Chapter 363: Leveling Guides
As soon as Coop reached the outlying settlements of the European Community, he was spotted by the operatives that maintained control of the continent. They gave him a professional rundown of his exact location, on a ridge that traced the North African coast, separating the former Mediterranean from the new Saharan Sea.
They let him know the specific details of monster developments throughout the region, correctly identifying what would interest the Unchosen Champion the most. They outlined his most efficient route to the interior of the continent, having anticipated his arrival and purpose. Word had spread throughout the Lighthouse ever since he decided to continue beyond South America that his adventures would continue. They recommended he head for Sicily where he would certainly be clocked by more of their operatives for additional guidance.
While portions of the population had already left Europe, relocating to Ghost Reef along with non-combat administrative officials, it was significantly less than he would have expected. Every civilization shard was maintained by a contingent of elite warriors who intended to stay and fight through the Eradication Protocol. Their cities were fully transformed into fortresses even before he arrived.
The majority of the residents, when offered the choice to evacuate to the safety of his island settlement, had opted to join the fight instead, even when many of them hadn’t been involved in any conflict leading up to and through the Underlayer Event. They underwent rapid training programs, following in Coop’s path back in Ghost Reef before returning to their homes ready to continue grinding locally.
The whole continent of Europe was bristling in anticipation of total war, with the entirety of its landmass completely tamed by their expeditionary forces and training runs. If Coop wanted to unravel nests of Primal Constructs, he wouldn’t find them anywhere within the European Emergency Community. They may have seemed slow to adjust, but that was only because they had been comprehensive with their plans, refusing to leap to conclusions without gathering and sharing information among themselves, then debating the best way forward. They took the threats seriously, and had done more than anyone else in redirecting their objectives once they were determined to be legitimate.
At first, Coop mistakenly concluded the civilian population was gone because he misunderstood their structure before the Underlayer Event had exposed them to the full reality of the assimilation. Originally, they had minimal people engaged in keeping their population centers safe. They had been doing their best to maintain a normal, pre-mana way of life, but that was before being briefed on the Eradication Protocol and having the means to gather intelligence on the rest of the world. Afterwards, with the potential for existential threats in the near future, the civilians had effectively transformed themselves into warriors rather than continue pretending like society could go back to normal.
Coop’s perspective was shaped by his experience with Ghost Reef and other struggling settlements in the early days, where virtually every resident was absolutely forced into fighting for their lives and the survival of the civilization shards. Europe had been different, coordinated enough to distribute their forces without sacrificing the admittedly altered lives of most of the surviving residents.
Holding onto a high quality of life for their residents had been a priority that virtually no one else in the world could afford without making significant sacrifices. With news of the Eradication Protocol percolating through their societies and the acceptance that there was no way to fully go back, volunteers to help outnumbered the number of evacuees by a significant margin.
Coop once again had a guided tour provided by the EEC, this time even more organized than within the Underlayer. Each settlement even allotted two or three cultural stops, just to satisfy Coop’s curiosity, and they did so without him making the request. They simply anticipated what he would have liked that much, allowing for a short pause before presenting him with monsters.
It helped that virtually all of the surviving civilization shards had been anchored in protected natural environments, exactly the type of place that Coop would have been interested in visiting. The second largest settlement within the continent was Ordesa, located in the Pyrenees mountain range. People from cities across the southwest of Europe had taken refuge in the protected valleys tamed by its territory and lived among an absurd collection of massive birds. Golden eagles, bone-eating ossifrages, and griffon vultures all made their homes among the cliffs and none of them had wingspans less than maybe 10 feet by his measure. Then there were the mammals, including the previously thought to be extinct pyrenean ibex and some fat little ground squirrels that identified as alpine marmots and alerted the residents whenever danger was near the burrows they established around the perimeters.
Even the urban settlements had their cores located within parks. The largest territory was controlled by Englischer Garten, which was centered in Munich, Germany and had somehow avoided falling into ruins like the rest of the world thanks to their efforts in the first weeks of the assimilation.
It seemed like every other settlement had incorporated actual medieval strongholds into bastions of safety or durable outposts, putting Ghost Reef’s brick fort into perspective, and honestly making it a bit embarrassing. They had actual castles set up with all the bells and whistles, though if they intended to boast, Coop didn’t notice as it flew right over his head.