Chapter 11: Hunting
Once again, Coop woke up before dawn. Jett had taken over his pillow at some point in the night, leaving him flat on the mattress. She had her two front paws pressed against his face while she slept, a smoking gun for how she claimed the pillow. He tried to hang onto his previous night’s motivation and start forming a new, healthy routine.
He splashed some water on his face to further wake himself up. He headed through the mess hall and up the stairs past the mezzanine, all the way to the top. He planned on starting the day with some cardio to warm up.
Coop ran along the top of the fort in what he called his island uniform. A pair of shorts. The tropical weather was too hot for much else. His ethereal gladiator shoes were the only update he had added to his wardrobe since arriving on the island months ago. Real sandals would have been unpleasant to run in at best, but these were like running on a cloud. He never got sand or pebbles trapped in them either. He admired the wonders of magic.
Unfortunately, half the fortress was separated from the other half, so he couldn’t complete a circuit. Instead he had to double back to complete his light jog before dawn heralded the transition from night to day. He caught his breath while watching the sun climb over the ocean. He had an unobstructed view from his vantage leaning on the parapets of the fortress.
He completed his cardio session by stretching next to an old cast iron cannon. The fort may not have really been a work of art the way Balor seemed to think, but it was a really impressive structure regardless. Even the top, which Jones would scold Coop for not knowing the name of, was remarkable. The fort was the thickest at the top, with the interior side extending over the open galleries below. Coop figured the whole thing was wide enough for a four lane highway all the way around the top of the fort walls. It was obvious it hadn’t seen much use in a long time, being covered in scrub grass and sand, but Coop quite liked it that way. Like one of those grass roofs, but the beachy version, and on a castle.
Coop headed back to the interior of the fort and rinsed off in the cold shower, feeling ready to start the day. He joined Jones for breakfast. Jones was running out of the food they wanted to eat before spoiling, so Coop made himself some oatmeal. They discussed future structures to purchase from the settlement interface that could provide food. There had been dozens of options for food services and they were leaning toward one of them being next. But first, Coop was going to farm basic credits and build up some savings for the upgrade cost. He had five days to make 1,000 basic credits. He challenged himself to do it all today.
The Ancient Defenders didn’t stand a chance. Coop left the fort with the intention of wholesale slaughter. He wanted to complete his Defeat 250 Ancient Defenders III quest, and start catching up to that level 10 burrowing owl. Once the quest was done he wanted to expand his horizons a bit and try hunting something new, assuming it wasn’t too far outside his comfort zone. His only experience was with Ancient Defenders so far, and even though he was already twice their average level, he was still wary of biting off more than he could chew. The experience fighting the single elite monster with Jones weighed heavily on his mind. But he knew he would need to move on to stronger enemies eventually if leveling continued to slow down each level.
He stuck with his spear and armor but didn’t conjure the shield. He wanted to move as quickly as possible between monsters to maximize his killing efficiency.
After only a dozen kills he got his first level up notification, but he refused to interrupt his hunt. He was moving faster without his shield, but he still had to pace himself to avoid exhaustion. Three spear strikes was enough to defeat every Ancient Defender he encountered, whether his opening spear throw connected or not. Planting his foot, twisting his hips, he engaged his full body with every attack. Each minor improvement was rewarded by whatever mysterious force that seemed to be subtly guiding his technique. He was forming a personal theory that it had something to do with his Haunted title, imagining a ghostly spearman was instructing him on proper forms and techniques.
After 50 kills he reduced his attack chain to two. His swings had improved to the point that the first was enough to completely dismantle the defense of each monster and the second was free to defeat them. He judged that it had only been an hour.
After 150 kills he was consistently landing his spear throw. His final adjustment to the throw was embarrassingly simple, a matter of accounting for his running gait and timing the throw with his steps rather than vice versa. Before, he was so focused on his arm and his upper body he would force his legs to follow rather than lead, and he would end up stutter-stepping mid run resulting in inconsistent throws.
After 200 kills he was only swinging his spear once, to end the fight, while his spear throw reliably dislodged the creature’s defense. The trick was timing his spear throw so that the creatures didn’t have time to resume their defense before he arrived. He had to throw the spear from much closer than he was before, but the end result was an improvement to both his speed and stamina in addition to better accuracy with the reduced distance.