Unchosen Champion

Coop thought that it was about time to wrap things up in the Underlayer. Sure, there were still officially three weeks remaining in the duration of the event, but the Primal Constructs simply weren’t up to the task of maintaining their invasion, and not just because of his personal growth. Several other forces of humans had proven they were capable of stemming the tide against their would-be alien conquerors as well.

Many of those that managed to access the Underlayer had entered the underground prepared to grapple with whatever challenges they faced, already hardened by their experiences during the assimilation. They contended with the escalation in power allowed by the system and defeated the pinnacle of strength for the invaders in the enormous Prime Construct Siege Bosses. Most of the human armies were well on their way to securing their objectives with or without the contributions of the Champion of Ghost Reef, and if they weren’t, they were considering other ways of maximizing their survival.

While Coop had individually sought to rise against the invaders and prove that Earth would be an independent planet that didn’t need outside factions, it turned out that the rest of humanity had something to say on the matter as well. All across the world, people were maintaining pockets of resistance, refusing to be defeated.

Coop’s efforts may not have been the main factor in their ultimate success, but he had become the catalyst for avoiding any unnecessary sacrifice specifically demanded by the Underlayer Event. Calculating exactly how many people survived to fight another day due to his efforts would be a difficult, if not impossible, task. Plenty of those who had entered the Underlayer were able to avoid the open-field battles in the dirt, and even more people would be safer afterwards, when their settlements wouldn’t have to contend with fortified Constructs within their territory.

The largest collections of people who were gathering within tamed civilization shard territory and forming alliances were the most obvious, but smaller groups were almost certainly making their stands in the wild as well. They also benefited from the timely prevention of more Primal Construct development on the surface.

Coop’s efforts had undoubtedly resulted in worthy results for the broader coalition of ‘team humanity.’ Whether or not it was entirely recognized by all of the beneficiaries was up in the air, but as far as he was concerned, that was barely a secondary goal.

His personal progression, on the other hand, spoke for itself.

[Status]

HP - 28875/28875

MP - 55250/55250

Class - Revenant (Level 462)

Profession - Scavenging (Level 181)