Chapter 65: The Fearless
Coop accessed the civilization shard and assigned Marcus Rollins to the first advisor position. There was no fanfare, but Marcus stared into space as he was clearly checking his notifications. Coop let him catch up, and instead cycled through some of the shard’s other menus. He wanted to see if he could summon more of Kayla’s fleet. Her crew had worked on modifications to the dock that should be sufficient to add a few more vessel slots, at least. The sooner he recruited them, the sooner they could start getting levels.
The army had its own menu that called for his attention, blinking with a new option. Coop checked it first. A button he didn’t recall seeing before was flashing ‘Reinforcements,’ with a slow rhythm. He mentally pressed it and the shard itself flashed bright red, causing the group to squint and look away. When Coop looked back there was a new group of people standing around the shard, inspecting their own limbs as if they were surprised to be there. The wisps of ghostly vapors that emanated from their forms told him they were more phantoms. Had they already been able to recruit more? The settlement hadn’t had any upgrades yet. He inspected the closest one.
[Spectral Human (Level 1)]
[(Strength)]
[Phantom of Ghost Reef]
Arthur spoke up before Coop figured out what he was looking at. “The seven fallen soldiers.” The analyst promptly recognized. Coop looked again. Seven phantoms stood in front of him, looking relieved. They could respawn? When he considered whether they were minions or not, it had seemed like a possibility, but it wasn’t the sort of thing you banked on. He wouldn’t sacrifice them anyway, especially without knowing the mechanisms at play. What if they only came back once?
One of them, dressed in unfamiliar attire that reminded Coop of Native American clothing, spoke up. “Thank you for the second chance. I won’t let you down.” He promised.
Coop was still unsure. “Uh, are you the same person as before?”
The soldier hesitated and looked at his hands before he looked back up. “I think so?”
Coop just shook his head. “Alright… could you report to someone and make sure nothing is missing, like experience or memories?
“Right away, sir!” The phantoms’ concern seemed to grow to match Coop’s.
“Just don’t die again, I dunno how many times you get to do that. Make sure to train properly this time.”