Unchosen Champion-Chapter 356: The Guardians of Punihuil
Punihuil turned out to be a relatively small base, managing with fewer than 100,000 human residents. They mostly lived in scattered camps looking down on several different beaches near the location of the civilization shard, as if trying to stay as close to the core of the settlement as possible. Coop had been anticipating significantly more, and not only because of the way others in bordering territories had gossiped about the influential emperor who was the most famous resident. That was a major factor, but Coop had high expectations even before he had heard rumors of this emperor.
Punihuil had also broken into the top five on the settlement leaderboards more than 150 days before Coop arrived. At the time, he had assumed they had received an enormous influx in refugees, but it seemed like that wasn’t exactly the case. At least, it hadn’t occurred in the way he had imagined it.
The local leaders were excited to welcome Coop and the procession of penguins that had followed him, treating the animals with at least as much appreciation as they did for him. Coop was more than happy to see it, considering how many of the birds were near enough to his level for it to make sense. It seemed like the longer the assimilation went on, the less it became necessary to demand respect for the wildlife. The people who continued to survive were more likely to be exposed to the benefits of cooperation in the face of planetary invasion.
Coop ended up having a large crowd gather in order to give him a rundown on their experience while the penguins waddled into the cold waves splashing on the rocky beaches to hang out with their families on the rocky outcroppings. The whole dynamic reminded him of his first visit to Corozal, where the elders couldn’t wait to share rumors and collect information from outside of their social circles. Coop was happy to oblige, but thanks to regular visits from the Tempest Fleet, they were actually at least as up to date with Ghost Reef as he was. Instead, he made his contribution by telling them about the different places he had visited all across South America. In turn, they shared details about their settlement.
A pair of unchosen local tour guides had claimed the shard at the start of the assimilation, discovering the alien object after checking on how the native penguins were doing after the meteors fell. The shard had landed on one of the small islands off the shore, where the birds nested, so they had been rightfully concerned. Since it was a civilization shard and not a mana seed, there was no damage and during their investigation one of them ended up becoming an early Champion, just like Coop.
However, the penguins had disappeared. The assumption had been that they were spooked by all of the upheaval that had occurred at the start. All they could do was wait to see if they would come back.
Over time, other survivors joined them, first arriving from Ancud and other smaller towns on Chiloé Island, but eventually also from the larger Puerto Montt. They brought more information regarding the assimilation, enabling them to get a bit more organized before the first settlement event began, but the penguins remained absent.
The settlement barely survived their single wave Siege Event thanks entirely to the position of their shard on a rocky outcropping, off the shore, that funneled the basic monsters into an unbreakable chokepoint, but the experience had been harrowing. They believed they were truly done-for after realizing the apocalyptic scenario they had found themselves in. Many of the original refugees started leaving, hoping that existing within the untamed wilds of Patagonia would be safer than waiting for the next settlement event, as if they could be overlooked by the invaders if they didn’t congregate together.
However, not long after the event, reinforcements started arriving in the form of wild animals. The missing penguins that had disappeared at the start of the assimilation were coming back. At first they arrived as individuals that circled the area then returned to where they came from, but soon the lone scouts came back with larger groups, then multiple species, and eventually entire parades of the birds came from land and sea. Punihuil grew exponentially as the aquatic birds made their return.
As they were being completely overrun by penguins, a pair of barely thawed humans finally showed up with some nonsensical explanations of emperors and kings. The locals assumed they had lost their minds, but provided them with temporary shelter anyway. The start of the assimilation had been enough to cause anyone to lose their sense of reality.
The pair were in search of their own companions; a large group of scientists that had been on Antarctica when the assimilation began. According to them, they had left the frigid south pole in search of a civilization shard. One was supposedly on the coast of the icy wilderness, but they had been unable to locate it, believing that it had been destroyed before they arrived.
The next civilization shard was Punihuil. The small group of fisherman and guides welcomed the two survivors, but hadn’t realized they were also welcoming the armies of penguins that had gathered at the South Pole, who then used Punihuil as the core of their growing empire, swimming through the oceans and along the coasts and rivers to secure more and more land from the alien invaders. They even acquired a subordinate shard for Punihuil, pushing it further up the ranks of settlements.
Before the penguins arrived, the regions on the eastern side of the Andes had been on track to evolve into another Fallen Zone, akin to the American South, but squads of elite penguins had penetrated the mountains and deep into the grasslands to destroy the most powerful invaders. Their presence ultimately stabilized large portions of the continent and the humans weren’t even sure how much of it was deliberate and how much of the penguin expeditions were random.
It was around that time that the local residents then met the earliest coastal scouts from the Tempest Fleet, though the pirates had mistaken the settlement for a minor stronghold based on its lack of development and minor human population. Compared to some of the other places the sailors had discovered, like Rio de Janeiro, the scattered havens of the Uruguayan Coastal Corsairs, and even the cemetery-based Recoleta settlement in Buenos Aires, Punihuil was far less developed.
It wasn’t until later that Coop’s own people realized the unupgraded shard territory was one of the most prominent in the world, boasting what might have been the largest combined population of any settlement on the planet before the Lighthouse started gathering more members. But even then, it wasn’t entirely directed. The presence of the penguins kept them safe from invaders, but the penguins lived their own lives, apparently only answering to the so-called emperor.
By the time Coop arrived, the total population of Punihuil was near 25,000,000, and it was virtually all penguins and other animals. The relatively tiny cove was the world’s only known shared breeding ground for Humboldt and Magellanic penguins and the locals believed that they had only survived thanks to that connection with the massive flocks of birds. Otherwise, they would have become refugees in Ghost Reef or face destruction by raiding Primal Constructs.
After the locals were satisfied, they had to instruct Coop to continue moving. He still had quite a bit of traveling to do if he wanted an audience with the mysterious penguin-whispering emperor. Reaching the Northern Patagonia region had taken him almost an entire week, but the Emperor’s Throne was something like a thousand miles away, deep in what had been Torres del Paine National Park. The subordinate shard that the penguins included in their territory was tucked even further south and occupied primarily by wild animals.
Coop left the settlement just as another Tempest Fleet ship arrived. The locals welcomed the phantom pirates just as they had with Coop, letting themselves on board, and inviting them to rest while exchanging news and stories in exactly the same manner as they had with the Champion. They didn’t seem particularly inclined to leave, even if Ghost Reef promised more safety, because of the comfort they already felt in their current situation. He hoped that his advisors would be able to convince the emperor to cooperate, but it was always a toss up when it came to individuals holding power. He doubted even with the full cooperation of wild animals that the settlement could sufficiently defend itself during another combat settlement event. As the days went on, another event seemed inevitable, even if they were only meant to receive two or three a year.
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Coop traveled through a land of glaciers, fjords, and towering snow-covered peaks, tamed by the Punihuil settlement territory. He moved a bit faster, having underestimated exactly how far south he had to go, and really, just how long Chile actually was. It was kind of ridiculous, especially when he considered the desert that had started his trip. Compared to the partially frozen lands, it was a completely different world.
The snowy mountains quickly transformed into icy islands surrounded by frigid melt waters, bordered by thin strips of taiga forest. He moved further east, so that he was crossing almost uninterrupted ice formations with patches of rocky terrain and few trees rather than crossing deep channels carved by ancient ice. Colossal granitic mountains established a backdrop that even he wanted to avoid having to ascend.
When he finally reached his destination, it was only thanks to the massive numbers of penguins inhabiting the various lakes, increasing in destiny as he drew closer to the core of their territory. It seemed pretty random, but when he finally reached the Emperor’s Throne he knew he was in the correct place.
It was an enormous glacial lake, not particularly different compared to many of the others that he had seen. They were all simultaneously incredible and dramatically alien to his tropical sensibilities. The water was a stunning turquoise, dotted with small icebergs that had calved off the nearby glaciers, each with a handful of penguins either shuffling around or taking turns diving from. Other birds hopped up and down the rocky shores and even more were swimming through the water, enjoying what had to be a literal penguin paradise.
Three granite towers loomed in the background, the actual Torres del Paine that the park had been named after. The towers of stone rose almost vertically from the ground, forming sheer granite spires that reached thousands of feet into the sky. Though they had snow around their base, none had gathered at their peaks. Their surfaces were striped with bands of rock, evidence of the long eras of wind and ice exposing formations of different eras.
Coop could swear they were glowing with a similar ethereal light to his manifestations, and when he viewed them with his mana sight, they were emitting some mana, but not more than so many other natural formations he had already witnessed. It was a trick of the sun’s rays catching smooth rock faces through floating mists. Mother nature almost had its own magic.
However, the natural environment aside, the real show stopper that proved he was in the right place was sitting languidly in the center of the glacial lake, surrounded by turquoise waters and thousands of penguins. It was a giant. The godzilla of penguins, an enormous specimen that looked too large to even follow the glacial melt back out of the rocky valley, presided over the region like he was the final boss that protected the subordinate shard. The sheer scale of the towers combined with the pristine glacial lake and surrounding mountains to create a truly epic atmosphere, but the penguin was unbelievable.
[Emperor Penguin (Level 589)]
[Colossus (Body)]
[Chosen of the Shepherds of the Lost]
Coop tilted his head to the side, making a confused face. Was this why no one had ever stated who the emperor was clearly? It was a penguin? Admittedly, it was a penguin with an impressive level and lots of friends, but was it really the emperor that had conquered what felt like half a continent? And its faction; why was it so familiar?
While Coop was trying to figure out if animals had really taken another step forward in terms of consciousness, and recognizing the faction as the same that had sponsored the wild pig on Ghost Reef, Marcus approached him with a few strangers in tow. Marcus was definitely glad to see him.
“Coop, my friend, you have the best timing.” He exclaimed happily.
“Do I?” Coop wondered before pointing at the gigantic penguin. “Is that the emperor I’ve been hearing so much about?” He asked, unsure if he should feel embarrassed about asking.
“Sort of…” Marcus waffled, smoothly transitioning into an introduction of the others. “This is Dr. Mika Kinnunen, a world-renowned penguin researcher, and this is Mr. Matthew Price, a junior climate scientist. I think they’re as much the emperor as their penguin companion.”
He turned to them and introduced Coop, pulling out all of the stops. “This is Coop, Champion of Ghost Reef, Founder of the Lighthouse, Unchosen, Mistwalker, Siegebreaker, and the Underking.” he turned to Coop with a smile. “That everything?”
Coop shrugged, thinking it was already a bit too much.
The one introduced as Dr. Mika Kinnunen eagerly stepped forward, shoving his hand out, white teeth smiling through a beard so thick the thin man seemed to be more facial hair than flesh and bone. Even while wearing multiple layers, Coop could tell he was a slender guy, but even more than that, Coop could see that he was a bundle of passionate enthusiasm. He had the eyes of someone that easily found joy in life. Coop liked that.
“Mr. Coop. It is an absolute pleasure to put a handsome face to such a famous name. Of course, please call me Mika.” He stepped aside after shaking hands, confidently putting his hand on his companion’s shoulder. “This is Matt, the most reliable person in the whole world!”
Matt, for his part, avoided eye contact and did his best to hide behind Mika, staying still as if it would help him avoid further attention.
“Well, nice to meet you both.” Coop chuckled. “So why is my timing so good, Marcus?”
“Of course, it’s because there’s monsters for you to hunt.” Marcus responded enthusiastically.
Even if Coop tried to hide how his ears perked up, it was no use in playing it cool. He liked the sound of that.
“Essentially, Mika believes that the penguins will not move any further until the Primal Constructs on Antarctica are defeated. They were waiting until the seasons changed before venturing back, but you could probably handle a bit of cold right?”
Coop squinted at Marcus suspiciously. “How cold are we talking?”
Mika responded helpfully. “Well, given the time of year, the ice shelf is at its absolute coldest. It might reach negative 100 degrees, depending on where you go, and I wouldn’t want to think about the wind. Quite cold indeed! Oh, that’s Celsius as well.”
“That’s… horrifying.” Coop noted, and watched as Matthew nodded his head vigorously. “What kind of monsters are we talking about?” He asked, obviously willing to keep going if it meant a decent grind. Torres del Paine was already pretty cold, but Coop was comfortable enough and he was sure the temperature was hovering around the freezing point, given the frost that appeared on his breath.
“It sounds to me like another Fallen Zone has formed.” Marcus explained with knowing eyes.
Coop nodded once at that. “Alright. I’ll head out now.” He decided without a second more of consideration.
“Wait, wait. Hang on.” Marcus stalled him as his spear reappeared from the mists. “We’re going to take a ship. The lovely Avatar came along and we have Gibson and his party escorting her. She insisted on getting more involved thanks to her curiosity.”
Coop grunted, but decided that maybe it would actually go faster if he had a little bit of help. The boss of the previous Fallen Zone had taken a week for him to defeat by itself.
“Fine. Are we going soon or what?” Coop concluded.
“Right away, boss.” Marcus stated with a chuckle.
