Chapter 63: Unretirement (Patreon)

Coop made a quick visit to the apartments to see Charlie and her parents. He climbed a few sets of wide stairs and considered the lack of elevators in the system constructions. These apartment buildings were brushing up on the height that elevators would make sense, but Coop hadn’t explored any of the upgrade options for the structures, so they might just be available for a price.

Even the hallways were overly wide, with cathedral ceilings that made Coop feel small. He found the Seraphin’s apartment and knocked on the door. Emmanuel answered and invited him inside.

“Ah, come on in. What brings you here so soon?” Emmanuel asked as Coop looked around the spacious living room. The big man’s deep voice echoed against the stark walls.

“Just thought I’d see how you were settling in.” Coop explained vaguely.

“We’re just happy to be together again.” Emmanuel stated with a content expression. Madison, Charlie, and Camila were chatting while watching the courtyard from a window in an empty room directly opposite of the front door.

It was actually the first time Coop had checked out the inside of the apartments, despite being some of his first purchases. He still had the lighthouse and had previously left the residents to themselves.

His initial reaction was surprise at the size of the unit. As he had a look around, it really clicked that the apartments were abnormally spacious, especially with the tall ceilings. He wondered if it was to accommodate differently sized aliens. Even the massive ogre-like baker, Vronk, would have been comfortable inside one of the apartments, not to mention the cavernous hallways and wide stairwell.

The floor plan was odd, lacking a kitchen and bathrooms, but having a large number of rooms. Coop understood a little better why some of the families that had come from the mainland had opted to share with others. An average family wouldn’t be able to utilize all of the extra rooms and they were already so large that normal accommodations would feel inadequate. The whole unit was basically a central, communal living room with six large rooms attached to the perimeter.

The solid dark wood floors and the stone walls with matching wood trim gave it a real medieval mansion vibe. The corners of the rooms were illuminated by streams of mana that provided gentle white light in strips wherever the walls met. Large windows let the sunlight into the perimeter rooms.

Charlie’s family just needed some extravagant oil paintings and plush carpets to complete the look of a noble’s tropical getaway home. Since they had only arrived in the middle of the previous night, they had no belongings or furniture set up at all.

But that was why Coop had stopped by. He accessed his spatial storage and started placing their belongings in the middle of the central room. They’d have to arrange the furniture to their liking. For now, he was just getting it all out of his personal storage.

“What’s this?” Madison questioned after she entered the living room and began examining a bedside table that Coop had seemingly pulled out of thin air. She obviously found it familiar, but didn’t expect to find it there.

“Ah, sorry, I kinda looted your house before we left.” Coop admitted while revealing more and more items.

Madison gave a bemused laugh that bounced off the empty walls. “Don’t turn my daughter into a bandit, now.” She warned, halfheartedly. Coop couldn’t imagine Charlie engaging in any type of banditry.

Coop just shrugged. “Which one is Charlie’s room?” He asked and Madison dragged Camila and Charlie over to show him which room they were planning on claiming. The only difference between the rooms was which direction the huge windows faced, so they were just deciding on what their view would be. The settlement wasn’t developed enough to make any solid predictions on what the skyline would be like anyway.

Charlie seemed to have selected one that faced north east, toward the center of the settlement, where the civilization shard was situated. If the settlement was filled with buildings, they would still have a central courtyard in the middle of the block to observe unobstructed. Coop got to work unloading all of Charlie’s belongings as carefully as he could.

As he meticulously filled bookshelves with books and stuffed animals, Camila nudged him and pointed out Charlie. She was wiping away tears while standing in the doorway, clearly upset.

“What’s wrong?” He wondered, confused. Had he made a mistake bringing all of their stuff? Was it a painful reminder of what they’d lost? He hesitated to continue and considered putting it all back into his storage.

“I just feel guilty.” Charlie wiped her eyes from beneath her thick bangs, making her already disheveled hair a bit more messy. “Everyone else is suffering through an actual apocalypse, but I’m getting special treatment from you guys. So far, the hardest part was having to be around the other Chosen, and even that wasn’t so bad with Camila around.”

Coop chuckled a bit, earning a glare from Camila, but he went on. “I mean, I think I’ve had it pretty easy compared to what a miserable experience this whole thing could have been. I’ve basically been hanging out on a beach while getting levels. Most of my difficulties have been self-imposed, more or less. Nothing like what it could have been.”

Coop gave a classic shrug as Charlie looked up at him. “I think we're uniquely privileged thanks to being here on Ghost Reef. The variety of monsters, the security of the fortress, the presence of the civilization shard, the isolation from other settlements, they all combine to give us an opportunity to thrive. The way I’ve been looking at it is that, if anything, we have a responsibility to leverage any advantages we get, that way we can help other people as well.” Camila was nodding along in agreement and Charlie seemed to be open to his perspective.

Charlie seemed to compose herself. “We should get serious about leveling.” She declared after taking a deep breath.

“Yea.” Camila agreed as she cracked her knuckles. “We can’t let this guy take all of the advantages for himself.” She stated as she pointed her thumb at Coop to Charlie’s amusement.

Coop finished emptying everything he had looted, which was most of the Seraphin’s belongings, but not everything. Plenty had been destroyed, damaged, or hadn’t been able to be scavenged, but it was enough for them to redecorate and make the apartment feel more like their home. Charlie was rearranging her room with Camila’s help. Apparently, the stuffed animals lived in a pile on the bed and Coop hadn’t organized them properly, so he left them to fix it.

On his way out, he stopped to ask Charlie’s parents a few questions. They had taken a seat on their old couch, surrounded by disorderly belongings, with Madison’s feet across Emmanuel’s legs. They smiled happily at Coop when he got their attention.

“Do you know about the pre-mana professions of all your neighbors?” Coop queried. “We could use architects and anyone that knows about construction, and engineers that might be able to help the Cleary brothers experiment with mana.”

The pair looked at each other and communicated silently before Emmanuel responded. “Mr. Gibson will know. He’s a bit nosy like that, but he’ll even know what the retired people’s careers had been. I’ll make sure he knows you want to find out.”

“That’s perfect.” Coop approved. “I’ve also got some ideas about setting up a power leveling exercise for the elderly. We can get them some quick levels under the supervision of others.” He remembered Jones power leveling Olani when she first arrived and wanted to combine the idea with the basic leveling zones they were establishing.

“We’ve really aligned ourselves with a taskmaster, haven’t we honey?” Madison worried facetiously. “How ruthless to drag the poor elderly out of retirement and force them into life or death combat. It’s one thing to make them work… but this is something else.”

“I’m already having second thoughts about this tropical island paradise.” Emmanuel added. “Who knows what lies beneath the surface? Was this place really empty before this Champion took over or did he work everyone to death?”

Coop leaned into the gag and played along. “That’s right, the Champion is ruthless, and don’t let anyone forget it. Once I’ve force fed them enough levels to become immortal, I’ll never allow them to retire again. They’ll wish they only needed to work until they dropped when I have them laboring for all of eternity.”

Camila and Charlie joined them just in time. Camila immediately rolled her eyes at Coop. “Oh great, now what is he up to?”

Madison explained, “He’s drafting the elderly into his army and sending them to the front lines to level them up forcefully.”

Both girls nodded like that was exactly something Coop would do. “Hey! Why would you accept such an unflattering portrayal of my power leveling idea so easily?” He protested.

Camila sighed, ignoring his protest. “I guess we should help. The Emperor’s word is law. C’mon Charlie, let’s go power level some old people and spread the word of his proclamation before we start grinding.”

Madison stood up as well. “Well, we have a new apartment to decorate.” She stated as she dragged Emmanuel to his feet.

Coop got the picture and left before he got recruited into moving furniture with Emmanuel. Madison immediately started directing Charlie’s father into shifting things around while Coop said his goodbyes. He had a few more quick stops anyway, and first was to visit the herbalist.

A brief stroll across the southern courtyard saw phantoms and residents excitedly exploring the empty space and service buildings as well as the fort itself. They didn’t seem to be leaving the protective walls just yet, though a few phantoms left as a group. He thought they must be one of the new patrols.

After a few minutes, his walk brought him to the herbalist’s shack where the contracted resident was happily tending to her flowers. Coop couldn’t help but be impressed by the prosperous garden.

“The Champion returns to my humble shop? To what do I owe the pleasure?” Caisalya greeted him with her sing-song voice as she emerged from her garden, wiping dirt from her hands on the soft leaves at her hips.

“I just wanted to let you know we’ve brought someone who knows the rituals for blood curses, we’re just waiting for the facility to be constructed. She warned me that the materials were also difficult to acquire, so I wanted to see how you were doing.” Coop explained.

“Have no fear, young Champion, I already have the materials ready, but once they are harvested they must be used right away.” Caisalya reassured him.

“Alright, that sounds good, sorry to nag you.” Coop was satisfied and made to leave, but she stepped forward with a delicate pointer finger raised.

“Actually, I have yet another request.” The herbalist looked embarrassed, the leaves that wrapped her body actually drooped like they needed watering. “I hesitate to ask because you’ve been so generous already, but would it be alright if I took over landscaping the settlement as well? I had to turn away some of your new residents who were looking for a job and it inspired me to expand my projects.”

Coop didn’t need to look at her garden, overflowing with flowers, to know she was prepared for a larger undertaking. The Herb Garden on the interior of the block, behind her shop, looked like botanical gardens instead of a simple operation tended by a single gardener.

“Sure, you can do that, but I have a few stipulations.” Caisalya perked up, waiting for Coop’s requirements. He pointed out his second favorite palm tree, still standing near the entrance in the center of the main street. “I’d like you to focus on native plants and trees, and I think you should stick to the areas that have already been developed. I wouldn’t want to have to tear up your gardens while we build.”

The tips of her leaves actually began to glow with her delight. “Oh, how wonderful! Of course, if you keep spoiling me, I’ll follow whatever directions you give me.” Caisalya enthused. Coop watched as the plants around her formed buds and bloomed to match her joy. He wondered if she was manipulating the plants consciously, or if they simply reacted to her presence.

As he left the eager herbalist’s shop, he spotted Olani, who was heading next door, to the alchemist. “Olani!” He called to her as he jogged to the alchemist’s doorway.

She turned and smiled at him, “Welcome back. I trust you had a chance to try my tinctures. There’s no doubt you got into trouble at some point.”

Coop nodded, admitting to finding trouble. “They were lovely, added some health while tasting like strawberries. You should definitely produce more.” He reported, hoping to encourage her into developing more potency.

“And they healed properly? No strange growths or mutations?” Olani inquired quite seriously.

“Ah, they worked fine… were growths a possibility?” Coop asked nervously, scratching the back of his head as he realized he may have been more of a test subject than he realized. Maybe he should ask the Tomb Blade if he had any weird reactions, since the member of Shane’s party was the first to try a tincture.

Olani didn’t answer and instead dug around in her bag until she retrieved another pouch of tinctures. “These are for mana. Please try them next.”

“And the growths?” Coop asked again, but received no answer. Sojjah grew an arm as if in answer to his question and waved from further inside the shop, where she awaited her apprentice, surrounded by cauldrons and glowing lime green flames. Coop waved back, matching the alchemist’s enthusiasm.

“Before you get to work, have you met any of the new residents?” Coop was worried that the little old lady would be overwhelmed by the constant influx of new people after a lifetime in an isolated village.

“Oh, I’ve already begun my evaluations.” Olani stated with a gleam in her eye that surprised Coop. “I’ll unearth the value of them all, especially the old ones.” She stated her intentions so firmly, Coop changed his mind about the previously isolated elder. He thought she was accustomed to seclusion, but she was actually starved for gossip.

“Well, there’s a few more that just arrived with me, including a healer named Madison that you should probably meet. She’s going to work on healing Jones.“

“I look forward to it.” The village elder in her really came out with the presence of new residents, despite her previous declarations of giving the leadership role up due to her own inadequacies in protecting her village.

Coop decided to ask again. “You sure you don’t want an advisor position? I’d be happy to have you in an official position.”

She started waving him off before he even finished, dismissing the idea. “You’ll listen to me anyway and this arrangement is more fun.”

“Alright.” Coop accepted with a shrug. He figured she would carve her own position among the residents, whether it was official or not. “There’s a guy named Marcus that is angling for the position anyway.”

“I’ll look into him as well.” She confirmed with a single firm nod.

Coop chuckled at her enthusiasm. “I’ll see you later then.” He waved at Sojjah again to say goodbye before he headed back toward the town circle.

He wouldn’t miss the first of the army’s official training sessions if he could help it.