Chapter 328: Phase One Complete
Coop slowly emerged from the sweeping darkness that filled the larger monster-infested caverns, over 100 layers beneath Ghost Reef. The monsters were well under control after experiencing a grind session with the Champion, but his formidable presence maintained a frightful atmosphere for the underground hollows.
A haze of abyssal mana made it seem like the shadows were clinging to his form as he stepped forward. If anyone witnessed his current appearance, he might have seemed like a glowy-eyed evil spirit originating from the Earthly depths, born from black smoke and ghostly vapors, but the satisfied smile on his face contrasted such an assessment. His satisfaction was unmistakable, though there was no audience to share it with.
He took a deep breath and stretched his shoulders, his half-lidded eyes only partially focused in the darkness. He had let his increasingly comfortable mana-sight and Presence of Mind substitute for his regular senses in the harsh environment of pitch darkness, using the unique setting to train in more ways than one. The dim glow from his irises were barely perceptible, but anyone that looked close enough would detect the small evolution that had aided him in adapting to the subterranean habitats so comfortably.
He was pretty tired, but he wouldn’t say he was exhausted in the way that some of his more demanding adventures had made him. Physically, he was in peak shape. The mental fatigue that was slowly building as he spent day after day in the maze of caves surrounding the chasm was also well-managed, but even with regular breaks, it was impossible to completely resist the psychological drain. Reaching a milestone in his levels was a welcome salve that took some weight off his shoulders.
He had plenty of motivation to keep going, whether it came from a sense of duty, desperation, or competition, but repeating the same actions over and over, hour after hour, day after day, eventually took a toll, even on him. The days and nights spent in the darkness had started to bleed together. Technically, he had changed settings multiple times, briefly visiting a wide variety of developments on the way, but the majority of his time was spent in dark caves. All of the underground had been formed by the same geological forces when mana activated, and as a result, he was hard-pressed to notice many significant differences from one day to the next. The redundancy of the monsters he was deliberately hunting didn’t help.
The Ruin Excavators were essentially the same, no matter where he fought them. Giving them 25, 50, or 100 more levels increased their stats, but not their habits. They still ambushed and swarmed, utilizing their abilities with slightly more Agility or Strength, applying debuffs that were marginally more potent if compared to a constant baseline. But even that was a stretch, hardly perceptible relative to his own gains within the same span. With each level, Coop was growing distinctly stronger, and the monsters couldn’t compare even if given twice as many levels per iteration. Doubling his stat gains and then multiplying them across his status was simply unfair.
Ruin Excavators, like most of the Primal Construct variants, were a simple puzzle that had already been solved. Each pack was a bit like doing a 10 piece jigsaw puzzle: not particularly complicated: and moving to the next group was like taking it apart and doing it over again. It was still satisfying to complete, and placing each piece provided a certain gratification with the tactile response and physical exertion, but some variety would have been nice, even if it was just a different piece of art or some variance in the number of segments.
Coop chuckled at the thought, wondering if maybe he should feel embarrassed about finding a puzzle for babies entertaining, but he wasn’t ashamed at all. His happiness wasn’t conditional on outside judgments.
But there was a limit to such spartan amusement, even for Coop. To make matters worse, there were new frontiers, unexplored caves, and alternative monster variants just on the edge of his expansive monster rotations. If he wandered just a bit off course, he was almost guaranteed to find something new and unfamiliar. His desire to explore fought to distract him, and he only avoided going off course by remembering that the mana well was next.
The edges of the underground complex, expanding from the chasm and its pearlescent chambers, had only been explored in a few select places, where intrepid adventurers had made a point to uncover if there was an end at all. That meant that if Coop was so inclined, he could have gone on an expedition to discover new rock features, different alien variants, and even pioneering native life, but he already had a mission. Unfortunately, it would be a bit longer before he could allow himself such distractions.
Coop was well-suited for putting himself into a hyper-focused mindset while grinding, where his consciousness was zeroed in on the kind of micro adjustments necessary for iterating on the same basic tasks as he sought an impossible level of efficiency. Such intensive concentration wasn’t for everyone.
However, his simple but persistent pursuit toward maximization of his actions was, like experience gains, subject to diminishing returns. He wasn’t even shaving off fractions of seconds any more. If anything, when it came to Ruin Excavators, he had stopped making progress toward improving his efficiency days prior. Even optimizing his routes through the caves had started to blend between the days, with the environments exhibiting similar characteristics that carried throughout the depths. Instead, he had merely been fighting to avoid slipping backwards and losing milliseconds as small amounts of fatigue or distraction threatened to interfere with his concentration and therefore his grind. Comfort and intensity were poor bedfellows.