Chapter 21: Elite Raiders
Coop ended up spending the night at the Clumsy Shark. He learned a lot from Maeve.
The baths were magical, literally. They had magical water that maintained its temperature for as long as it was used. Coop’s only complaint was that the tub was basically a large barrel. He either had to tuck in his knees or let his feet hang over the opposite edge.
Coop ended up asking why all the system constructions and furnishings were so archaic. Maeve explained that the buildings weren’t designed by the system at all. The medieval stylings were representative of the more primitive galactic standard than what humanity had developed. The vast majority of the universe was at a much lower technological level when they received mana when compared to humans. She wasn’t sure if this was because humans had more time to develop without mana, or if there was something special about humanity itself. After the introduction of mana, further innovation generally takes a different direction.
Apparently, Jones had been open with sharing all of humanity’s secrets. Maeve had even used what she learned to manipulate Coop into the bath! Jones had taught her human grooming habits, how they sweat, and all sorts of other things, then knowing that humans would be self conscious, she called Coop stinky. Coop felt a little betrayed by Jones.
As an apology and to make things even between them, Maeve shared some things about her own species. Apparently, they were one that tried to hide their alien features to just look generically humanoid. There was sort of a galactic midpoint for alien morphology that would be familiar to most of the factions, and in Coop’s opinion, the standard was suspiciously human.
In Maeve’s case, many societies had felt the echoes of her species’ existence during their pre-mana histories, and most had a negative predisposition toward them as a result. Even humans weren’t an exception. She and Desmond were apparently a type of demon. She promised Coop she wasn’t after his soul, unless he was offering.
Coop still thought she looked like an elf, but he discovered the tail that she kept hidden and the tiny horns hidden underneath her thick bangs and accepted that she was indeed a demon. Add some wings and there wouldn’t be any doubt. He didn’t think being a demon would be any more of a problem than being an alien when it came to humans though.
Maeve also told him about the contracts they used to earn a place in settlements. They had to submit their establishment details to the system and if they were accepted they would be put on standby. If a settlement requested their service they would receive a quest from the system to operate on the new planet. Accepting the quest resulted in their true bodies being held in a protected stasis by the system while a manifestation of themselves was sent to the planet. Their skills were limited, though not so much inside of their domains, and they couldn’t be killed for the duration of the contract as they would simply return to their true bodies instead.
The contract would last until the planet’s assimilation was completed or if they were forced to return early, which could happen if their settlement was conquered or defeated in some other way. If they stayed to the end they would be offered to either return to their true body or vice versa, remaining on the planet.
Many factions participated in the process to try and get a foothold on a new planet without paying for sponsorships, but it was a gamble whether or not it paid off. There was no good way to predict the disposition of whichever faction ended up with control of the settlement or the planet. The safer bet was usually the planetary sponsor, but in Earth’s case that would be less than ideal as the Primal Constructs had no interest in sharing, to a genocidal degree.
Earth wasn’t the first baby planet that Maeve and Desmond had worked on, but they had never arrived so early in the process. Maeve explained that they hadn’t remained on the other planets because Champions tended to be real bastards. Give a random primitive being a bit of authority and they suddenly believe they are entitled to whatever they want. Maeve and Desmond had to remove more than one Champion from their establishment when they overstepped their bounds. The sour relationships generally hurt their business prospects, so they willingly moved on when the contracts expired. If they belonged to a faction they wouldn’t have the independence to move so freely without finding replacements to maintain the establishment.
They were excited about Coop, seeing him as a breath of fresh air compared the inflated egos they had experienced in the past. They attributed his becoming a Champion at all to be a fluke caused by the isolation of the shard. It normally took a certain type of person to take and hold a shard, and Coop wasn’t the type. He had accidentally passed some tests and made an excellent first impression by greeting them properly, treating them with respect, and immediately learning how to pay. Most Champions never paid. Coop appreciated his scavenging profession even more. He could spend five minutes defeating Ancient Defenders and make enough to pay for a week of meals. He guessed other Champions had a harder time.