Unchosen Champion

Empress City had grown significantly after Coop claimed the civilization shard in the name of the Lighthouse. While the population had gone unchanged since he left them to reconcile the expulsion of the Endless Empire, the actual physical base was flourishing.

With the change in leadership, the subordinate settlement had refocused its efforts away from ill-advised global conquest, aiming instead at providing beneficial living conditions and safety for its current residents on a longer term basis. They were following the model previously established by Ghost Reef, attempting to build a safe harbor against the assimilation as a unified population, and it was working.

The threat of the Eradication Protocol was enough to initiate teamwork, but the specific efforts that took place bonded them in a way that simple words and promises couldn’t. Animosities faded when fighting side-by-side against alien invaders, and as former rivals helped each other build the homes that would become their shared haven, they found their perceived differences disappearing. The only beings that benefited from their strife weren’t present on the planet at all. It was a changed world and it was better to face the challenges together.

Even from beyond the walls, Coop could clearly see a burgeoning downtown skyline in the center of the airport that would soon eclipse the ruins of the pre-assimilation urban center. Colorful sparkling lights decorated the tops of the new and upgraded apartment buildings, forming a rainbow display that guided the residents home even in the light of day.

They were developing a compact city on the airport grounds that was full of its own character. It contrasted the untroubled vacation vibes of Ghost Reef, replacing it with the hustle and bustle of a spirited population. His island had accepted the refugees from Empress City that were slower to adjust to the assimilation and were indecisive when it came to conflict. That left the mainland settlement with only those that had taken action, one way or another, and the end result was a dynamic population working beneath proactive leadership.

Coop was impressed with how much Empress City had changed. An important factor that made Ghost Reef so successful was in engendering a sense of cooperative pride in its residents. Empress City had somehow captured a similar sense of mutual belonging, applying it on a grander scale than was necessary on his island. In his case, it hadn’t been a completely intentional plan to have the residents feel that way, but starting with himself and Jones, they had set a template for others to follow.

The challenges presented by the planetary invasion combined with the tiny population of Ghost Reef had forced Coop to warn every resident of their need to contribute before committing to the island. It was pretty much the only thing he asked of any of the people that were offered sanctuary. If they were taking advantage of the safety of Ghost Reef, they would have to help ensure that it persisted for those that might follow. The variety of challenges presented to the brand new settlement meant that there was something for everyone to do.

The end result was that all who moved to Ghost Reef had made personal contributions to the ongoing survival of the settlement. They all helped defend against the various challenges, and they all helped build the settlement from the ground up. Other than the fort walls themselves, everything was due to their efforts.

The residents had good reason to feel proud of the settlement, considering all they had accomplished, and that feeling of personal involvement had influenced those that came after. A cycle of experiencing the sanctuary and finding ways to contribute to its continuation had been established. Regardless of personal skills, they had convinced every resident to work hard on their own volition. Between system professions, administration and management of a blossoming city, and constant combat with invaders, there was something for everyone.

Coop tilted his head to the side, mildly concerned over whether or not he had simply peer pressured desperate people into helping him with his own personal mission. In a way, that’s how it started. Still, it was the apocalypse, what else were they going to do? Might as well learn a skill or two and spend time improving their own chances of survival. It wasn’t like he forced them to do anything in particular. As long as they did something, he would be satisfied. It was up to the residents to discover what they wanted to do. Ghost Reef merely provided the opportunity.

Coop reassured himself that it was fine. Derek, the biggest whiner in the apocalypse, hadn’t complained too much about having to contribute, and eventually he had found something he actually seemed enthusiastic about. From what he had heard from Elly, the youngest Cleary sibling, even the children had a sense of purpose that led them to do their best in school while fostering grand dreams once they could participate in protecting their new home.

The circumstances surrounding Empress City weren’t exactly the same as they were on Ghost Reef. They started with a massive population compared to the island sanctuary and the mainland settlement was fertile grounds for internal conflict. Considering they had reformed off the back of a civil war that was only decided through outside intervention in the form of Coop, Camila, and Charlie, it was a shock that there hadn’t been more violence. It was a credit to Jackson and Fabiana that they had managed to apply the same principles to a settlement full of differences compared to the model that had already worked.

In Empress City, it had been necessary to be less passive when compared to Ghost Reef. They were forced to work together under strict supervision that would be difficult to find on his own island. The system of tracking the contributions to the settlement ensured their participation, and while their involvement was technically voluntary, the alternative was to take their chances elsewhere. He had to praise the leadership of Empress City for peacefully keeping it together.

Marcus also deserved his share of the acclaim. He had really been the one to offer the organizational ideas that had carried the day in Empress City. Rather than force the entire population to work together in a loose consortium the way Ghost Reef operated, the Guild Houses had been the key to providing the structure and companionship necessary to make it work. The hierarchies of the guild houses motivated and guided the residents into being productive around the much larger settlement on a more personalized basis. Instead of being rendered a tiny part of a much larger group, the individual residents were able to play a greater role through the segmentation of the population through the guilds, and the guilds themselves were focused on the cooperative success of Empress City by design. Ghost Reef’s Viceroy had been there at the beginning to provide the early guidance to make the guilds official and long-lasting.

Coop was too hands-off to do anything but provide a simple example for others to follow. He supposed that was one form of leadership, but it certainly would never have worked without the people that surrounded him, especially on the scale necessary to get nearly 80,000 disparate people on the same page. That many people required a level of compartmentalization which was established by the Guild Houses.

Coop approached the outermost gate of the large city, already impressed with the city for the simple fact that it was still standing. Coming from north of the settlement, he found the reinforced metal barrier wide open as patrols in various uniforms constantly came and went.

The settlement had taken on several responsibilities, including the maintenance of the rest of the pre-mana city and the lands further beyond the settlement’s territory, not limited to just the boardwalk. They were vigilantly preventing the Primal Trackers from growing into any serious threat, Infestation or otherwise, while establishing the basis for future territory expansion, gaining levels, and gathering resources. South Florida was nearly as stable as Ghost Reef due to their diligent and expansive efforts.

In addition to farming the local Primal Construct variant, the regular longer patrols along the boardwalk came and went with high frequency. They were extending the reach of the Lighthouse north, far into the Everglades, in order to eventually reach Neptune’s Bridge and establish the entire Floridian Peninsula as safe territory.

The overland connection would be possible now that Coop had formed an alliance with the Swamp Lord, and hopefully, that would mean the Orlando settlement would have the relief necessary to make their settlement one that could continue on into the future as well. Being penned in on both sides had been enough for the previous leadership to abandon the shard, but Coop’s faction wasn’t so easily buckled.

As he drew closer, one of the patrols that exited the open northern gate stopped as they noticed his casual approach. After a few more seconds, they turned around and sprinted back into the settlement. Coop chuckled to himself, guessing he really needed that bath after all.

The gates slammed shut shortly afterward and he heard muffled alarms sounding inside. He winced as he realized just how much of a scare his presence was giving them. Mistjumping past the defenses probably wouldn’t do anything to resolve their panic. At this point, he’d have to clear things up at the gate.

Guards started to pop up along the walls, many of which were wearing a variant of the Ghost Reef Standard Issue armor, certainly created by his crafters at home. Coop kept his pace steady, not wanting to give them any reason to get too jumpy.

On the brightside, they were disciplined enough to maintain their positions and wait as well. He felt a twinge of pride at the changes since the last time he was turned away from an Empress City gate. Comparatively speaking, the current iteration was positively professional. It felt like he was nearing the border of an organized country.

Defending a mainland settlement was a difficult position to be in, considering they needed to be wary of all sorts of threats brought by mana and the assimilation, but also balancing that circumspection with the fact that they were establishing a sanctuary for other people to hopefully reach. Being on an island was yet another advantage for Ghost Reef. They were able to keep things a lot simpler.

Coop stopped once he was within shouting distance, raising a mud-covered arm in greeting to try and calm them down, but before he could start a loud voice that he recognized as the Champion of Empress City demanded he identify himself and what he wanted from them.

Coop smiled to himself as he responded in kind. “I’m Coop and I want a shower!” He shouted back.

Several guards looked at each other at the recognition of his name and a few moments later the gates opened back up. Jackson Hobbs was the first out, rushing to apologize. “Ah, Champion Coop, sorry about that!” He jogged closer, waving for the rest of the audience to get back to work. “Some idiots told the wall guards a raid boss was approaching and put the whole settlement on alert.”

Coop scrunched his face in embarrassment. “Nah, that’s my fault, I wasn’t thinking about how it looked to walk up on you guys.” He tried taking some of the blame.

Jackson paused and took a closer look at Coop with a raised eyebrow. “They did claim it was an unnatural mud monster…”

Coop just laughed. He had been distracted by his newest skill choice and the dark wisps of Abyssal mana that drifted from his spear every once in a while. He estimated that 1 out of every 100 streams that were emitted by his ethereal weapons had been transformed into Abyssal mana instead of Spectral mana.

If the blend of mana represented how much influence Sethrak was applying, then Coop felt like he had absolutely nothing to worry about. The desire to re-experience the fragment of power granted by the Apparition of the Deep Dweller was barely a tempting whisper, much as it had been before Coop had dedicated his path to the eldritch entity. Coop had already wanted to be strong, so nothing had changed as far as he was concerned.

In a purely practical sense, he had no idea what it meant to have his manifestations be a mixture of manas, whether it was something that should be alarming or exciting. He wouldn’t be surprised if he would benefit from having another damage type mixed into his weapons and more resistance in his armor. Otherwise, nothing was out of the ordinary with either Retribution or Salvation.

The potential functional aspect of his skill selection had occupied his thoughts until he drew closer to Empress City. It didn’t even occur to him that he was just walking around without consideration of how his aura had changed with the new Abyssal influence. He needed to adjust Presence of Mind so that it wasn’t blasting his newly evolved aura, with its fresh eldritch flavorings, to avoid scaring people. All it took was a simple thought to manipulate Presence of Mind and rectify his aura as much as his Mind stat would let him, which was to say, almost completely.

Jackson was overly conciliatory as Coop made his aura more presentable, waving away Coop’s admission. “We should be used to you by now anyway.”

The Champion of Empress City clearly meant that Coop had carte blanche when it came to the Florida settlements, but Coop thought it was probably a sign he should make himself more predictable to the people who he was now associated with, but who didn’t really know who he actually was. He was really slacking off on his own presentation without the constant oversight of Marcus, Arthur, and even Camila, and he already knew how much Empress City’s population loved to gossip and spread rumors.

Being Champion of Ghost Reef hadn’t really prepared him for becoming the Founder of an entire faction. Ghost Reef, no matter how its upgrades defined it, was more like a small town than anything else. Everyone knew enough about him to not be alarmed by his casual actions.

However, factions were essentially entire nations that could stretch far beyond a single settlement. He had become an actual head of state on an intergalactic scale, so there were probably a few things he could change about his own presentation. His behavior would reflect upon a lot more than just himself.

“Do I need a PR person?” Coop mumbled to himself as Jackson escorted him into Empress City. Rather than learning appropriate etiquette for an intergalactic dignitary, Coop was such a beach bum he might need even more basic attention. The fact that he was now the equivalent of the Endless Empire’s God-Empress was finally dawning on him. It was a bit much.

Coop’s concerns faded away to be reconsidered later as he got a better look at the development of Empress City. While it had only been two months since Coop handed the reins over to Jackson and Fabiana, they had managed to fill the interior of the runways of the airport settlement with residential buildings and services, just as planned. The wide runways were split down the middle with market stalls, almost entirely manned by resident humans rather than aliens. Closer, along the arcing road to the terminal of the airport, the guild houses had formed a bustling zone of activity. Coop found himself nodding in approval, seeing the settlement for the first time in the daylight.

“We’ve accomplished a lot.” Jackson acknowledged, mirroring Coop’s ongoing impression.

“It’s really amazing.” Coop agreed. It may not have been Ghost Reef, but Empress City had already become a nice place to live. It was bordered on three sides by the transitioning ruins of the various zones of the former city as the region transitioned into the revitalized Everglades. On the other side it was linked to the rebuilt port, large enough to almost be a twin settlement, with its own beaches abutting the maritime connection to Ghost Reef.

Within the protective inner walls, rather than a vacation destination, it was like a modern high-density urban center, complete with apartments, food venues, and service options along the runways. They were surrounded by wide green sections of recovering grass followed by a handful of farm-like structures that occupied the space between the outer and inner walls where the slums had been previously.

“We had almost 75,000 volunteers to join you in the Underlayer.” Jackson stated with pride while Coop admired the settlement. “Essentially every single person that calls Empress City home is ready to take up arms for the Lighthouse.” Before Coop could protest, seeing that as way too many people, Jackson continued. “Fabiana already cut it down to a force of 25,000 to make sure our local responsibilities don’t suffer.”

“That’s still a lot.” Coop muttered, unsure of what he would even do with that many extra bodies.

If Coop was still the guy from the start of the assimilation he would have let them decide on what to do and how to do it, but he had more confidence in himself and those already in Ghost Reef. Coop made a decision, feeling more assertive than he did in the past.

“Send no more than 10,000 with Captain Javier. I have something else I want you to do with the rest.” Coop concluded.

“Oh?” Jackson raised his eyebrows.

Coop glanced at Jackson. “I want you to take the rest and clear the Elites and Field Bosses in the Everglades all the way up to our newest allies in Central Florida.” He explained. “Between your army and the alligators, I think you can turn the entire region into safe territory before the event is over.”

Jackson hesitated, surprised by Coop’s decisiveness. “Are you sure? You’ll be leaving me with way more than necessary for a monster subjugation force.”

Coop nodded his head firmly. “I’m not leaving you with an easy job. If the Underlayer Event is anything like the Siege Event, monsters on the surface will also go into a frenzy. The increased aggressiveness was a major problem for the local forces in Central America. You might have to be outside of safe territory for the entire duration of the event” He explained. “More than anything, I don’t want you to lose any ground and I want you to make sure the Swamp Lord’s territory doesn’t get encroached by Primal Constructs. I wouldn’t expect any backup for a pretty long time.”

Jackson nodded along, actively listening until Coop was done with his warnings. “Alright, I understand.” He accepted his orders, already making his own plans. He had more experience than most given his leadership in the local revolution, so Coop expected him to manage, and hopefully the alligator territory would survive and even expand during the tumultuous period of the event. “Is the Swamp Lord really the king of alligators?” Jackson finally asked.

“More like the queen.” Coop shrugged.

“I swear, I thought those were more rumors that had gotten confused as they passed around.” Jackson mumbled before shaking it off. “Okay, I’ll go have Fabiana choose which groups will go. They’ll be ready to depart in an hour at most since they’re already on call. Are you going to go ahead?”

Coop shook his head. “No, I think I’ll have someone hose me down first. I’ll join them at the port afterwards.”

Jackson chuckled with a tinge of disbelief as the leader of their faction presented a strange dichotomy between casual nonchalance and firm action. He suggested Coop head toward the Guild Halls if he wanted to find someone to shoot him with water beams, otherwise there were several taverns where he could get an actual bath.

Naturally, Coop headed for the Guild Halls.