Unchosen Champion-Chapter 359: Path of the Abyss

The second known Omega Construct had been completely destroyed by Coop. Even though the alien invader had managed to establish its own Fallen Zone across most of Antarctica, it hadn’t been able to withstand a single fully empowered attack from the reinvigorated Unchosen Champion.

The result was as much a surprise to Coop as it must have been for the monstrous boss. He really hadn’t understood the exceptional growth he had undergone during the process of re-leveling. There was something about the erratic progression of Slayer titles, with their front loaded levels and back loaded attribute rewards, that was almost deceptive. He had considerably underestimated himself even while consciously pursuing the bounties that came from hunting new variants. The power scaling had managed to sneak up on him.

Add on the extreme environmental debuffs, and Antarctica had been a recipe for disaster for the Omega Construct.

He glanced at Lyriel, barely able to suppress the growing excitement he was feeling at the realization of his progression, at least once the confusion finally dissipated. He wanted to see if she would validate his development.

Unfortunately, Lyriel hadn’t received the reassurance she might have obtained by confronting her fear. Instead, she was silently staring at the polar sky. Though she seemed to analyze the light that came from the twinkling stars, as if she was measuring the concentrations of mana based on how much illumination filtered to the surface of Earth, Coop thought she might have been feeling sentimental as well. Bits of snow were collecting on her shoulders, but she was unbothered.

Coop held back from interrupting, leaving her alone for the moment, as he subconsciously decided it wasn’t the right time to get her attention. In lieu of a conversation, he brought up the onslaught of system notifications he had received after his spear demolished the Region Boss, somehow still needing the confirmation to prove that it was real. The system could also substantiate his progress.

[You defeated Region Boss: Omega Construct (Level 520)]

[+1320944 Basic Credits]

[+1 Packet of Squirming Sorrow (Unique)]

[+1 Brand of Grievous Harm (Unique)]

[+1 Frozen Soul of Glass (Trophy)]

[Congratulations! You have leveled up!]

…

[Congratulations! You have leveled up!]

[Congratulations! Your profession has leveled up!]

…

[Congratulations! Your profession has leveled up!]

[Skill options available.]

[Settlement Event: !Conflict Error! Node [09/V/09] Pending Initiation Overlap]

[Settlement Events will not proceed.]

Coop broke into laughter, unable to contain the joy as it bubbled up, compartmentalizing the messages to focus on a single line in particular.

[Skill options available.]

He had skill options available! The tension that had built up in anticipation of an enormous battle released all at once, and to add onto it, he had finally reached the point where he had erased the downsides of doubling his class level attribute gains.

The delay in gaining new skills hadn’t even been that long when considering the other gauntlets he had plowed through during his journey. It was possible to go years and hundreds of levels without breaking into another plane of progression, but Coop was consistently surging forward, absolutely smashing through every perceived roadblock as if they were made to be broken.

As he skipped through the snow in circles like a kid experiencing his first snow day, he eventually drew Lyriel’s attention away from the sky.

“A victory over an opponent who could not withstand a single attack is hardly worth such exultation.” She scoffed, though there might have been a hint of approval in the way she credited his victory.

“It’s not just that I defeated another Region Boss.” Coop responded. “I gained more than 500 levels in like 90 days!” He stopped his celebratory skipping once he was near her again, right at the end of his declaration. “Do you remember what you said about unrealistic goals?” He asked once they were close enough to have a regular conversation.

“I do not recall.” Lyriel stated a bit too blithely, making him suspect that she was lying to avoid candid praise.

“Hah!” Coop laughed. “Me neither!” He admitted. “But I’m sure you didn’t think I could gain more than 5 levels a day for any real period of time.”

Lyriel sighed, finally letting the relief of avoiding the confrontation with an Icon of Mana overrule whatever other emotions had bubbled up.

“That was before I understood what sort of sick compulsive bloodthirst had infected you.” She proclaimed.

“You mean righteous dedication.” Coop quickly amended.

“Yes, yes, whatever you choose to call it.” Lyriel resigned to his outlook. Coop flashed her a genuine smile before she turned away.

“How does the mana look?” Coop wondered, referring to her evaluation of their assimilation.

She frowned at the question. “To be frank, I don’t know what to think anymore. I suppose if a previously unseen Icon did not manifest with the concentration generated by that territorial domain, the Eradication Protocol has to be closer than expected.”

“Oh? How close?” Coop encouraged her to make a guess.

“I am uncomfortable making any firm declarations.” She tried avoiding the question.

“Just give me a ballpark.” Coop insisted, seeing as it was more or less the fate of the world she was talking about.

She turned back toward him with a subtle scowl hidden behind her blindfold before finally answering. “Given the rate of change, I would be surprised if your integration wasn’t effectively over by the 1,000 day mark.” She spoke with the gravity of a doctor informing a patient that they were terminal.

Coop hummed. “Well, that’s plenty of time.” He decided, relief a bit exaggerated.

Lyriel was almost offended by his lack of concern. “Do you not understand that you could have had closer to 40,000 days to prepare? This planet is on a crash course with its doom and the natives practically encourage the confrontation. The Icons will have free reign of your planet. Mana concentrations might already be high enough that they will not prematurely manifest again. The next time you see one, it will certainly be at its full capacity.”

“We’ll be ready either way.” Coop shrugged. “Might as well get it over with. Besides, you can’t win a game of chicken without being a bit stupid. I thought the end would be a bit closer, maybe even right now, since the system sent an error message after that Region Boss died.”

“Huh?” Lyriel made an uncharacteristically genuine sound. “Putting aside what a game of chicken is: the system displayed an error? How can that be? What did it say?” Lyriel questioned with disbelief, suddenly more interested in what Coop had to say.

“Settlement Event Conflict Error.” Coop started before reciting the message exactly.

“...Settlement events will not proceed.” Lyriel repeated slowly. “That’s strange. An error? If mana had interfered the messages would simply fail.” She noted.

Her perception of the system didn’t seem to allow for errors in the first place, though Ghost Reef had caused one during the Siege Event. Coop, and he doubted any other human for that matter, didn’t hold the system in the same regard as the aliens. They ranged from believing it was created by their gods to being the fabric of the universe itself, but that all seemed rather far fetched given the way it actually comported itself.

“I thought it might have meant for the rest of the year if it was just talking about events.” Coop added helpfully. “I was under the impression we only get a few events at a time so that they can be spread across the entire duration of the assimilation anyway.”

“Such a message would not be sent for a simple delay.” Lyriel corrected. “It would simply wait, triggering at the next opening. No, that must have been a message telling you that the Eradication Protocol is nearly ready.” She turned to face him again. “I would revise my estimation. There might only be as few as 500 days left.”

Coop seemed unmoved by the timeline moving up. “That…” He started, revealing that maybe he was a little more worried with how he put extra thought into the number. “It’s still a lot of time. It’s only Day 268, right?”

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Lyriel just shook her head at what seemed to be his eternal optimism. “I warn you that the end of the apocalypse is coming and you are hardly concerned. It is not healthy to be so uninterested in the upcoming calamity.”

Coop grunted, unable to refute her assessments any longer. “I’m leveling hard aren’t I?” He pointed out but she stared at him from behind her blindfold. “Well, either way, we should head back and let the others know we’re done here.” He finally conceded. “Maybe they’ll give you a more satisfying reaction.”

In between relatively casual mistjumps, Coop pulled up his status after applying all of his unallocated attributes into Mind. He couldn’t help but take the opportunity to admire his progress and plan ahead while they retraced their steps through the ice and snow. He didn’t want to let the end of the world rain on his parade.

[Status]

HP - 94690/94690

MP - 370760/370760

Class - Revenant (Level 526)

Profession - Expert Scavenging (Level 624)

Affinity - Spectral, Abyssal

Race - Human (Icon)

Faction - The Lighthouse

Strength - 200 (+18538)

Agility - 200 (+9269)

Body - 200 (+9269) freewёbnoνel.com

Mind - 11960 (+6578)

Intelligence - 200 (+18538)

Acumen - 200 (9269)

Unallocated - 0

Titles - Champion V, Haunted, Ethereal, Reaper II, Slayer XXXIV, Dauntless, Defiant, Stalwart, Reckless, Stacked, Valor XXIV, Siegebreaker, Underking, Mindbender, Insane

Skills (Active) - Mistwalking

Skills (Passive) - Depths of Madness

Quests - Upgrade Metropolis to Global Capital

Basic Credits - 287,746,192

Coop refrained from celebrating any more, though he retained the position that it was entirely appropriate given his stat growth. The numbers exhibited by his status were outrageous. What good was becoming overpowered if he didn’t get to enjoy it when the opportunities came? He thought he should be allowed to appreciate when good things happened.

Before he accepted Quantum Insanity and reset his level, his Strength and Intelligence bonuses were just over 6,000. His Agility, Body, and Acumen bonuses were barely 3,000. Those were massive totals compared to his companions, but Coop had tripled his overall accumulation of stats with his re-leveling plan.

Obviously, it wasn’t as if he had been weak. He was already pushing so far beyond the expectations of a newly integrated species that he was soloing events meant for massive settlements and defeating bosses that normally demanded entire armies to be stopped. Tripling the stats that had empowered him to do all that was crazy. He felt like executing the plan he had made on the shore of the Mississippi had been a critical success.

His class level was a complete deception. The first time he had been pushing level 500, it was already struggling to reflect his actual power level. The second time was obviously even more extreme. Any individual that relied on class levels to analyze threats would be in for a surprise if they encountered Coop, and from what he understood, that was the entirety of the galactic community.

Only someone like Lyriel, who lacked the system’s numerical descriptions and was forced to look closer at the mana within his aura would be capable of a more nuanced assessment. Even she looked at him as if something was wrong, second guessing her evaluations, but at least she could see that much. The other contracted aliens saw his level and thought he was doing a great job, Lyriel saw the disconnect and it clearly broke from her expectations. Hopefully, his status would convince his allies to avoid getting hung up on the standard measures dictated by unknown forces with questionable agendas. He might be an outlier in terms of stats, but that didn’t mean others weren’t finding ways to scale themselves beyond the galactic standard.

Coop also felt as though he was in a position where he could finally perceive the bigger picture in regard to his build. Before it had been an outline, but as his stats grew, it felt like his basic skills were filling in the blanks.

When he first set up his initial passive skills, imagining the possibility of transforming the Revenant class into a cascade of stats, raising his baseline to the peaks of other builds with the dream of capturing the ultimate consistency in power scaling, it had only been an idea. He had only pushed a snowball over the edge, forcing it down the side of a mountain, and let it build upon itself. As he pursued opportunities, it became an entire avalanche.

However, rather than an avalanche, which inevitably concluded, as it had when he took Quantum Insanity and reset his level, his rise in stats was continuing to evolve into something else. With the addition of the Abyssal path, it was transforming into the storm surge that preceded a permanent rise in tide. He couldn’t imagine the system finding a way to keep him contained and he couldn’t help but feel eager to push the limits even more.

He switched his focus back to the skill options, scanning the choices available to him, and noted that the number of skills hadn’t changed since the first time they were offered. It was completely contrary to how his previous paths worked. Other than his first selection, Depths of Madness, being gone, it was the same collection of abilities. Why would that be?

The only real difference he could note was that the Revenant and Mistwalker paths were based on his ethereal affinity, but the Abyssal path was obviously established by the abyssal affinity. Coop was simple enough to accept that the difference between the ether and the abyss was already playing out in their paths. Ether was intangible and the abyss was unfathomable. He supposed that made enough sense though he was sure a more thoughtful person might be frustrated by the system. Of course, that’s how it had always been.

But what did Coop actually want next? Unlike his first forays into buildcrafting, where he greedily imagined a wide variety of abilities that would allow him to consolidate roles into one build, he had trouble identifying what he lacked. The temporary fixes to his sustainability and power had blossomed into proper solutions on their own just by adding more stats. His focus on the accumulation of attributes had transformed all of his abilities into ridiculous, dynamic tools.

As they traveled across the ice, he came to the conclusion that there was no use in addressing his weaknesses. Even if he identified a specific aspect that needed improvement, the abilities he was receiving would be indelibly transformed by simply existing along with the rest of his build. The interactions and synergies were the glue that held everything together. He doubted his own capacity to imagine where he could actually take his build. Instead, he focused on the options that were already presented, returning to a plan he had back when he selected his abyssal dedication.

He read through all the abyssal skills once again, taking his time as he subconsciously ranked them in order of priority and linked them where he believed he could build obvious synergies. There were quite a few skills that he still wasn’t entirely sure how they would work that he put to the side, like the passive ability Forbidden Lore. It seemed like it would overlap with Presence of Mind as it was an aura ability. Was that a good or a bad thing? Would they coalesce or would one be rendered superfluous by the other?

When he asked Lyriel, she essentially told him to acquiesce to the overwhelming wisdom of the system and cease his impious doubts. Coop just wanted to know if taking two skills from different paths, based on different affinities, that had similar purposes would combine or become redundant. All he got were vague platitudes suggesting that no skill provided by the system would ever be wasted.

In the end, he concluded that a new path meant a new package of skills. He preferred to broaden his horizon now that he was given the opportunity. He made a plan that would mirror some of his previous build strategies, where he aimed to leave the Mistwalker skills alone, and instead create something new to run in parallel to his current tactics. He didn’t need to reestablish himself as a durable skirmisher, but he hoped it was possible to diversify his tactical opportunities, applying the mists as the second layer of his build’s foundation now that they had been firmly established on top of his machine of attributes.

His first choice reflected a slightly new direction for the brawler that had grinded its way forward with simple basic attacks. He picked the ability called Depth Charge after narrowing the choice down to five abilities that were clearly designed for damage. Nightmare Nova, Pressure Command, and Thalassokinesis were too dynamic, offering multiple aspects beyond a simple magnification of his stats. Abyssal Blast was the other alternative, but Coop ultimately decided on Depth Charge based on the fact that it seemed to have the highest potential multipliers that could still match his foundation. It was a Strength skill, while Abyssal Blast was an Intelligence skill. He was just more comfortable thinking of himself as a physical fighter.

Depth Charge was a skill that he could only activate while wielding a two-handed blunt weapon. At first he had shied away from such hyper specialization, but he realized this might be the perfect avenue to incorporate the flexibility of the Revenant and Mistwalking abilities while raising the ceiling of his overall build. He was adding a new floor in his hypothetical construction, so to speak.

It took him a while to get there, but he finally formed the ambitious dream that he couldn’t quite piece together with the acceptance of additional specialization. His future paths didn’t need to be so generalist as that was covered by the first two paths. They could hyper focus on enhancing one specific aspect of his broad range of tactics. Taking Depth Charge was the first step in creating an abyssal build that could slip into his ethereal tactics whenever he found an opportunity to weapon swap to the appropriate set.

He imagined rotating between skills while also quickswapping in battle. The rapid switching already put an enormous burden on his opponents, but what if he multiplied that dynamism with additional empowerments. He could swing the pendulum further in both directions, then flip it upside down, depending on which path was most appropriate.

As for what Depth Charge actually did, it was a simple strike skill that applied a temporary debuff to his target. When the debuff expired, it would explode for ‘heavy’ Strength-based abyssal damage, scaled by the initial attack. The debuff only lasted five seconds.

Coop didn’t think five seconds was a problem, but when he tested the ability on the first monster he found, he realized he might have to figure some things out. He threw his spear, mistjumped next to the partially frozen Elite Primal Beast, quickswapped to his morning star and activated the ability as he swung. It drained an enormous 1,500 flat mana, and applied a glowing indicator above the monster that looked something like an interior submarine light, but Coop’s initial strike already defeated it before the blinking color had a chance to intensify.

He frowned as the monster dissipated and the indicator blinked at an escalating rate even though it had been wasted. Then, after five seconds, it caught him by surprise, exploding despite the target already being gone. It sent a column of slush a thousand feet up and caused him to fall backwards in shock and fear.

Lyriel laughed as he checked his own hands, sitting in the snow, making sure he hadn’t lost any fingers by standing too close to the explosive demonstration, not realizing that it couldn’t hurt him. He couldn’t tell how much damage it would actually do, since everything was just defeated by his initial strike, but it was clearly many times stronger than a simple swing. However, the worst part was that it had a 10 minute cooldown, as was typical for empowering skills.

“What the heck?” Coop questioned when he first noticed. “Skills suck?” He continued, but Lyriel just shook her head at him. It wasn’t like it was his first ability ever, though he had specifically avoided this type of skill.

Their trip was periodically highlighted by an explosive geyser of slush as Coop repeatedly used his new ability, squeezing it in at every opportunity. He never once managed to actually hit an enemy with Depth Charge, but Practical Application already lowered its cost to 1,499 by the time they reached the ice bound ship. Some progress was made.

Coop may have been distracted by his new skill, but he managed to recount what they had found to Marcus and the others. Mika was particularly interested in how the Primal Beasts had been frozen without experiencing cell death and the natural cavern that the Region Boss had occupied, so Coop provided as much detail as he could.

“So what now?” Marcus asked once the questions were satisfied.

Coop wasn’t bound to the diplomatic mission with the emperor, so they wondered if he would go straight home since his plan seemed to have been completed. They would arrange for his ships if needed, but Coop obviously had something else in mind.

“I’m gonna keep going.” He decided, naturally.

He wanted to try more skills and there were more Slayer titles just waiting to be earned if he had the will to hunt them down.