Coop made it to the edge of the crater that had once been Felrog the Soul Snatcher, Field Boss of the Ruin Excavators, still in awe at what he had witnessed. Sunny whined at his side, encouraging him to give the dog attention. The crater was actually a perfect cat’s paw print, with four clearly defined toes and a larger pad. In the center of the pad sat Jett. She was vigorously cleaning her normal sized paw, chewing, then licking in a cycle.
The sun was rising. A proper sunrise in the east this time, though it was an alarming red color thanks to the constant presence of the mana dome. Coop scratched Sunny’s ears as he took a moment to catch his breath and wrap his head around the defeat of his second Field Boss.
Coop had smacked the boss around pretty good, brawling with it head to head in a way that would have been impossible not so long ago. In the end, he hadn’t been the one to finish it off. If it was up to him alone, the fight would have gotten even uglier before it was over, but he still felt good about his odds of coming out on top after his recent growth. He was pretty beaten up, even if he was currently at full health, but that didn’t discourage him. In this situation, his sustain had greatly exceeded his durability. It was something to keep in mind as he sought to strike the right balance with future upgrades.
His skills certainly weren’t as flashy as some others, but to be completely fair, he wasn’t even using skills when he actually fought. The fact that he was strong enough to go toe to toe with a Field Boss just swinging his weapons was kind of amazing. He doubted there was anyone that could trade blows with a Field Boss the way he could, but Jett was proof that he still lacked some skill-based firepower. She had revealed a new ultimate ability in order to conclude her long rivalry with the Excavators. The black cat had been fighting them ever since the very beginning. It was only fitting that she was the one to finish it as well.
The ethereal morning star that he was currently leaning on had packed a serious punch. Basic attacks that had the weight of his full stack of Strength behind them were nothing to sneeze at. Felrog was definitely taking real damage, even if the Field Boss had remained functional through most of the fight.
When he fought his first Field Boss, Andamarius the Blight Howler, his spear attacks didn’t do anything at all. Unless he landed a critical hit on the boss’s more obvious weak spots, it was like poking the monster with a toothpick. Still, his damage wasn’t enough yet, he wanted more. He needed more stats, but he also needed to keep his weaknesses in mind as he selected his next path. New skills could fill the gaps as well.
Sunny left him to chase down the nearest Frenzied Excavators, satisfied with his ear scratches and eager to help defend the fort. Coop skimmed his absurd number of notifications from the last several days of constant fighting. He shook his head and ended up dismissing them all, rather than spend too much time going line by line. It was just too much to look through. He could check his status to get an idea of what changed instead.
[Status]
HP - 4850/4850
MP - 9100/9100
Class - Revenant (Level 59)
Profession - Scavenging (Level 57)
Affinity - Spectral
Race - Human (Rank 1)
Faction - None
Strength - 30 (+910)
Agility - 30 (+455)
Body - 30 (+455)
Mind - 910
Intelligence - 30
Acumen - 30
Unallocated - 0
Titles - Champion III, Haunted, Ethereal, Reaper, Slayer III, Dauntless, Vanquisher
Skills (Active) - Retribution, Salvation, Presence of Mind, Fog of War
Skills (Passive) - Common Language, Mind Over Matter, Adamance, Practical Application
Quests - Fortune Seeker (3/50), Trophy Hunter (1/5), Defeat Ancient Devourers II (0/25), Defeat Primal Serpents II (4/25), Defeat Ruin Excavators IV (440/5000), Defeat Primal Kites III (0/250), Upgrade Village to Town
Basic Credits - 767,212
While fighting the combination of Enraged Defenders and Marauding Prowlers he received a total of four class levels and eight profession levels, with the day that both variants attacked simultaneously accounting for half of his progress. The first day of the Frenzied Excavator wave had already yielded four class levels and four profession levels thanks to the generous amount of experience granted by the Field Boss.
In total, the settlement event had already added eight class levels and twelve profession levels to his stats and they were only a bit more than a fifth of the way through. For Coop, it wasn’t even that far out of the norm, in terms of levels per day, but it was nice and consistent. Grinding normal monsters with no quests at a high rate seemed pretty close to breaking even with either quest chains or elites.
He was happy to see his profession level rising quickly enough to finally catch his class. He had been hoping he could push his profession beyond his class for the extra stats ever since he realized professions gave stats at all. It wasn’t enough of an advantage to hold off on class levels, especially since his aura was powerful enough to just hide his level completely, but it was still a bonus he would utilize if the opportunity came.
He wasn’t a Basic Scavenger anymore, which was a surprise. Evidently, his profession had jumped up a tier when it hit level 50. He was seven levels late in noticing. In his defense, there were constant waves of monsters trying to kill everyone he cared about that had been occupying his attention, and mentally assigning points into Mind didn’t require any further examination of his status.
Scavenging appeared to just do more of the same when compared to its Basic counterpart. Higher quantity of loot and a chance for higher quality loot. He had selected a really simple profession, but it had ended up being perfect for him. He was constantly utilizing it and it never required extra attention. He wasn’t tracking down specific resources to gather, or hunkering down to learn how to craft new things, he was just doing what he would have been doing anyway while reaping extra rewards. More of the same wouldn’t get any complaints from him. Just keep it nice and simple.
However, Scavenging had also given him two new quests. The first, Fortune Seeker, would progress each time he looted a new variety of normal enemy. He had received credit for the Enraged Defenders, Marauding Prowlers, and Frenzied Excavators so far. The second quest, Trophy Hunter, asked him to loot five bosses. Felrog counted as the first. Hopefully, the rewards would continue to enhance the simple process of collecting rewards from Scavenging while he did his own thing. He didn’t want anything that complicated his profession.
He’d also collected over 500,000 basic credits already, again thanks to Scavenging, which put him well on his way to purchasing the medical center. He thought the service might even help them during the siege, so he made a mental note to be slightly more attentive to his notifications in order to purchase it as soon as he could.
His spatial storage had accumulated a massive amount of materials. He had over 15,000 Rage Cores and 10,000 Stealth Scales, and already a bit over 10,000 Hysteria Barbs, all Rare materials from the first three monster waves. He also had some Legendary rank materials from the Field Boss, this time called Soul Destruction Gems and Soul Guardian Crystals as well as five Rare Perfect Soul Dredgers.
Coop was still hoarding the materials with higher rarities, but he might dump them on the new Blacksmith after the event, assuming the artisan was still there. He hoped the destroyed Fletcher and Bowyer hadn’t taken a portion of the Uncommon materials with them when the system dragged them back. He’d consult with Marcus about what other services to recruit with all the materials in mind.
He was surprised any of the service buildings had been destroyed at all, but judging by the difference in precautions the buildings displayed, he figured they had just cheaped out on the fortifications of their already cheap services. It probably wasn’t worth the investment for them to be as secure as the Library, Tavern, and Training Yard appeared to be. Of course, Balor’s relatively cheap place was unusually protected, but the stonemason had admitted this was his first time in an assimilation, so he might have over prepared because he didn’t want to be sent home early. Coop hoped they wouldn’t lose any more of the services that they had recruited before the event was over.
Meanwhile, his stats just kept escalating. It had become pure instinct to shove all of his points into Mind as soon as the light of a level engulfed him, and he had been adding a lot of points. The mental action didn’t interrupt his fighting at all and the slight increases in strength and speed were always welcome in combat. 910 Mind and 940 effective Strength had to be completely unmatched at this point. Even his 485 effective Body and Agility were probably pushing the limit of those who hyper-invested in a single stat. The numbers were already beyond what others could achieve with a balanced build, even considering the additional stats from leveling a profession. He was actually approaching 800 levels worth of stats in total.
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A level 50 with a level 50 profession who invested into a single stat could still match him in just Body or Agility, and that would be before factoring in any bonuses that they might have received from titles, skills, or gear. Plus, he was really comparing himself to monsters like Felrog, who had stats that clearly exceeded a mere 5 per level and seemed to have an expectation to battle armies instead of one person at a time. Whatever cocktail had borne Field Boss tier monsters was clearly more potent than the mana accumulation of an individual human.
Another surprise development in his status was the Vanquisher title. The title didn’t have any bonuses, but it claimed to have primed him for special upgrades in the future. There had been a system quest that reminded him of his experience on the oil rig where he had to cleanse the infestation that yielded the title when he cleared the hive.
The quest was to defeat 200 Elite Ruin Excavators and the Field Boss in charge of the hive. He had dealt with the elites while he was in the pearlescent chamber, underground, and Felrog was obviously no more.
It seemed like the hive was the equivalent of the oil rig in the eyes of the system. Coop had some regret about clearing the golf course when he did. He was willing to bet that if it had developed further it would have turned into a dungeon equivalent as well, but he had to conclude that there were other areas outside of settlement territory that were accumulating enough mana to generate elites, then a Field Boss. In fact, it wouldn’t be a shock to learn that a hive left alone for a long enough period would develop into something even greater. In any case, he got the Dauntless title out of crushing the Tracker’s developing stronghold anyway, so it was worth it.
All of that progress and he still felt a twinge of disappointment. It was too bad the event monsters weren’t counting toward any Slayer quest chains. He’d be absolutely swimming in quest completions if they did. It hurt his sense of efficiency to grind normal monsters without the additional bonuses, even if the levels were rolling in regardless. Coop shook his head at his own greed.
Coop turned when his Presence of Mind detected someone approaching, interrupting his musings. Practicing with Fog of War had made him better at maintaining his aura already.
Madison approached with a clear purpose, but he was still surprised when she pressed the palm of her hand against his forehead, as if she was checking his temperature. Her angel wings barely appeared as she seemed to take a diagnostic of Coop’s health with several disappointed hums.
Her wings increased their intensity and her halo appeared as she healed his injuries one by one. He didn’t dare interrupt her, relieved as he was to be rid of the pain of the fresh injuries. It took some time for her to fix each wound.
She stepped back when she was done, letting her magic fade. “You’re the easiest patient I’ve ever had.” She tapped her lips with a finger, apparently recalling the treatment she just applied. “It seems like you’re always at full health, so I just need to stitch you back up.”
“How does your healing work, anyway?” Coop wondered as he testingly opened and closed his left fist, on the arm that had been useless minutes before, satisfied that he was as good as new.
“Well, it’s not magic.” She responded, anticipating Coop’s incredulity. “It’s the same process as if you went to a hospital. Mana is a tool that combines most of the processes into one. No need for a clinical history, referrals, expensive tests, calibrated machines, trials, or best of all, insurance. I just diagnose and apply treatment by manually controlling my mana and having it interact with the mana that’s already present to encourage the natural healing processes.”
Coop looked at her skeptically. “Sounds like magic.”
“It wouldn’t work if I didn’t already know how your body works.” She argued defensively. “I would drain my mana pool trying to heal a papercut if I just flooded it with mana all willy-nilly, and your finger would be just as likely to fall off rather than be fixed.”
Coop didn’t like imagining his finger falling off, but he was amused by her proud attitude, he knew she had earned it through education and experience. “Alright, I already knew you were impressive when you turned into an angel descending from the heavens to save everyone.”
“Well, I try.” She preened.
Emmanuel, who was making sure Madison wasn’t disturbed by any monsters, chimed in from behind. “Did you see how high she got? I tossed her!” He laughed as he underhand tossed an impossible heavy looking boulder of coral rock, smashing an Excavator that got too close.
Madison harrumphed. “Don’t say that while you throw that rock around, I don’t like the comparison it draws.” Emmanuel just laughed as he retrieved the boulder to continue crushing monsters. “Anyway,” she continued, “the boss phantom sent a message along. He said to hurry up and get back underground and do whatever you were doing until the big spider dragged you out. He’ll send a messenger when he’s ready for you to come out again.”
Coop involuntarily sighed as he recast Salvation, bringing his ethereal armor back. The morning star remained. The stacks of Soul Degradation were completely gone, so he didn’t have to worry about the mana cost and he had recovered his full mana pool after Felrog’s defeat thanks to his Reaper title anyway.
Madison nodded sympathetically. “No rest for the wicked.”
She perked up as if she remembered something, “Oh!” Then she stepped up to Coop and booped his nose with her finger.
“Huh?” Coop was bemused, unsure how to respond.
Madison scowled. “Don’t look at me like that. You’re the one that told us to level our professions. I have to remember to use Basic Mending while I’m weaving actual medical miracles.”
Emmanuel chimed in with his own question as the monsters momentarily cleared out. “Did we all get the Dauntless II title? Second group to defeat a Field Boss?”
Coop double checked his titles, but his was still just Dauntless. “What’s the bonus?” He wondered.
“+90% damage to bosses.” Emmanuel responded as he hefted his boulder to his shoulder like it was essentially weightless. Coop was surprised to learn there were also tiered titles.
Madison responded first. “I believe everyone in the settlement received it, just like the levels, now c’mon dear, back to the bridge.” Emmanuel grunted as he tossed his boulder forward, defeating another monster and waved casually to Coop. Madison followed, unharried by the tide of monsters being kept at bay by the man and his rock. Coop noticed Jett’s tail at the edge of his vision following Madison, apparently she was satisfied with her contribution and ready to retire from the battle. He supposed she earned it.
Coop had to get back to it. He hustled, knowing that they needed to get the monsters under control as soon as possible with Jett taking a break. If they didn’t stop the monsters at the sinkhole, they might get into the fort and become more difficult to remove, especially with other waves pressing them. For now, the midrange fighters weren’t letting any escape, but they didn’t have the sustain to keep it up forever. Coop would be able to relieve the pressure on everyone once he got back to the grind.
Inside the fort’s walls, he found groups of phantoms, standing guard. A quick greeting revealed that they were the cannoneers from the second and third floors. They had been reassigned to make sure the monsters didn’t form any nests inside the dark corridors, so even that was under control at the moment. The fourth floor cannon teams remained in their positions.
Coop was beginning to realize that the Chosen of the Empire who had believed he was simply the muscle of the settlement may have been correct after all.
He made his way into the basement and back to the pearlescent hive chamber and returned to his whack-a-mole strategy. Luckily, there were no elites to complicate the encounters with their ranged attacks, so he quickly found a rhythm until he had fully established another domain with Fog of War.
Physically, he felt good. The relief of being healed of his injuries was enough to get him started. Each crushing slam yielded a satisfying crunch as he slipped back into a berserker mode that reveled in his strength and endurance. He needed the hype, because mentally, his weariness was growing. He needed a nap.
The siege event would only get more difficult as time went on if things continued as they had been. At least his focus could remain on doing as much damage to the invaders as possible. He didn’t envy the people he had delegated leadership positions to with the additional mental pressure of greater tactical decisions.
Fog of War blocked the entire chamber’s access to the sinkhole. He’d take control of a quarter of the entire wave of monsters. The fog skill itself was powerful, but slow to establish itself, expensive, weak to disruption, and had a long cooldown as a result. Increasing his Intelligence would impact all of its shortcomings, but never eliminate them. Still, having it be strong enough to withstand Felrog’s draft as he charged through would have been amazing. He would have been able to pick the boss apart if it was lost in his mist. As it stood, he’d have trouble maintaining a thick fog against the ocean breeze on the surface.
The way it synergized with Presence of Mind was a huge boon that truly exploded its potential. Without the massive feedback provided inside the domain of fog, it would primarily be a defensive utility that would provide camouflage and a break in the fight. Knowing exactly what everything was doing inside the fog turned him into a terror that could hunt his disoriented victims at his leisure.
The Frenzied Excavators that were unlucky enough to spawn in the chamber that he had claimed had no chance. They entered the fog, rushing toward the open cavern, in order to reach the surface and attack the shard, but they only escaped the fog after they were turned back into mana smoke.
Coop spent the rest of the day in his misty domain, fighting until it was dark again. He awaited the messengers that would be sent by Gideon.
He was surprised when Mr. Gibson showed up with his full party, along with over a hundred others. Most of them were phantoms, but some were new residents that had come to avoid joining Empress City. Coop stepped out of his fog bank, losing his connection with it, but letting it continue to ensnare respawning Excavators.
“Champion.” Gibson acknowledged as he gaped at the vast, illuminated chambers and the darkness at the edges.
“Gibson.” Coop responded. “What’s with the troops?”
“We’re here to relieve you.” He looked back as the rest of the squad continued to stream through the pearlescent tunnel. “Captain Shane’s having a strategy meeting at the shard.”
“Alright.” Coop looked at the faces of the new residents. They all seemed determined, but tired. “Not quite the welcome party you were hoping for, huh?”
Gibson shook his head firmly. “It’s been far better than we hoped actually. You under-sold the place.” Gibson stated with the agreement of some of the other residents. “We’re glad to be here and have no intention of letting these monsters ruin it.”
Coop accepted Gibson’s declaration as the others vocalized their solidarity. He quit feeding Fog of War his mana, letting it begin to dissipate as he walked back to his combat area.
“Maybe we’ll have that party after this thing’s done.” He suggested over his shoulder. Once his fog thinned enough, the newcomers started gaping at the sight of the other chambers with their glowing blue pillars reflecting off the smooth surfaces, and the intimidating hole in the center that separated them.
Coop went back to smashing for a few minutes, clearing the hundreds of Excavators that had been stuck in his fog, then headed back to the surface to get his update, leaving the rest to his companions.