Chapter 149: Grind Therapy
The airport’s wide corridors had been engulfed by darkness as the evening settled in. The extraordinarily tall windows once provided excellent viewing of what was a bustling taxiway for passenger planes. Instead, they only displayed a thick, cloudy evening with the barest hints of daylight seeping through a lingering haze as Coop passed the transparent panes.
In the distance, along the inner ring’s still intact wall, torches were pinpricks of light surrounded by large orange halos as rebels took up the watch, preparing for the night. Coop suspected that the overcast weather was a direct result of the smoke that had accumulated during the conflict between the Endless Empire and the revolutionaries. Now that the fighting had ceased, hopefully the ocean breezes would be enough to carry the smothering reminder of the violence away. He hoped they would be able to move on as quickly as possible.
Coop took his time as he moved through the dark, peering into every nook and cranny that he passed, searching for lingering Chosen while engaging Presence of Mind to detect auras. He wouldn’t put it past some obsessive fanatic to maintain their affiliation with the Endless Empire and try to infiltrate the transferred settlement on their behalf, but the airport terminals were devoid of life. If any of them planned to play hero for the Empire, they weren’t aiming to slip into the midst of the new tenants by hiding behind enemy lines. Coop frowned as he considered that he probably already killed the most likely candidates to take on such a task out on the highway.
Even the fact that Coop didn’t find anyone hiding in the recesses frustrated him. He’d been trying to return to his normal self, outwardly projecting his acceptance of the situation, but he felt like he had some pent up energy. He shook his head at himself. Frankly, he still felt bitter and irritable about the savagery he had taken part in. After he had been forced to temper his emotions to avoid completely raining on the revolution’s parade, in the quiet solitude that the corridors provided, he had a chance to reflect on the incongruity of the desire to take out his frustrations through even more violence when that was at least partially the cause of his distress in the first place.
It was good that there weren’t any of the Empire’s Chosen slinking around the interior of the airport, for his sake almost as much as theirs. Camila was probably right about him being too far from the beach; he was missing the sense of stability he derived from Ghost Reef, from having a routine that included regular sleep and food, and his own form of grinding meditation, all keeping him grounded. He stretched his neck in an effort to relieve the tension, but it wouldn’t go away completely without more time.
“It is what it is.” He muttered to the empty shadows, trusting that he was stronger than he had been before.
When he reached the series of perimeter security checkpoints that isolated the terminals he stopped and began channeling a thin, almost invisible Fog of War that would fill the interior of the airport. Standing still with his eyes closed, but with his status open, he tried to put himself into a state of calmness, like he was actually meditating. Slow deep breaths accompanied by deliberate relaxation of his muscles, starting from his toes, moving up his legs, all the way up his whole body until he was loosening the scowl that had been embedded on his face since frustration and fury had embroiled his emotional state.
Even though he was trying to manipulate his bonus stats with Mindbending, he immediately came to the conclusion that it wouldn’t be so easy to properly manage his state of mind. It seemed like something that would only happen when he was less conscious of his desire for altering his stats. His channel completed before his bonus stats could reveal any of their flexibility. It would certainly take more than a whim to influence the mental stats. When he hit upon a sudden triumphant discovery, they typically came when he was completely focused in a fight, and most of the time he was desperate to make something specific happen. Overthinking almost seemed detrimental. The earliest example came when he revealed his ability to mistjump, but even properly coordinating with his phantasms had been under similar circumstances.
“I can’t force it.” Coop conceded to himself as he let the Fog of War sweep over his senses through Presence of Mind. He’d find an opportunity to grind monsters and that’s when he’d better explore his abilities.
The main, open sections of the airport were almost completely empty. Almost, because he detected a quiet stalker, slowly weaving between baggage scanners before moseying into the interior of the last one in a row of a dozen, within what seemed like a forgotten corner of the once bustling security checkpoint. It definitely wasn’t human, as it moved on all fours with a lumbering gait and had a fuzzy tail. Coop was pretty sure that there was a chubby cat sneaking around the airport. Of course, Coop detoured to say hello.
Coop jogged over to the security checkpoint before slowing down and approaching the last x-ray scanning machine. He gently flipped the protective rubber cover away from the entrance to the little hideout in an effort to avoid scaring the resident. When he stuck his face in front of the opening to see the kitty, he jumped backwards as it stood up on its hindlegs, leaning backwards inside of its tunnel, against some abandoned luggage. It was trying to make itself seem larger and more intimidating, and let out a deep growl, followed by a bark and even more raspy growls.
“Whoa!” Coop reacted to the growls with surprise.