Chapter 41: The Downbeat
Coop researched curses in the new library until after the sun had gone down.
Unfortunately, it seemed like he wouldn’t be able to cure Jones anytime soon. The rituals were specialized knowledge that required someone with specific affinities to perform successfully. Coop’s spectral affinity wasn’t one that could lead any rituals that removed curses, and blood curses were even more restrictive.
He stood up from the comfortable library seat and stretched his back. The tension in his neck didn’t go away.
He returned the tablet and thanked Shalatha for her help. She barely kept herself from curtsying before he left, she did invite him to come back any time. He thought it would be a good idea to explore the library’s collection thoroughly. There were plenty of questions he would like answered to satisfy his own curiosity around the system and the factions.
For now, he walked through the dark, along the canal, and back to the tavern. He had a date with a warm bath that he had put off for way too long.
Maeve was more than happy to accommodate him, as usual. She led him up the stairs to where she had prepared for him. Once he was in a warm cleansing bath he really, truly understood how badly he needed it. He did his best to relax and reset, but his uneasiness wasn’t so easy to be rid of. He had lingering doubts about his actions, and a growing guilt that threatened to overwhelm him.
Of course, once he was in the bath, he was powerless to stop Maeve from hanging out. She lounged around and asked about his adventure, congratulating him and consoling him when it was appropriate. She validated his choices, especially when he had to fight and kill the Zombie Lord and then the Empire’s Chosen. Killing was nothing special within the galactic community. It wasn’t like most beings died of old age when mana was there to provide agelessness.
Maeve explained that it was miraculous he had become a Champion at all without killing anyone. Normally, fighting to the death for the shard was the first step for a Champion, but he had skipped ahead thanks to their isolation and the cooperation between him and Jones. Coop wouldn’t have fought Jones over the shard at all, no matter the circumstances.
Maeve also calmed his worries about all of the Primal Constructs as well as the Zombies of the offshore oil platform. The thousands that he had killed were minions and minions were fundamentally different from people. They were really system provided entities that had some conditions placed on their presence. The Zombies were minions that could respawn through the Zombie Lord’s skills, and the Primal Constructs he had been fighting were minions that would grow based on mana saturation and respawn based on their spawn rules. Neither of those types of minions retained memories of their lives nor could they form ideas or have a sense of self. Coop just internally classified minions as monsters for his own understanding.
Coop made a note to return to the library and ask about becoming undead. He’d probably take the question straight to Shalatha to avoid being rude to the director once again. He wanted to understand more about their independence, and what prevented them from being minions like the oil rig zombies.
Maeve also reminded Coop that, other than the humans on Earth, no one else could technically be killed at all. The contracted residents were merely manifestations of their true bodies and would simply be returned, so he shouldn’t worry about them. The monsters were manifestations of mana and mana couldn’t be destroyed, so they would return based on conditions set by the system. Even the plants and animals might be saved, though how the system cataloged planets wasn’t Maeve’s particular area of understanding.
Coop felt like the conversation with Maeve finally put his misgivings to bed. He wouldn’t hesitate to continue upon his path when it was challenged by others.