Chapter 124: Passing the Torch
“I found the first sapphire jewel right over there.” Coop attested as he pointed to the empty divot in the middle of the mana bath. The flow of mana was barely detectable, but if they looked closely, they could see that a pocket had formed in the center of the next coral platform. Shane and Arthur diligently took note.
Coop was playing the role of tour guide for Shane’s party as he retraced the steps he took in navigating the Coral Forest. They were only at the start, descending from the entrance and arriving at the coral platform where he encountered the first One That Hunts.
After Coop had explained the nature of the scavenger hunt inside the mana well, the Illusionist had immediately spotted one of the lower quality jewels hidden within a stream of water that fell from the entrance that Coop had missed on his initial run. One of the perks of utilizing the well would be the availability of some of the more difficult to acquire materials. The fact that they could contribute just as much as Coop left them enthusiastic to take up the task.
The mana bath that had contained the jewel was already reoccupied by one of the shrimp monsters. This one had a fire engine red carapace and was alert enough to face the group of intruders even before they moved toward its claimed territory. Coop inspected it, checking its current level to see if he needed to help Shane’s party defeat it.
[One That Hunts (Level 63)]
[(Agility)]
[Of The Feast]
Level 63 was slightly higher than the average level of his companions, but it was pretty close to even. Since this was the first monster he had defeated when he began his expedition into the mana well, he expected it to be the highest level of the respawns. His preliminary conclusion was that they defaulted to one level a day when they spawned, wherever in the depths they were coming from, then received more at a rapid pace once they claimed a mana bath, maybe up to two levels a day. Of course, variable mana quantities would probably have some impact on their rates of growth, but he was ballparking things for the sake of his estimations.
It was day 60 and this specimen was slightly outpacing the baseline, but if it started at level 55 when it claimed the spot, its current level would be more or less in line with Coop’s expectations. It may have needed to fight to claim the spot first, delaying its mana accumulation a bit. Either way, it was certainly within range of Shane’s party and hadn’t evolved to the variants that Coop had battled. It was smaller and only had the two claws to defend itself with, exactly like the ones Coop had seen when he first entered the well, months previously.
“They really are much lower level.” Shane confirmed as they stood on the ledge, shoulder to shoulder. The relief he was feeling was obvious in his voice. The first time they entered, they spent more than a day just to end up finding monsters that were so far above them, their levels were presented as question marks. They stayed near the entrance to the well, but only found specimens they didn’t dare engage with.
“Come on, you doubted me?” Coop feigned indignity. “I wouldn’t set you guys up like that.”
Arthur nodded. “Five more levels and we’d be out of our depth, and we all know you barely pay attention to levels. You don’t need to be as mindful as the rest of us when it comes to those gaps.” Coop thought that was probably true given that his stats hardly reflected his class level, but he was way more conscientious than that when it came to his friends. Sure, he’d be willing to challenge just about anything to the point that he occasionally took unnecessary risks, but it was mostly because he saw those challenges as opportunities when they came up. Even he would hesitate when it came to double question mark enemies, as long as he had a way out. Not to mention, he paid attention when the monster levels became too low to give him experience.