Chapter 354: Lake Titicaca
An ethereal spear shot straight through what Coop had believed was a solid island in the center of Lake Titicaca. Rather than a rock-like surface, the superficial facade provided the same level of resistance as Coop would have expected from a hay bale. The spear plunged into the chilly water and sank into the depths before he activated his mistjump.
For a moment, he wondered if he had overshot the small island and missed, thanks to the distance, but these days, usually the last thing he needed to do was question his accuracy. The island just wasn’t what it seemed.
When Coop viewed the whole lake through his overcharged mana sight, there were several locations worth checking out, but his target was clearly the focal point of the region. Activated mana was concentrating around the island. The currents in the sky were interrupted directly above, forming an eddy that glowed like a wall of illuminated energy within the monochromatic world of mists. Normally, any obvious formation of mana meant either a civilization shard was present or a monster domain had formed.
From his vantage point near the edge of the elevated lake, nothing appeared to be amiss, but his weapon had inexplicably torn through the surface of the island and submerged itself. It continued to sink into the cold blue depths instead of planting itself into the ground like a flagpole as expected.
Coop grunted to himself, vocalizing his mild confusion while standing on a rocky, treeless shore, surrounded by golden yellow patches of windblown grass, in an environment that he assumed would match the island. It was a high altitude plateau with a semi-arid climate that left the vegetation hardy and sparse. He thought it was rather barren, like a desert, but his baseline was tropical and sub-tropical islands and rainforests, so he wasn’t the best person to ask.
While there were empty boats beached on the shore nearby, tied to tiny docks that seemed to lead to nowhere, he preferred to rely on his own movement abilities. Instead, he recalled his soaked weapon and followed his first attempt of traversal with a more angled, practically underhanding it so that the arc was reminiscent of the first few months of mistjumping. The weaker throw allowed him to teleport early and physically land on his target with a relatively gentle somersault.
As soon as his feet touched the artificial ground and he popped back up, he recognized the problem. As he thought, it hadn’t been his aim, despite the 20 mile throw. The island was actually an enormous floating barge made of a type of thick sedge grass that had been painstakingly gathered from the shallows of the distant shores. Coop had been fooled by the thatched ground and glowing energy, believing it was a substantial island and the center of the rumored human settlement in the area.
The floating island was large enough to hold four regulation sized football fields adjacent to each other, and it was absolutely teeming with a cousin of the Primal Kites back on Ghost Reef. The Ancient variants of the metallic jellyfish-like monsters were popping up all throughout the lake, then hovering across the surface to join the smack that had formed on the golden grass barge, near its exact center. It was odd behavior from the normally predictable aliens.
Something about the floating island seemed to trigger the patient ambushers, sending them into a frenzy that reminded him of one of the middle waves of the Siege Event. They were raiding the island, despite its lack of notable features aside from the fact that it was floating. Coop was the only non-invader foolish enough to make its presence known, but of course he would dive into the thick of it. That’s what the Revenant class was all about.
Like the monsters, Coop had been attracted like a moth to flame when he beheld the spotlight of energy emerging from the island. He had expected to find a civilization shard, but instead he discovered a dense hunting ground that would potentially save him some time. He definitely wouldn’t be upset about unexpectedly discovering an ideal grind zone.
Before he went wild, he slid the Soul Shroud across his eyes and confirmed that the energy was emitting from the island, though there were weaker spotlights off in the distance, marking other points of interest around the lake. He decided he would investigate after completing the race to level 500 once and for all. The threshold was too close to pass up.
He twirled his spear, flipping it into another throw that transformed the projectile into a laser of spectral energy. The first level came with the first kill, putting him at level 499. Then, before he could continue, the ground beneath his feet tore away and another monster sought to slice his extended leg clean off.