Chapter 332: Coral Theater
Hai Yun revealed the route that would take them on their journey toward the lower levels, guiding Coop into the depths of the Coral Forest along with her massive entourage. Though she hadn’t spent much time in Ghost Reef’s mana well, she had already established her proficiency within such alien formations, having been one of the primary individuals who conquered the first mana well on the planet. It was one of the few achievements that Coop hadn’t accomplished himself, not that it had ever been on his radar.
Her experience combined with the knowledge base generated by the residents of Ghost Reef created a level of comfort in the challenging domain that sent her group to the top of the charts for the Adventurer Guild. The same could be applied to Irina, the reformed Banshee, and the Kitawa party, but for the time being, Hai Yun was the one seeking to validate her acceptance into the Lighthouse by contributing within the Coral Forest. The others had taken on their own missions in the subjugation of the Fallen Zone or by joining the residents in the expansion project of the fort.
Together, Coop and Hai Yun’s party left the main platform, using the coral colony as a temporary walkway before leaving it to be reclaimed by the Ones That Hunt. Coop watched as scattered monsters rushed from the depths, climbing up the coral exteriors, hoping to initiate their expedited growth before the real competition set in. It wouldn’t take long before the dominant pyramid shaped coral was a well-stocked hunting ground for the Adventurers of Ghost Reef.
If he had known that the Coral Forest would be reset, he wouldn’t have been so conservative toward his return. If the monsters were deleveled back to their base values, he could have entered at least 50 levels sooner, but then again, he never would have predicted the consequences of the settlement upgrade. They had traded an energized leveling zone for a massive boost of reinforcements.
Coop followed as Hai Yun led the way down a wide spiraling pathway that curled in on itself before spinning away from the larger colony, like a frozen party streamer, bypassing the few scrambling monsters that stuck to the core of their desired territory. The coral offshoot collided with the base of the purple coral platform, carving a small tunnel before emerging from the other side.
As Coop entered the tunnel, the weight of the structure could have fooled him into believing he was following some kind of grand mountain pass. Thick walls and a solid ceiling pressed on the narrow space, giving substantial heft to the experience. The breezes that constantly flowed through the mana well were rejected from the tunnel, making it seem like an isolated cavity that clearly delineated two different atmospheres, like an airlock on a larger ship.
Dim light emerged from familiar wall sconces, lighting the way, but the small crystals that powered the illumination had been influenced by the environment. Instead of a warm golden color, the lights flickered with blue and green energy, giving the path an eerie alien appearance that matched the rest of the mana well. Jutting edges cast long shadows along the walls, and Coop glanced at his guide, but she seemed completely at ease, making him wonder if the sense of foreboding was unique to his imagination.
When they reached the opposite end of the purple platform’s broad base, after descending within its interior, moving back into the open air felt like stepping onto the balcony of an unnecessarily tall skyscraper. Wind rushed upward, clearly visible as it carried dense clouds of faded turquoise mana toward the upper level of the Coral Forest, rising as if it was more buoyant than the rest of the atmosphere. The strip of coral beneath their feet blocked the turbulence, making the flow of mana seem like an interactive art feature, barely separated from their position.
Coop couldn’t help himself, sticking one of his hands out into the current, as if he was a child letting his hand glide in the wind of an open car window. He watched as his fingers left long strips in the upward current before the mana coalesced back together far above. All sorts of smaller bits of debris and tiny creatures cycled throughout the mana well, sinking in other portions then rising back to the top through such elevators where he guessed they hoped to get caught by the horizontal currents in the upper levels. Other coral platforms created an erratic ceiling that was only partially masked by the haze of mana, making it difficult to determine exactly how deep they had gone.
Once the path was back in the open atmosphere, it became lined with scattered patches of regular-sized sea anemones. They made themselves at home in the cupped coral formations that sprouted along the edges of the route. The way their tentacles clustered, superficially resembling flowers bouncing in the brisk upward breeze, made the track seem something like an alien garden, lit by soft, moody lights, in a vast overgrown forest. The thick mana was similar to the kind of light fog that might settle in the shade of a forest canopy, but the way it drifted from beneath, thinning as currents extended its reach toward the different ceilings was unusual.
Steam and tiny bubbles were rising from below as well, making it seem like they were walking through dying clouds that never quite coalesced once broken by the lower corals. When Coop glanced up, he thought there must have been a distinct barrier between the top layer that he was most familiar with and the next layer that they were heading into that was delineated by these currents of mana. When he tried to see other formations on the same level as they walked, it was like peering through a shifting curtain of thin white cloth, wafting in a breeze. He could only focus on the long spiraling coral as they followed its exterior and all the smaller growths that had found suitable surfaces to colonize on the sides.
The path swung away from the coral colony and underneath the rest of the platform used by the Adventurer Guild while angling further down into the Coral Forest. Seaweed-esque strips were hanging from the bottom of the platforms, filling the few gaps not occupied by corals as if they sought to bathe in the trapped clouds that couldn’t quite reach the upper level. Bodyguards led the way, watching the blades of seaweed above, peering over the edges at their sides, and protecting the rear, leaving Coop to Hai Yun’s personal company.