Unchosen Champion

The color of Neon Park’s final control point was transitioning away from the sinister red that represented the Primal Construct invasion, gradually softening as swirls of soothing blue mixed into the glowing illumination.

Rather than a blend of colors, the blue and red each cast a weak haze along the rings on their own, like two separate flashlights of cosmetic light powered independently of each other. The red glimmer was fading while the blue was energized. If the lights were more prominent, it would make an interesting spectacle, but outside of the moments when control was claimed by one or the other, they were a bit too subtle to invite anyone to sit down and enjoy the show.

Once the objective was in the process officially being claimed by team humanity, Coop was ready to move on to the nearest subordinate settlement. He was riding a wave of incitement, and he had no reason to let it fade.

Days of combat were par for the course for the Revenant of Ghost Reef. He didn’t need rest after so little. As long as there were more enemies out there, just waiting for him to come and defeat them, he couldn’t bring himself to linger anywhere in particular. The opportunities to grind were too nice to pass up, even before considering all the other reasons to keep moving.

The assault on Neon Park was certainly on the extreme end of the Underlayer Event, but he outleveled the enemies by far too much to let mere numbers deter him. The settlement was in the top four of the world’s challenge assessments, but the tremendous army of invaders had merely whet Coop’s appetite. The effective use of his evolved skills was immensely satisfying, and the enemies were sufficient to continue feeding his constant desire for more progression.

Elsewhere, millions more of the non-respawning Primal Constructs were tucked away in their cute little castles among the dirt plains, just waiting for him to pay them a visit. The greedy giggles the thought elicited from Coop only added to the inevitable notoriety his actions were establishing in Neon Park.

Fortunately for his human colleagues, it wasn't a selfish desire that motivated him, at least not entirely. The Underlayer Event was also a real opportunity for the Champion of Ghost Reef to conduct the style of diplomacy that he would be most effective at performing, and in what was probably a rare moment of recognition, he knew it.

Marcus and the people who had been trained to become diplomats for their tiny island nation behaved like proper ambassadors, concentrating on persuasive arguments and peaceful treaty negotiations, but Coop represented the other side of the diplomatic coin. He was the ultimate manifestation of Ghost Reef’s hard power, and he was demonstrating their effectiveness, not just on a global scale, but on an intergalactic one.

He didn’t suppress his bloodthirst, openly letting it add to his image. The Champion of Ghost Reef was a force to be reckoned with, possessing serious combat capability, and maybe he was a little unhinged when it came to how much he delighted in exercising his proficiency. The image he was establishing was perfectly appropriate for his role.

The combination of The Lighthouse’s friendly approach backed by its verifiable strength would certainly be more compelling whenever it came to encouraging open dialogue. But it wasn’t like his people were asking for too much from their human compatriots in the assimilation. They were primarily declaring their sovereignty to the rest of the world, stating clearly that they shouldn’t be messed with, just as any other independent settlement would.

However, they were also forecasting more dangers and presenting themselves as the remedy. The Eradication Protocol was coming, but it was a dubious prediction without further proof. Unfortunately, Icons of Mana were rarely available to provide as a reference.

Notably, they hadn’t appeared in the Underlayer at all, though Coop wasn’t sure if that was due to increasing requirements to have them show up, or if the Underlayer itself provided some sort of deterrent with its flow of pure mana. It seemed like prime real estate for the mana monsters, but he supposed that if the underground didn’t have some way to discourage the Icons it would have been the first place they established themselves. The Icons themselves might avoid it for the reason that it was distinctly separate from the subjects of their interest.