Unchosen Champion

Mr. Gibson had gone by his last name exclusively ever since entering college as a 17 year old kid. Like so many other young people, when he had the chance to reinvent himself after leaving home to attend a university, he took it, shedding the first name that had defined his youth. College was a good time. He had many fond memories and he made valuable connections that led him on a fortunate journey to an extremely early retirement.

Mr. Gibson was responsible for one of the earliest matchmaking algorithms used on the first dating websites. He liked to keep the details of his success a bit mysterious, letting his neighbors believe he had made his money in the stock market as a pioneer in programming, but the truth was he had figured out a way to let computers aid in dating. The ultimate irony was that he had been single his entire life.

Reflecting on his past, he was still happy with his choices. In fact, he secretly believed that his financial success had been set into motion by the simple adjustment to the way people addressed him. It was the first step in being taken seriously enough to pitch his ideas, receive approval, and build his fortune. There weren’t many who were able to retire in their thirties, but he had been one of them. He didn’t really need people to call him Mr. Gibson anymore. Just Gibson was fine.

There was just one problem in his life. Gibson had no hobbies. He secured his fortune, purchasing a modest home in the suburbs that disguised his wealth and he ended up being heavily involved in the neighborhood with nothing else to do. Obviously, he got on some peoples’ nerves, having the free time to keep track of neighborhood business, but for the most part he provided a friendly service to the families that settled in. He was still too young to be retired, but it had been two and a half decades of idle melancholy and petty drama.

“Light’s Vengeance!” Gibson proclaimed under his breath, keeping his incantation to himself, though he smirked with barely suppressed excitement as he felt the enigmatic power flow through him. He gripped his shining sword, celestial blue light leaking between his armored fingers as he flipped the blade so that it pointed straight down, and used both hands to stab it into the ground.

This was what he had been missing from his retired life.

Mud splattered on his face as argent blades erupted from the ground in a cascade beneath his opponent, emanating from his position and moving outward. The light blades shone with magical illumination like some kind of dangerous physical holograms. The normal ant-like Primal Construct was annihilated by his well-practiced skill. Blue and white blades, five times larger than his actual weapon, severed the monster into three segments, destroying it with clean cuts that expanded upwards. Tiny motes of energy leaked from the sharp tips after they were thrust upwards, momentarily standing in the mud like monuments to his victim before disappearing with subtle flashes. He caught himself fully smiling as he checked on his party members.

Eight other Primal Constructs were in various stages of defeat, evaporating into mana smoke or otherwise crippled to the point of no longer being a threat before being finished off. His party had accumulated an extraordinary amount of experience since officially forming upon arriving in Ghost Reef, and it especially paid off when they were ambushed like this. Coop had grown far beyond regular monsters, though he never shied away from fighting them, and Gibson’s group was among those who trailed behind, following in his footsteps.

As verdant whips tore the last Construct to pieces, pulling in opposite directions with such force that the monster’s metal limbs popped, he turned back to the 15 residents of Empress City. They were accompanying his party on this leg of their mission to secure the ground route up the Florida peninsula. The former rebels had taken up a defensive stance, sort of huddling against each other, facing outwards, covering the backs of the Ghost Reef squad, and ended up spectating the entire fight once again. They missed out on the free quest progress with their caution. It was the third ambush in an hour. The monsters came so frequently, they weren’t even surprising anymore.

“You guys are gonna need to get used to this!” He called to them, but the soldiers weren’t in any hurry. Most of them were a bit too underleveled to face the foes his group kept digging up, but now was the best time to sneak a few levels in, with the protection of their elites.

“Give them some time, Mr. Gibson.” Captain Javier, the Flame Knight ambassador from Empress City, and military leader, urged. “They’re on the first day of their rotation.”

“I told you, just Gibson is fine.” He gestured to the still huddling lower leveled fighters. “They need to seize the opportunity when it presents itself.”