Unchosen Champion-Chapter 313: Depths of Madness

Coop used both hands to cup some river water and soak his face, but his hands lingered just a bit longer than necessary. Both palms gingerly rested against his cheeks, covering his eyes with his fingers as droplets fell down. He wasn’t sobbing, but he certainly felt like he should.

After a few moments, he released his face, letting his hands sink back into the chilly river, and took a steadying breath. He watched his reflection in the ripples as the surface settled down. Staring back at him was, thankfully, a regular, basic human.

It looked like he had gone one too many rounds with a heavyweight prize fighter without knowing how to properly guard. The side of his lower lip was swollen with a small split, he had the two worst black eyes he had ever seen, and the puffiness of his right cheek made his nose look crooked. One of his ears had a tear at the top, and a long strip of his skin had split somewhere in his scalp and ran halfway down his forehead. And that was just the physical damage to his head.

The irises of his eyes now had subtle stripes that hinted at supernatural spectral and abyssal energy, not completely different from the patterns in the manifestations of his weapons and armor, and his vision hadn’t cleared up one bit since declining his position as the Abyssal One. It seemed like mana was interfering with his eyes after having his head struck by a few too many attacks during his bouts with boss monsters. All in all, in spite of everything, he was still happy to see his appearance. He was beaten, but not an abomination.

All of the wounds on his body would heal with unbelievable efficiency, thanks to mana. Of course, other than some small acid burns and a few dozen puncture wounds, the vast majority of the damage had been caused by the Icon or his canceled evolution, both of which had also been the result of mana. Coop would have to call it a wash at best.

Knowing that he would heal didn’t make it any easier to take such damage. He winced as he gingerly tested the edges of some of the more egregious bruises on his torso. If he didn’t have the opportunity to rest and relax, being repeatedly beaten to a pulp every day would probably break him. It was no wonder the idea of grinding monsters was such a hard sell in the beginning.

However, the physical effects of a few big fights weren’t the reason he was barely holding back the tears. The pain of his battered body was nothing compared to the initial anguish at seeing his status for the first time after he woke back up. Normally, when regaining consciousness, he would have expected the nightmare to end, and yet here he was, living it.

He took a deep breath and resumed cleaning himself, careful not to be too rough with the bruises that had appeared all across his body from the thousands of collisions with the Icon’s offensive aura or around the puncture wounds from the projectiles of the Insurgents. He sat in the crystal clear water of the Mississippi Sea, still feeling exhausted. He looked more like a train had run him over than any other time in his life, but the real damage had been to his mental state. It was like his momentum had finally been halted and he didn’t have an obvious path to break through.

The two newest members of the Lighthouse watched from a distance, having their own discussion about the situation they had put themselves in, occasionally stealing glances at Coop that he imagined were filled with wonder. The little worm guy had started wriggling in the sand, back and forth, so that its oversized puppy dog-like eyes were each visible one after the other as it turned. It was making sounds that were similar in a way to a kitten, except it always ended with a ‘P’ sound. It seemed like it could only say variations of ‘Mwoop,’ but Lyriel understood its meaning just fine despite the system failing, or refusing, to translate for Coop.

Coop splashed more water into his hair and gently worked his fingers along his scalp, still thinking through everything that had happened in the aftermath of the defeat of another Icon of Mana. According to Lyriel, he had only fainted for a few hours. Apparently, pushing himself to rise to the challenge of another boss fight so soon after canceling a physical evolution was beyond even his limits.

“At least for now.” He declared, trying to find the internal strength to regain his momentum and push forward, no matter how impossible it seemed.

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Looking at things in their totality, it wasn’t that bad. In fact, Coop could easily make an argument that the penalties he had received might actually be a good thing in the long run. For one, the loss of 11 million credits was completely negligible, especially after he gained more than that in the Omega Construct fight alone, so he could easily pass it off as nothing.

Then there was his racial status. He had assumed that declining an evolution was choosing to remain unchanged in a simple binary, yes or no choice. However, he had actually been affirming his humanity with his decision to avoid changing. The system appeared to recognize his selection, though how it would come to play was unclear. He just knew he was glad to be human.

Still, the idea of opening his status again made him feel like he might be sick. It was like his heart dropped to his stomach at the mere thought. The real cause for concern was that the experience penalty he had received was massive. It displayed itself in red next to his level, revealing his punishment as (-250). Had he really committed such a crime?

According to the description of his penalty, his level would be locked to its current position, unchanging until he gained the equivalent of 250 levels. Instead of gaining levels as he progressed, he would chip away at the penalty, diminishing it one level at a time until it was gone.

It would have been a tragedy under the best of circumstances, given his urge to keep growing, but it was even worse when he considered that the assimilation hadn’t kept up with his pace. Diminishing returns would trap him on a treadmill with no rewards. He winced as he worried about inevitably losing his position on the leaderboards, or at least taking a massive hit in his lead. He had no idea how long it would take to recover. His momentum was forcefully stolen from him and he need only look at Vronk of Caisalya to recognize how devastating it could be, though they were far more extreme examples.

He sighed, putting his hands back into the water with a splash. Thankfully, the mana that had concentrated in the area had all but dissipated, and the air and water were back to normal. It seemed like he had done a number on the Fallen Zone. In fact, the domain was gone, replaced by the regular untamed wilds of the world, where civilization shards failed to reach and Primal Constructs roamed freely.

“Mission accomplished, I guess.” He muttered, dejected tone doing nothing to lift his own spirit.

He shook his head, doing his best to put his experience prison sentence out of his thoughts and concentrate on the important choice he had to make regarding Depths of Madness. After he woke back up, selecting the ability presented him with two sub-options, illustrating the reward for finally completing a full set of Mind-based passive skills.

With either choice, he would be altering the skills that had been the foundation for all of the stat manipulating shenanigans since his first skill selection at the start of the assimilation. It was a big reward for his dedicated investments.

Mind Over Matter, Adamance, Practical Application, Arcane Comprehension, and Clarity of Purpose were all on the table, combining with Depths of Madness and awarding him the choice of evolution. Completing the full set of Mind-based attribute passives had unlocked the type of major change that gave him decision anxiety while provoking his imagination for buildcraft. He carefully read through both options again, not wanting to make a mistake with such valuable portions of his build, even if he was agonizing about his future of leveling at the same time.

The first choice was Mindful Mindlessness.

“There is extraordinary Power within the Process of Elimination.”

Mindful Mindlessness would combine all of his attributes into one: Mind. There would be no more distribution of his stats, bouncing around bonuses where the other attributes, like Strength and Agility, were downhill from his investment in Mind. They would all be pinned to the exact value of Mind. He wouldn’t even have a choice where his stats went, since Mind would be the only option left, though he already automatically placed them there anyway.

As he understood the evolution, the attribute section of his status would be cut down to a single line, only displaying the Mind stat as it would completely take over. In a way, the simplicity spoke to him.

Thankfully, the passive effects of Mind Over Matter, Practical Application, and Clarity of Purpose would be preserved at their current values for his current abilities, so the biggest potential downside was at least partially alleviated. Everything from mistjumping to Legacy of the Mists would still have a mana cost of zero, half of the health damage taken would be distributed to his mana pool, and all his current skills would allow further attacks to ignore a portion of his target’s armor.

From what Coop could tell, Mindful Mindlessness was purely positive for his current build and position within the system. It would increase his total stats from all sources by doubling his effective Agility, Body, and Acumen so that they were equal to his current Mind total. At the moment, they were approximately only half the value. That meant even his Slayer titles would contribute even more stats than they did before, and his collection of profession levels would be that much more valuable. The only other factor, in terms of gains, to be aware of, was that his Mind stat would actually be unchanged relative to his usual investment, but he would gain total stats, even while he was penalized.

Coop muttered to himself, thinking Mindful Mindlessness sounded really good while idly scrubbing his upper back. Of course, it had to be, considering just how difficult it was to unlock. Six synergistic skills between multiple paths was heavy. To him Mindful Mindlessness seemed like the perfect choice, as a capstone, if his entire build was 100% complete. He continued rinsing with the clear water as he imagined a future with the first choice, before eventually moving onto the second.

The second option was Quantum Insanity.

“A God does not Play Dice.”

Quantum Insanity would make it so that every class level granted 10 unallocated attribute points.

That was it.

There were no other changes to how his skills worked or which stats factored into his build. The secondary effects of his passive skills would act as they always had, potentially breaking future abilities if he could conquer his experience penalty and actually receive another choice.

Quantum Insanity would simply double his standard investment into Mind, though it wouldn’t apply anything to the other sources that had contributed to his massive amount of attributes in Slayer titles and his profession levels. So, not exactly double, but certainly a massive increase.

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From a raw stats perspective, Coop’s quick math revealed that Quantum Insanity didn’t fall behind Mindful Mindlessness unless his other sources contributed more than double the number of stats that he gained from levels. That meant that at the moment, if he had Quantum Insanity, he would need the equivalent of 50 Slayer titles, Scavenging over level 1,000, or some other combination of the two that he wasn’t near at all, for Mindful Mindlessness to beat it. Even then, his raw Mind stat would still be higher with Quantum Insanity. Mindful Mindlessness would only overtake the total stats with extra Agility, Body, and Acumen at first.

Still, if he worked through the penalty with Mindful Mindlessness, he might actually end up with that kind of ratio of Slayer titles and profession levels. He shook his head at the dilemma he found himself in.

“Is it better to be Insane or Mindless?” Coop wondered as he rubbed his blurry eyes.

How many Slayer titles could he even get in total? No matter what, he already had every intention of collecting them all, but realistically, how many Primal Construct variants were on planet Earth? There was a limit to them, but there was no limit to his class level, or if there was, it was unknown. In the long run Quantum Insanity had to be the choice.

However, there was a major caveat to Quantum Insanity and it was one that would have had him recoiling in disgust if not for the level penalty he already had. Coop closed his eyes as he confronted the worst information in the world. His level would be reset. He wouldn’t even get new skills until he reached unconquered level thresholds as he’d already claimed the previous ones. If a 250 level punishment was a long sentence, Quantum Insanity would apply it swiftly through a death penalty by actualizing the condemnation and cleaning the slate.

But before Coop spiraled once again at the thought of his progression woes, he forced himself to recognize the positives. He was in a world where the highest level monsters outside of very specific developments were around 250 levels his inferior at best. He had just conquered the center of the Fallen Zone, the last known location on Earth that he could realistically hope to sneak out significant gains in levels. At over level 500 in half a year, he was getting too far ahead of the assimilation to keep growing.

Unless the Settlement Events started triggering more frequently, there were more Fallen Zones out there that were unknown to Ghost Reef, or he started hunting down his fellow humans, he simply didn’t have any realistic ways to maintain his pace. Only the Slayer quest rewards would be giving him levels until the next major event, and there was no way they would match up to defeating a Region Boss in a domain full of Elites or a hundred million invaders during a siege or conquest.

Ultimately, he believed whatever he temporarily lost by taking Quantum Insanity, it would be negligible in the short term, and would actually reward him in the long run. Were hundreds of levels even a big deal if he was working toward tens of thousands? He couldn’t help but imagine receiving this choice at level 25,000. From that perspective, it felt fortunate to reach such an inflection point so early.

Besides, Coop reminded himself that he would still have his profession levels and Slayer titles with multipliers and bonuses. His dream of using his profession to have a sneaky power level would finally be realized, though this wasn’t exactly how he had hoped it would come about.

The real loss was on the leaderboards, but as he stared at the hazy horizon, he wondered how long anyone could really stay ahead of him. He’d be chasing after them from the jump.

Despite himself, a smirk appeared as he considered the challenge. He would be smurfing in real life with his entire build intact. How many level ones had the kind of combat experience he already accumulated, with more than a dozen titles granting combat bonuses and stats that would already rival people with hundreds or thousands of levels?

Even without his class levels, he would have almost 10,000 total stats before his passive multipliers just from titles and profession levels. Who on the leaderboard could say they had more? Coop blew air out of his nose, finally recognizing just what a stat monster he had become. With Mindful Mindlessness, he would have to gain 250 levels before progressing beyond his current high water mark, but at least with Quantum Insanity, he would be able to feel the progression the whole time.

The more he thought about it the more he convinced himself that he could make Quantum Insanity work. He would rebuild his momentum so that it couldn’t be stopped. After the Continental Summit, he was just going to grind Slayer titles unless some emergencies popped up, might as well get levels from kills at the same time, right? He did his best to put a positive spin on the situation.

If he took Mindful Mindlessness, it would look like he was taking it easy, not actually advancing for however long it took him to gain another 250 levels while already dealing with diminishing returns of experience. After he presented himself to the rest of the world in the Underlayer, it would feel like a betrayal to the image he tried to cultivate.

Was disappearing altogether that much better? He supposed he was still Champion of Ghost Reef and the Founder of the Lighthouse, so virtually everyone he knew would immediately know that he was still alive. He doubted most of them would even bat an eye that he was up to something strange.

He hummed as he stood up from the shallow water, still a bit unsteady, but recovering much quicker than if he had lacked the extraordinary durability granted from his doubly effective boss titles. He rubbed the residue from his thighs and hamstrings, knees, and calves. His state was about as good as it would get, but he still hadn’t come to a conclusion on what would be the best way to proceed.

Quantum Insanity had to be the choice for Depths of Madness, but the question now was how he would break the news. Should he just make the choice or should he wait until he had a chance to discuss it with some of his advisors?

He imagined what their suggestions would be, recognizing that they would encourage him to focus on making sure to gather enough strength to keep serving as the backbone for everything they were building with the settlement and the faction. His advisors always supported his progress.

He shrugged to himself, concluding that like a bandaid, he should just rip it off. He opted for Quantum Insanity and tilted his head up toward the sky as he opened his status, still feeling a bit sick about the whole situation.

[Status]

HP - 4855/16269

MP - 12409/60075

Class - Revenant (Level 0)

Profession - Scavenging (Level 202)

Affinity - Spectral, Abyssal

Race - Human (Icon)

Faction - The Lighthouse

Strength - 125 (+2990)

Agility - 125 (+1495)

Body - 125 (+1495)

Mind - 2215 (+775)

Intelligence - 125 (+2990)

Acumen - 125 (+1495)

Unallocated - 0

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

Skills (Active) - Mistwalking

Skills (Passive) - Depths of Madness

Quests - Fortune Seeker (22/50), Upgrade City to Metropolis

Basic Credits - 15,984,044

The red text declaring his experience debt had vanished, leaving him to look closer at the rest of his slightly altered status. His grimace as he braced for the disaster faded a bit as he reconsidered a bit of his hesitancies.

The fact that his mana pool only decreased by around 2,000 total points managed to draw a slightly amused expression back to his face. Depths of Madness may have been a rather weak passive skill compared to his others, but doubling the potency of his Mind stat was well-timed. The reduction of his magic defense and mana pool would both be negligible to the point where he doubted he would notice even if he tried.

The rest of his stats were roughly halved, which, admittedly, was a harsh change. But even with that handicap, he was still a force to be reckoned with. There were still over 14,000 stats in his sheet, or nearly 3,000 standard levels worth of gains. He chuckled in disbelief, wondering if the system had made a mistake. He may have regressed to the point where he was too weak to repeat his conquest of the Omega Construct or a Region Boss ranked Icon of Mana, but he was almost exactly as strong as he was at the start of the Underlayer Event, which was to say, he was extremely strong.

Normally, he hated the idea of a New Game+ but this was more like a respec than a reset. Of course, since he was happy with his stat allocation, he had no reason to redistribute his stats in a different way, so it really ended up more like a money laundering scheme, except with his Mind attribute instead of cash. Now, with Quantum Insanity, he would be doubling his gains for every level.

Other than the obvious level change, he also had his race rank change from a simple number to ‘Icon.’ The result of affirming his humanity was a simple change in designation. Knowing what Icons of Mana were, he assumed the system was recognizing his commitment to humanity, though it didn’t seem to have any tangible effect at the moment. Perhaps he wouldn’t be offered any more racial evolutions, but that wasn’t something he would lament, not particularly interested in the first place.

His titles also seemed to have shuffled around, with a few disappearing altogether. Dynamo was gone even though he still had two mana affinities, but he wondered if that meant he had fully internalized the balance. The Insane title represented Quantum Insanity, and Depths of Madness encompassed all of his previous passive skills as well as its own effect.

All in all, the damage hadn’t been as severe as he anticipated, but it had taken him back to the power level that he had been immediately before he had started the gauntlet of Dedications. He scoffed as he recognized just how much he had benefited from the underground grind. He hadn’t been thrown back to the days of grinding Ancient Defenders on the beach at all, though he was no longer above such an adventure.

“Hmm…” The thought of Ancient Defenders had him humming as he realized just how many paths of progression were now opened up to him.

He had one more thing to check before he moved on. How would the leaderboards look without him hogging the top spot?

Day 178

Charlie Seraphin (Level 330) Camila Alvarez (Level 323) Gibson (Level 305) Buck Cleary (Level 300) Platinum (Level 294) Jacqueline ‘Jackie’ Simpson (Level 293) Emmanuel Seraphin (Level 291) Tiny Cleary (Level 291) George Prado (Level 291) Imara (Level 291)434,455,901. Coop (Level 0)

It seemed like the end of the Underlayer Event had created a lull in the world’s progression. For the most part, his friends had barely leveled, and a few non-Ghost Reef residents had retaken places in the top 10. Platinum from Neon Park and Imara from the African Assembly of Settlements were continuing to race while the rest of the world appeared to be resting and recovering after the long settlement event.

Then there was Coop’s ranking. He wondered if he was actually in last place. He supposed he must have been, since he was the last person to reach level 0, so even those who hadn’t started leveling would be above him. In any case, his position was probably the best guess they ever had at the current population of the world. Even if he leveled up, he’d try to remember the number and relay it to his advisors.

In the meantime, he realized it was Day 178! That meant the Omega Construct had actually held him off for something like 7 days, forcing Coop and his phantasms into an extended grind with the units of its domain. In retrospect, that was kind of amazing.

Even the Icon of Mana that had peppered him with bruises had only actually fought with him for a period of minutes before having its head blown off. Region Bosses were pretty serious, and with his new Reckless title, he was their equal.

“A level 0 Region Boss. Imagine that.” Coop muttered as he waded through the water back toward the shore.

He still needed to ask Lyriel some more questions. He wondered if she had any answers.