Unchosen Champion-Chapter 343: Mana Seed
A low hiss escaped from between Coop’s teeth as he sat up and sought to check his injuries. The final boss fight of the mana well was over, but it had proven to be more perilous than he was comfortable with, especially compared to the ease with which he had been able to intensify his grinds along the way. The sixth layer of the Coral Forest was no joke, just like all of his companions had cautioned, but sometimes Coop was the type that had to confront a challenge for himself.
Even if he was ultimately victorious, he could recognize when he bit off more than he could chew, and this had been one of those times. The Enigma was something he should have left alone until he had progressed further, but in his single minded focus toward completing the second phase of his plan, he had let himself press on.
If he was being honest with himself, he had to acknowledge that it was exactly his insistence to face the challenges that presented themselves that had empowered his progress in the first place. He couldn’t consider himself Champion if he wasn’t willing to do that much, but his sturdy class transformed anxiety-inducing threats into opportunities for him and his settlement. That still didn’t mean his actions were necessarily wise.
As he felt pangs from the bout that had left him bloodied, and echoes of the possession that had shaken his core to end the fight, a normal person would have probably reconsidered their actions. Coop, on the other hand, had no real regrets, though maybe the timing had been off. He tried to assess the consequences of his grit, carefully appraising the damage.
In order to have a glance at his lower back, where he had been struck by the Enigma’s spikes, he had to twist uncomfortably and peek over his shoulder. First he tried the wrong side, drawing his breath between his teeth as he stretched, before turning the opposite way.
It didn’t help that he was feeling slightly unsteady, making the contortion even more awkward. He was finding it difficult to keep his muscles from shaking from the fatigue of wielding the apparition’s power. His whole body was vibrating, numb from the exertion. In the past, he probably would have passed out already, so that was some consolation.
He winced, sharp pain coming suddenly, as he traced the three nasty gashes carved into the meat of his lower back. The swollen bruises ringing his tender flesh looked really bad to him, but it wasn’t like he was a doctor. Thankfully, they had stopped bleeding almost immediately, first being staunched by the infusion of mists until he exhausted his resources, then sealing after he gained the levels granted for defeating the boss.
Seeing as his health was trending in a positive direction, he was satisfied. His unprofessional opinion was that he would live. He resummoned his damaged ethereal armor, protecting his vulnerable wounds, and he was ready to go again.
If it wasn’t for mana, he would certainly end up with some pretty gnarly scars, if he would have survived at all. Though the scars might have given him more character, he was glad to leave the constant reminders of the battles he was fighting in the past. When he took his proper place in a hammock on the beach, he wouldn’t need to look back. He sighed as he monetarily fantasized about a peaceful future.
In any case, given the location of the damage, he doubted he would get full value if he ever needed to sell a kidney. “What a shame.” He whispered, writing off one of his fallback plans as no longer feasible.
He figured that he should probably avoid challenging more bosses of unknown level until he was both fully healed up and closer to the limits available within the assimilation. For now, he was covered in his own blood, sweat, and the sooty grime of the environment. That wasn’t an altogether terrible result, especially considering the audacity he had in forcing the contest with the boss of the coral abyss in the first place. It had apparently been undiminished by the settlement upgrade and the mustering of the abyssal phantoms, leaving it particularly strong in an already powerful domain.
Coop looked around, listening to the hydrothermal vents buzzing in the distance behind him. There was only one source of mana nearby, and it caught his eye immediately, practically glowing with energy in the dim haze of smoke and mana. He didn’t need mana sight to recognize a font of power. Energy radiated from an indentation in the bottom of the well, almost like the equivalent of a blue sun desperate to extend the day even after it sank deeper beyond the horizon. It was obviously responsible for the progression of the boss.
The slate floor had been marred by the creation of the Enigma’s domain, resulting in a perfectly circular cutout, just a few inches deep at the edges, that was already filling with a thin layer of gray ash. Coop sat near the center for a moment, just his head poking above the surface, admiring the scenery after mitigating his concern toward his wounds.
While the circular depression was impressive, it would disappear from the habitat in a matter of hours as the ash rained down from the dark clouds of mana smoke sealing the layer from the rest. When the mana well inevitably grew, hydrothermal vents would claim the area, creating mineral build ups that erased the evidence of the creature that had dominated the Coral Forest while he and his allies barely scratched the surface. Coop supposed that the lower ranked Faders of the final layer of the mana well would still represent on behalf of the Enigma while the domain expanded.
Coop groaned as he shifted, already feeling sore as he eased back up to his feet. He attempted to wipe off some of the smudges that had collected on his skin with the back of his fingers. To his chagrin, he only succeeded in smearing the dark stains further across body, making it look like he was a mechanic that had been the victim of a workshop disaster. He really needed a bath.
On the bright side, the venom he had been afflicted by when he was stung faded relatively quickly, frontloading its damage before being broken down by its victims. Still, he couldn’t completely credit his magic defenses for holding up to the overleveled opponent since the initial attack had come from what seemed like magically enhanced manifestations of tentacles rather than a purely physical assault. He clicked his teeth at his armor, thinking his Salvation skill needed to shape up.
The result of the bout with the Enigma further illustrated his need to get stronger, and not just by a little bit. Even what he saw as his biggest advantage in the passive bonuses provided by his investment into Mind had been barely up to the task of keeping him alive, and he was anticipating future enemies of much greater strength than an individual creature holed up in what was effectively his own backyard.
While the mutated Portuguese man of war had certainly accumulated a significant number of levels, Coop found it unacceptable that it was nearly a match for him. At this point, even though his level was reset, he was far stronger than any previous iteration of himself. In fact, he was confident that he had surpassed the hypothetical version of the Revenant that just continued leveling at a steady pace without any interruption.
Skills used stats as a base for their multipliers. If a person had 250 Strength, then used an ability, the damage would be much more than a simple 250 Strength strike. If the skill was upgraded several times, Coop could even imagine someone matching his own passive Strength with such relatively low stats, but only for a single attack. However, that was the trade off he had always accepted. He was, afterall, basically just throwing his spear and swinging his swords with his own raw stats. As big as his stat totals were, he needed to keep accumulating more, but if he succeeded, his baseline would rise to the level of others’ multiplied abilities. That had been the original vision, anyway.
He couldn’t simply match his opponents in terms of stats, he had to exceed them dramatically. While it seemed like he was on the right track when compared to others who started their progression at the same time as him, whether they were Primal Construct manifestations or other humans, he felt like the Enigma had introduced a seed of doubt that told him he would never rise to the extent necessary to match the abilities of someone like Lyriel who claimed she would be the equivalent of someone over level 80,000.
Maybe the creature had been closer to that extreme than he imagined. It had been enjoying the absolute maximum amount of mana provided by the Coral Forest since Day 1 of the assimilation, but that wasn’t enough to be a valid excuse in his mind. How many levels could that have resulted in? Coop put his thinking cap on as he worked through it with his hands on his hips, stretching his neck back and forth to stem off the stiffness before he moseyed on.
The mana well, at its most minimal, provided the local mutated creatures with approximately two levels a day, and it had been slightly more than 200 days. The absolute premiere location within the domain would certainly deliver significantly more, so he’d definitely guess higher than level 400. He would expect Charlie and Camila to be able to detect levels of at least 600, if not more, given their levels and experience. So, he felt like it stood to reason that the Enigma was even higher than that, since even its elite ranked peers had presented them with question marks instead of levels.
If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
Then there was the reward. Specifically, the haul of basic credits. The Enigma yielded 4.4 million credits upon its defeat. Coop raised his eyebrows as he considered the amount, recognizing that it was a seriously huge sum of credits. In fact, it was more than triple what the level 500 Omega Construct Region Boss had granted him.
“No way.” Coop shook his head as he drew a conclusion for the Enigma’s level that seemed unrealistic. Credit yields didn’t seem to directly correspond with levels anyway, and different ranked enemies almost certainly followed different rules, but he thought they trended down, not up. Was it even possible that the Enigma was over level 1,500? 2,500? At this point in the assimilation, that would almost guarantee it had been among the highest levels of any creature on the planet.
“Nah.” He concluded with a dismissive shake of his head. He decided it was probably closer to 600. That made way more sense to him.
Still, he ended up groaning to himself, feeling disappointed for a number of reasons. The first was that he had been rather severely wounded. His weakness was frustrating. The second was that such an overleveled creature had only yielded eight levels. The level mismatch was wide enough that the system clearly didn’t expect a contest to be reasonable, suggesting a Valor title had been in the cards if he didn’t already have a more impressive victory, but he won anyway, so he felt like he should have been duly rewarded.
“Not even a title upgrade. What a scam.” He muttered, recognizing that he had fully slammed into the upper limit of his experience window when matching up against the Enigma. The whole reason why he had limited his grinds to opponents within a certain range was to avoid wasting experience in exactly this way. It felt like he had gone to a buffet, filled his plate, and only been able to eat a small portion. His hunger wasn’t satisfied but his stomach was full.
The Enigma was probably a Siege Boss at best, judging by the haul of experience. If it had been a being that was integrating into the galactic community, whether human, animal, or alien, Coop imagined that it would have provided the maximum 25 levels, given its strength, but because it was effectively a ‘mob’ it was treated like the Primal Construct invader manifestations.
He checked his status, wondering exactly where he had landed in terms of progress. The coral abyss had been slower, with less enemy kills than any of the previous layers, but they had been slightly higher level on average, so it should have evened out.
[Status]
HP - 22848/47360
MP - 10642/181440
Class - Revenant (Level 332)
Profession - Scavenging (Level 424)
Affinity - Spectral, Abyssal
Race - Human (Icon)
Faction - The Lighthouse
Strength - 200 (+9072)
Agility - 200 (+4536)
Body - 200 (+4536)
Mind - 6720 (+2352)
Updat𝓮d from frёewebnoѵēl.com.
Intelligence - 200 (+9072)
Acumen - 200 (+4536)
Unallocated - 0
Titles - Champion V, Haunted, Ethereal, Reaper II, Slayer XI, Dauntless, Defiant, Stalwart, Reckless, Stacked, Valor XXIV, Siegebreaker, Underking, Mindbender, Insane
Skills (Active) - Mistwalking
Skills (Passive) - Depths of Madness
Quests - Fortune Seeker (27/50), Upgrade Metropolis to Global Capital
Basic Credits - 121,351,671
As much of a stat monster as he had become, the Enigma had proven that he had yet to rise to the point where he was truly dominant. He still imagined that the highest levels of the contracted alien residents were effectively untouchable based on raw stats alone. If he wanted to reach the heights demonstrated within the galactic community, he still had a ways to go.
It wasn’t that Coop wanted to have that security for himself, it was that he wanted to make sure he was a big enough threat to those who thought they did. If he was strong enough, no one would mess with Ghost Reef. That’s where his mind went when he viewed such excessive progress. More would be better. He still needed to be stronger.
Perhaps it was time for him to start considering how to expand on his build. Pretty soon, he would be forging ahead on the Path of the Abyss. A few skills with the multipliers he was lacking might be pivotal. The traits of the Mistwalker were already in place, and his machine of stats wouldn’t be going away. Maybe he could truly capitalize with a few active abilities, but he had to reach level 525 first. It was something to keep in the back of his mind.
He checked the leaderboards as well, fully expecting to see his name back where it would be noticed.
Day 203
Charlie Seraphin (Level 357) Platinum (Level 352) Camila Alvarez (Level 351) Sila Tupua (Level 341) Imara (Level 340) Coop (Level 332) Wangmo Thaye (Level 330) Kitwana (Level 329) Cole Walker (Level 329) Tzultacaj (Level 329) Coop nodded to himself, feeling like a victory over a boss as powerful as the Enigma was an appropriate achievement to propel himself back into the top 10. His progress may have slowed slightly based on the challenge he was facing, but he was inevitable.
He was still blasting through the levels compared to the standards set by the galactic community. Less than one level per day would have been first-class after 200 days if humans were a regular integrating species.
Still, it seemed like the top end of the human delegation was slowing down a bit compared to when they were all hyped up about claiming the top spot for themselves. A chuckle escaped from his throat, knowing exactly what they were experiencing. Diminishing returns were a hell of a thing, and he wasn’t the only one that had to contend with them.
He honestly thought that anything beyond three levels a day for the first 200 days was probably near impossible, not only difficult or unexpected, just based on the concentrations of active mana available throughout the assimilation. The ever increasing demands toward higher and higher levels meant that they would all naturally slow down as they pushed the limits. Eventually, a rate of even a single level each day would become unattainable for them as well, but with the way Earth’s assimilation was going, it seemed like humans would stretch as high as possible before succumbing to any soft limits created by the failure of their enemies to keep up.
It was honestly amazing that so many people were chasing such feats of advancement. Unlike previous iterations of the leaderboard, a huge number of individuals were competing at or near the top 10. Even well into the top 1000, people were within striking range of the top of the leaderboard, with literally only a dozen levels of separation between huge bulks of people.
Apparently, Coop’s ‘demise’ had been a solid motivator for a massive number of competitors. In the last 20 or so days, it seemed like tens of millions had gained between 25 and 50 levels. It was all good stuff from team humanity, and basically the equivalent of another settlement event in terms of progression, but he wasn’t sure how he felt about so many responding to his death with so much eager self-improvement.
Coop dismissed the lists after trying to look at the results in a positive light. He shrugged, deciding it was finally time to check out the mana seed. The thing was over in the dark, blowing all kinds of smoke, just begging for his attention. He rotated his shoulder as he walked forward, keeping an eye out for more Faders, but without the Enigma, the whole area was devoid of life.
He hummed in contemplation to himself, impressed, as he stood over the heart of the Coral Forest. The core was nothing more than a beautiful, uncut, alien gemstone. It was almost exactly like the Spectral relic that he had claimed after defeating the Zombie Lord and placed inside of the lighthouse, though clearly of a different affinity. The main difference was in the coloration. The Coral Forest was powered by a seething stone, black as midnight, yet strangely translucent. Inside, it pulsed with the deep blues, greens, and purples swirling within unending depths, all trapped inside of a fist sized rock.
The bedrock where it rested was slowly turning to smoke. The earthen ground hissed as it eroded and evaporated so that the mana seed could continue on its gradual journey onward and under, still carrying some tiny amount of momentum from its initial crash landing from who knows how many lightyears away. The mana permeated the sediment while also being released into the atmosphere, though he knew it came back up through the various vents throughout the domain.
Luckily, before Coop got any bright ideas regarding how to snatch up the treasure, a system prompt appeared, asking for confirmation on his claim of the mana well. When he accepted, a secondary set of feedback windows appeared due to his status as Champion of a settlement and the location of the well within his territory. He took his time reading through the messages, realizing that claiming the Coral Forest on behalf of Ghost Reef was almost certainly a boon to the settlement as a whole. So long as it was within Ghost Reef territory, it would remain theirs, no matter who claimed it, like a fully bonded offshoot, more intertwined than a mere outpost.
While there were several options for what he could do with it, if he just left it alone, the seed would generate ‘a considerable’ amount of mana for the civilization shard so long as they remained in control. Coop rubbed his chin, wondering if they had struck gold.
