension.
They traveled down a main road that would lead to her old neighborhood while bypassing the city proper. It was strangely nostalgic for Charlie, since her grade school commute took her along the same route. The road was two-lanes with a wide median filled with old oak trees. The trees had almost uniformly grown large enough to provide a thick canopy that left a cool shade over both sides of pavement. It was almost picturesque except for the abandoned vehicles and toppled over signs at each intersection. Most of the main thoroughfare wasn’t that different from how it had been before mana.
She was excited about seeing her parents again, though she was a little nervous about what they would find. She really hoped her mom was back from her faction’s training by now. The Empire had told them it was extremely rare for Chosen to remain with their factions for so long, so she had high expectations for her mother’s faction and class. Her mother had been an especially gifted doctor and she hoped that a faction was helping her leverage her skills for the future. It was quite an investment to keep a Chosen for so long.
Hopefully, her faction was a friendly one.
Between the boat trip and the walk to her parents’ house, the entire journey had been startlingly quick. They would be arriving in the evening despite the outmoded transportation. Even before, when she rode the ferry and there were working cars, a trip back from Ghost Reef meant an entire day’s worth of travel before she made it home.
She had no idea a sailing ship could travel as fast as they had on the Eye of the Storm, and the crew had assured her that the rest of the ships in the Tempest Fleet were even faster. Back on land, instead of dealing with traffic, they were strolling through what used to be a very busy section of the city limits. This was one of those roads that had horrible commuter traffic thanks to a general lack of public transportation to the suburbs from downtown.
She glanced at Camila who was constantly vigilant despite her casual confidence. Charlie’s respect for her steady companion had only grown the more she learned about her. Admittedly, Camila’s appearance immediately demanded a superficial admiration, but she was also smart, perceptive, and driven. Charlie was still finding new ways to feel jealous of her friend.
Camila noticed Charlie’s attention and flashed a smile that had her involuntarily returning the expression.
“Almost there.” Camila observed out loud and Coop nodded absently as he scanned an abandoned fast food restaurant. The ‘Now Hiring’ sign seemed unlikely.
Coop had been a kind person even before mana came, but despite the apocalyptic scenario he had shown an even more easy going personality than Charlie had expected. Still, despite his casual demeanor and uncomplaining attitude, she knew he was determined and persistent. It wasn’t an accident he had risen so high on the leaderboards. He had figured out his own path without the guidance of a faction and was making it work to an extent that boggled her mind. Somehow Charlie had found herself surrounded by people she believed were exceptional. She could hardly compare herself to either of them.
They hadn’t seen any monsters, but she could tell Coop was itching to find some. Every few minutes he summoned one of his ghost weapons, cycling through a few different types. That finally changed when they approached Peacock Park, just a few blocks from her neighborhood. A pack of five monsters was patrolling along the outer sidewalk and more were visible inside the park.
Coop didn’t waste any time, stepping up to approach the monsters with his ghostly gladiator armor manifesting out of thin air and his short straight sword already gleaming in his clenched fist. Camila and Charlie let him take care of the pack. Charlie identified the monsters.
[Primal Tracker (Level 21)]
She gasped when she realized these monsters were significantly higher level than the ones she and Camila had fought when they first returned from the Empire’s training. They were far enough away from the nearest civilization shard that the monsters were continuing to grow. Coop didn’t hesitate though, despite the outdated information that the girls had given him. If anything, Charlie would have guessed he looked satisfied to find the monsters higher level than anticipated.
Coop confidently approached the monsters and with a flash of his blade, lunged forward to attack them. The lead monster barely dodged, moving backwards and trying to give its packmates an opportunity to help, but Coop didn’t let up. He pursued the retreating monster into the midst of the group before catching it and defeating it in one blow, leaving himself surrounded.
Charlie almost yelled out as the pack of remaining monsters converged on Coop’s position, but that’s when he started using abilities they had never really seen before.
Charlie often compared her new reality to the fictional universes that she was familiar with. A lot of their magical powers were reminiscent of some of her favorite comic book characters and even though Coop’s were unique, she could still find similarities. The way he moved around, flashing in and out of existence, disappearing and reappearing where it was the most inconvenient for the monsters, reminded her of Nightcrawler. His aesthetic was completely different, but the end result of his movement was no less impressive. It seemed a bit unfair, frankly.
She hadn’t been totally sure before, but now she knew Coop had some kind of short range teleportation. The Endless Empire would have freaked out if they knew his abilities. Any kind of teleportation was exceedingly rare. Movement abilities were uncommon enough to warrant special attention no matter their form. That was actually the main reason that Camila had still been considered an elite despite not choosing the Empire’s designated Legendary class that she had been offered. She had selected a class that had built in movement abilities instead.
Coop made short work of the monsters and earned himself yet another level. As he was illuminated in the white glow Charlie just shook her head. It was no wonder he believed it was easy to get experience through grinding. It really was easy for him. Charlie and Camila wouldn’t be able to sustain such intense combat over more than a few engagements before they would need to stop and recover their resources. Still, watching Coop fight made Charlie want to hurry up and gather her family and friends so she could return to Ghost Reef and start her own grind. Coop had already influenced their thinking so thoroughly. She looked at her own status knowing she had a lot of work to do.
[Status]
HP - 650/650
MP - 650/650
Class - Aeromancer (Level 28)
Profession - None
Affinity - Wind, Rain
Race - Human (Rank 1)
Faction - The Endless Empire
Strength - 30
Agility - 30
Body - 65
Mind - 65
Intelligence - 100 (+30)
Acumen - 0
Unallocated - 0
Titles - Chosen, Legend, Dynamo
Skills (Active) - Identify, Gust, Windweave, Soothing Rains, Edge of Water
Skills (Passive) - Common Language, Gathering Winds, Aura of the Storm
Quests - Defeat Ancient Prowlers III (0/250), Defeat Primal Trackers II (17/25)
Basic Credits - 700
According to all the conventional logic of the factions, she was a powerhouse, but Coop believed that they had been crippled by their lack of profession levels. Each level in a profession would provide five additional stat points, the same as a class level. If they kept both class and profession at roughly equivalent in levels they would have doubled their stats.
Both she and Camila had a significant advantage over most other classes. Aeromancer and Interceptor could both ignore one of the fundamental stats for their combat archetypes thanks to passive skills. In Charlie’s case, Acumen was useless for her spell casting despite it improving magical speed. All of her skills had instantaneous activations, so they couldn’t get any faster. Instead, her class took the points out of Acumen and applied them as a bonus to Intelligence.
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The combination of her class enabling her to safely ignore Acumen and her bonus stats from the Legend title gave her a significant boost over most others. From what Coop had told them, it wasn’t even close to matching up with his stats. His were multiplied by his own passive skills and further enhanced by his completion of the quest chains. Camila and Charlie might not be able to match him, but they still felt like they should be able to eclipse just about anyone else.
Coop spotted several more packs of monsters inside the park, including some that had evolved into elites. He warned the girls that the invaders might start getting even more aggressive if they weren’t culled, remembering a time when his settlement was raided.
Together, they decided to quickly send Coop back to the park after showing him where Charlie’s house was located. He could grind to his heart’s content while they organized their expedition back to Ghost Reef. They would wait until the last minute before they ventured toward the Empire’s settlement to give Coop a look at his closest neighbor.
Charlie led the group around the last few blocks before returning to her childhood home. When they rounded the corner it was obvious something was wrong. The street had marks and cracks that weren’t just from the assimilation of mana. Someone had caused damage with magical spells. She felt despair when they moved closer and she could see the devastated facade of the house.
“...no!” She heard herself gasp involuntarily. It felt like a kick in the stomach to see the place she had grown up be reduced to a damaged husk.
A battle had taken place in the front lawn. One tree had toppled over into the neighbor’s yard and the entire front porch had been demolished. In place of a front door there was a gaping hole that reached all the way through the second floor and exposed everything from the living room, dining room, to her own childhood bedroom upstairs. Nothing less than a bulldozer would have been able to tear so much of the house away.
She stumbled forward with her mind immediately racing to the worst possible scenarios, worried about the lives of her parents. Camila caught her and held her tight while she fought to catch her breath. Coop stepped ahead, up the remains of the front pathway and through the destroyed entrance. He had resummoned his ghost armor and held a round shield in addition to his previous sword. He checked the corners and moved into the house, making sure it was safe from lingering enemies.
The girls heard him call out, asking if anyone was home, from inside the building. Charlie finally moved forward and with Camila at her side entered what was once a place filled with happy memories.
The house hadn’t been ransacked so much as it had been wrecked. Furniture had been collateral damage and the structure probably wasn’t stable enough to remain for long. She went straight to the back of the first floor, into the kitchen, to see if her mother was there. They only found her father’s makeshift stop sign weapon impaled through the refrigerator.
Behind them, Coop abruptly landed in the living room from a gap in the ceiling that exposed the second floor hallway. He was facing outside with his sword and shield threatening.
“That’s far enough.” He stated with a steady calm that felt reassuring to Charlie. Someone had almost followed them inside.
Someone called out from where the front porch used to be, “Ah! Charlotte is that you?” She looked around Coop’s protective back and spotted one of the previous neighbors.
“Mr. Gibson?” Charlie called back. He had been a regular visitor when she was growing up, he lived nearby and frequently visited everyone in the neighborhood, even hosting annual block parties. He was standing where the porch had been previously, along with three more men that she assumed were other neighbors. She didn’t know him that well, but her parents got along with him just fine and he was a fixture in the community after retiring really early.
“It is you! Your father told us you would be coming. We already gathered everyone we could, but it’s gotten too dangerous to keep going door to door by ourselves.” Mr. Gibson approached the trio, careful not to make any sudden movements that would make Coop react.
Charlie put her hand on Coop’s shoulder, “It’s alright I think. He’s a family friend.”
“Alright,” Coop relaxed, but didn’t dismiss his weapons. Instead, he leaned over and whispered in her ear. “The one on the right is part of the Empire.” Coop warned her.
Charlie didn’t recognize the man that Coop had indicated, and he wasn’t wearing armor that matched the Empire’s, but he was the only one with a proper weapon at his hip. She turned her attention back to Mr. Gibson and asked him what had happened there. She did her best not to reveal her sudden suspicion.
Mr. Gibson explained that her father, Emmanuel, had started gathering all of the neighbors, going door to door, to let them know what had happened and that he would be heading to safety soon. He was just waiting for Madison. If anyone wanted to join them he offered to lead the way. By that point the monsters had become enough of a problem that most people were staying put, so Charlie’s father was giving them a chance to reach a safer place, fearless in challenging the monsters himself.
Meanwhile, the nearby settlement started getting more and more aggressive about recruiting residents. They sent parties to conduct what they called a census. They wanted to search homes for anyone that was still being trained by their factions in an effort to curtail any potential challenges to the Empire’s dominance of the region.
The Empire had warned Charlie about being vulnerable to campers when she returned from her own training, and now the Chosen of the Empire were trying to use the same strategy against others.
When they came to her parents’ home, her father wouldn’t let them conduct their search and while he was arguing in the front, some others rounded the back of the house and spotted her mother, still inside of the mana shield. They ended up attacking and capturing Emmanuel before they camped out and waited for her mother to return from her faction’s training. A few days later she was also captured and taken back to the Empire’s settlement.
Mr. Gibson told them that he had heard the same thing had happened to a few other people. Luckily, they hadn’t killed anyone, but they were imprisoning them somewhere in the settlement’s territory.
Coop asked why Mr. Gibson and the rest of them weren’t taken, explicitly gauging where their loyalties lay. They claimed that they were expected to join the settlement soon, but didn’t have anything to indicate they would be a threat to the Empire. Emmanuel had been labeled a rebel leader because he was organizing people and his wife was a part of an unknown faction that had invested considerable resources into her.
The news was both a shock and a relief to Charlie. Her worst fears weren’t realized, but she wasn’t sure what to do. She needed to save her parents. Charlie looked back at Camila who was frowning with her arms crossed and her eyes narrowed, watching the strangers. Charlie looked at Coop who was waiting, following her lead. He recognized her indecision and nodded at her before stepping forward once, causing the four men to tense up as the armed and armored man suddenly moved closer.
She could have kissed him for getting all of the attention off of her. She wasn’t able to think straight when she was the center of attention. Pile on her own personal anxieties with the shock of her childhood home destroyed and learning her parents were taken and she felt like she was drowning. She wondered if Coop was conscious of how considerate he was sometimes.
Coop pointed at the Empire’s man, “What about you, Mr. Chosen? Do you have anything to add?”
The man’s eyes widened in surprise, not expecting his aura to be read so easily by the stranger, and looked toward Mr. Gibson instead, obviously caught.
“Chosen? You said you were factionless.” Mr. Gibson questioned, stepping away from the accused to stand among the other neighbors.
The man gestured back at Coop, angry at being called out. “You can’t listen to this guy, who is he anyway? I can’t even see his level.”
Coop responded with a shrug that Charlie had begun to recognize as one of his typical mannerisms. “I’m just a factionless nobody.” He took another step toward the man before he continued. “How about you tell us how the Empire is imprisoning people, and where they are being kept.” Before the man could muster his denial Coop chided him further. “And don’t skimp on the details when it comes to artifacts or talismans or anything like that.”
The man seemed to realize he wasn’t dealing with someone he could keep claiming ignorance with. “I don’t know details like that! I’m just a foot soldier, embedded with the locals until they get pulled in.” He glanced at the angry Mr. Gibson and shook his head. “Don’t look at me like that, it’s getting too dangerous to stay out here anyway. It’s for your own good.”
“What the hell man?” One of the other men muttered.
Coop’s posture changed slightly and Charlie noted his steady presence seemed to disappear. The Empire’s Chosen ignored the other neighbors and twisted his head to stare at Coop with wide eyes, filled with fear. He told Coop what he knew without any more resistance. “Leadership purchased a prison service that’s supposed to be able to hold anyone as long as it's built early enough. I don’t know where it is or anything like that. They say it gets stronger every day. At least that’s the rumor that was goin’ around.” He looked at Coop with what Charlie believed was genuine concern. “Look, you’re not gonna kill me right? I don’t know anything else.”
Charlie waited for Coop’s characteristic shrug, but he just responded to the man a bit more seriously. “Not unless you lied to us.” Charlie could see the man shiver at the threat. Coop turned back to Charlie and Camila, ready to make a plan.
The man called out to Coop’s back, “I didn’t lie man, I swear!” Charlie was surprised by the turnaround in the man’s cooperativeness. She thought Coop had used his scary aura to silently threaten the guy. It worked really well.
The three regrouped further inside the ruined house out of earshot of Mr. Gibson and his friends. They didn’t need to worry about being overheard because the other neighbors were scolding the Empire’s Chosen for lying to them about his allegiances.
Camila was the first to suggest a plan. She proposed that the two girls enter the settlement using their status as members of the Empire to find the prison before deciding how to tackle it. They could leave right away and be at the settlement in a matter of hours. If they needed Coop as backup they would regroup in Peacock Park at the end of the next day. Coop could hunt the monsters while they did their reconnaissance. Charlie thought it was a good start.
She thought Coop’s idea was much, much worse. He wanted to do the scouting himself by using the local spy to get thrown in the prison. Then he’d break everyone out and be back in time to finish grinding the monsters before Captain Kayla returned to pick them up. “Easy peasy,” he said.
Of course, Charlie sided with Camila. They promised Coop that they would be back before dark on the next day. Coop reluctantly agreed but if they weren’t back in time he was going to start making a fuss around the settlement to shake things up.
Before they left, Charlie also brought Mr. Gibson to negotiate with Coop for joining Ghost Reef. He would know the status of just about everyone she had hoped to recruit anyway. Coop’s groaning made her giggle despite the miserable situation.
She and Camila left the guys to work out the details, and made their way toward the airport that was being used as the Endless Empire’s headquarters.