Unchosen Champion

Coop tried his best to guess how they would reach the fifth level of the Coral Forest. As he followed Hai Yun into a tubular tunnel that angled down from the larger cavities of the sea sponge, flanked by protective guards, his expectations for a longer journey quickly changed. The tunnel opened up to some dim light at the end, causing Coop’s anticipation to increase as they drew closer.

If there wasn’t too much distance, would there be another magical barrier? Perhaps there would be a shroud of darkness they would have to break through, or shifting obstacles that would force them to vault across gaps with perfect timing. There might even be some kind of trial, with a floor guardian occupying a particularly potent mana bath, allowing it to grow substantially compared to the rest of the mana well inhabitants.

If he was designing a dungeon, there would definitely be more puzzles, as they would be a much bigger pain than simply grinding, but he had to remind himself that the Coral Forest mana well wasn’t really a dungeon. It was more of a natural formation caused by the presence of a mana seed. The structures and monsters were essentially just mutations influenced by a significant burst of growth caused by the introduction of foreign mana. Nothing was by design, but that’s what made it special.

In the early days, before they had understood that the Eradication Protocol would knock them off the regular path of integration, he had learned that the Primal Constructs weren’t a permanent invasion from the contracted residents. At the end of the assimilation, the manifestations were supposed to disappear, letting the victors keep their territory. The planetary sponsor was attempting to claim ground, but all across the world, and especially in the regions that they failed to take hold, regular mana mutations would eventually take their place.

In the future, once they kicked the Primal Constructs off their planet, mana would obviously still be present, and it would result in its own local mutations. The Coral Forest was kind of a super potent hyper-progressed example of what might come about after the assimilation concluded. Various natural forces would allow mana to establish its own habitats, creating natural pockets of monstrous growth depending on concentrations of energy. As he understood it, elemental constructs would be the most common, with planetary features concentrating mana and opening up the opportunity for lesser and greater constructs to form.

At least, that’s what they could have expected if the planet wasn’t already occupied by species that were able to harness mana themselves. In Earth’s case, Coop fully expected regular animals to reclaim their natural habitats, though he wouldn’t put it past them to incorporate some new abilities as they did so. If mutated environments were going to appear on the surface, they would almost certainly be isolated, much like the mana wells that were already in place. He thought it would be nice to preserve the planet as it was, but some amount of change was inevitable, especially with the actual forces of mana scouring the world for remnants of humanity.

“We’re here.” Hai Yun stated, presenting a sandy expanse after just 20 seconds of adventure.

Coop had barely started letting his imagination run free and they were already done. It was a bit disappointing, really. He stopped and looked around, confused by the lack of eventful transition. There was no mana bath, and not even a long rock climb or hike across stone edifices. They literally just walked down a ramp.

“That’s it?” Coop wondered out loud, unable to hide his disappointment at the lack of proper presentation.

In a real dungeon, level transitions should have been more poignant, demarcating a clear evolution of the adventure. The twisting sky bridge of a coral that they hiked to reach the second level was a good start, then the climb through clouds of condensed mana raised the stakes as they ventured toward the third level, and finally the mana bath dunk tank had been a suitable test of courage to reach the fourth. The absence of an adequate gateway barricading the fifth level made the progress seem invalid. Coop’s sense of adventure was unfulfilled. He grunted at reality.

Rather than acknowledge his bafflement, Hai Yun respectfully ignored his expression in favor of presenting the fifth level of the Coral Forest mana well herself. She shifted to the side, extending her arm forward to draw Coop’s attention to the environment, already anticipating his interest after just a few conversations.

Coop’s expression lit up as he gazed upon the fifth layer, finally looking past his expectations. The landscape was like a perfectly symmetrical tricolor flag. Dark green on top, nearly black in the middle, and a slightly luminescent, pale yellow quartz on the bottom. Coop stepped forward, glancing at his feet before taking it all in.