The Primal Hunter

Jake had been to enough medieval worlds already, so he found the second mission quite boring. The letter delivery did allow him to explore quite a few places, but nothing really caught his eye. Level-wise, there was a good spread, ranging all the way from F-grade to around level 240 in C-grade.

Race-wise, the diversity was even better, as Jake saw pretty much everything one could imagine. All the way from goblins to high elves lived in the medieval world, with many races having their own small kingdoms. Oh, and when Jake meant small, he meant small. Each kingdom was a highly condensed area, with the open area between each only like a hundred meters, meaning Jake could easily jump from one village to another if he wanted to. All this, despite the “lore” of the world dictating they were actually in conflict.

His primary objective for being there was to try and find someone he thought it could be interesting to teach, but he ended up leaving disappointed. While it was true Jake genuinely had no idea what he was looking for when looking for a potential student, he still felt like he would know it when he saw someone.

After getting done delivering all the letters and leaving the world, he went to the final world he wanted to explore. This one truly was the most unique of them all, as it was a kind of world he had never experienced before. Going through the portal, Jake found himself standing on a terrace of sorts, overlooking a vast megacity.

Skyscrapers of metal, glass, and what looked like some kind of ceramic material towered into the sky, many of them several kilometers tall. Lights were everywhere, from billboards and whatnot, as flying vehicles traveled between these many large skyscrapers, all of them having docks for these ships to land in.

On other lanes, Jake saw people flying inside tunnels of light formed to dictate traffic. Closing his eyes for a moment, Jake sent out a Pulse of Perception and nearly felt overwhelmed by the result. For hundreds of kilometers in all directions, the city continued endlessly, with the number of living beings in the billions just within the area he could see. If this was an entire planet filled with such population density… trillions, no, tens of trillions, could be living there.

As he stood there and looked around, he thought it all looked impressive as hell, but after a closer inspection, he finally saw it.

Ah, there are the dystopian elements one would expect of a futuristic megacity, he thought as he saw the ground deep below all the massive skyscrapers. It was naturally the slums, a place for all the undesirables and poor people to be allocated. Down there, he also saw many factory-like constructions and deep holes in the ground that led into vast underground mines or other production-related facilities.

Looking upwards, he also saw what flew above even the skyscrapers. Large discs floated up there, some of which had only single massive mansions on them. These mansions made any personal residents Earth ever had look like a joke, as these compounds easily had buildings more than a kilometer wide, with so much luxury it had long surpassed the level of being moronic.

This entire world was truly unlike anything Jake had ever seen before, and while he was curious about the place, he also got some very bad vibes. Alas, he was there to do a mission. He had to find five lost pets and return them, which shouldn’t take that long. The mission window even told him where he could find the first pet owner to talk to, which was naturally inside one of the big mansions floating above.

Flying up there, he wondered why this mission gave the most Merit Points out of all of them. It had to have something to do with the difficulty, right? Maybe the pets were actually semi-powerful C-grades or something. That, or creatures who were really good at hiding. Either way, he would find out soon. Jake was quite good at finding stuff, after all.

Getting close to the first floating island, a magic barrier sprung up around it right as Jake approached. It was a pretty weak one, but Jake still stopped as he saw a figure flying up toward him. Based on a cursory scan, this was the strongest person in the mansion… not that it was saying much.

[Mansion Security Captain – lvl 212]

“Halt! What is the purpose of your unannounced visit? If you do not have any valid reason for-“

“Something about missing pets,” Jake cut off the captain.

“Ah, you’re here for that,” the guard said, sounding a bit relieved. “Let me bring you to the lady of the house.”

Being a really shitty security guard, the guy just believed Jake right off the bat and took out a token. Activating it, the guard made a hole in the barrier and invited Jake inside. Following the guard, Jake quickly made his way to the main building, where he saw hundreds of servants milling about doing stuff. They all bowed when they saw the security captain but mostly ignored Jake as if he didn’t exist, while those who did look his way did so with disgust in their eyes. Jake quickly had a guess as to why.

They all wore pristine clothes, while Jake walked in wearing his usual armor, a mask, and his good old boots. In their eyes, he probably looked poor, and based on how damn materialistic everyone seemed around here, Jake wasn’t surprised. He did kind of want to point out how Eternal Hunger was probably worth more than the entire world they were living in, but he restrained himself with the hope of just getting things over with.

Walking up the way-too-long staircase, Jake entered a large living room where a single woman was lounging on a couch as she watched a large screen that was playing some soap opera or something based on how damn dramatic it was.

The woman was a human, similar to most of the beings on this planet. Jake had also seen other enlightened races, but most were humans, especially those of the richer echelon. She was level 201 and looked to be in her early forties, which indicated she had evolved very late in life or was at the later stages of her natural lifespan.

“I heard you’re the one who will bring me back my dearest,” the woman said as she saw Jake and quickly sat up.

“That’s me,” Jake said, rather deadpan, wondering what he had to retrieve. If he had to guess, it was probably gonna be some large fat cat named Mr. Snuggles or something else dumb and stereotypical like that.

“Good! Good! I have been waiting anxiously, and these useless security guards haven’t been any help! He’s been gone for nearly a week now, and I am simply beside myself with worry,” she said in an overly dramatic voice. “I have barely been able to rest at night when he isn’t there. I… I fear he may have fallen into the slums or something! Imagine what they might be doing to him down there, those savages.”

Jake thought she was a bit over the top, and he sure as hell didn’t like her, but he just sighed and wanted to get this over with so he could get his Merit Points. “Just give me a description of your pet.”

“Oh, of course!” she said with a smile as she took out what looked a lot like the type of tablets Arnold used. Though her was definitely much worse.

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“Here is a picture,” she said, having the security captain take the tablet from her and give it to Jake. Jake took it and looked at the picture on the tablet as his facial expression changed dramatically.

What the fuck?

Running down the narrow alleyway, the young man kept looking behind him as he knew he was being chased. He looked baffled as to how he had gotten found that fast but refused to give up. Continuing to run a bit longer, he soon found himself cornered, and the moment he turned around, he saw the masked figure already standing there.

“I know who you are and why you’re here, and I’m not going back!” the young man yelled as he backed up against the wall but still raised his gaze and met Jake’s eyes in defiance. “I would rather die than go back to that… that…”

“Bitch? Horrible piece of shit? Waste of human life?” Jake came with helpful suggestions as he observed the young man. “Come on, I am sure we can make up more.”

Jake looked at the young man, whose expression quickly changed from defiant to confused at what Jake was saying. At the same time, Jake also inspected the young man… or should he say the “lost pet.”

[Half-Elf – lvl 188]

“What… what are you trying to do!?” the half-elf questioned, as Jake saw he had taken out a hidden dagger behind his back. “I already told you I know who you are, and-“

“I know one of the servants sent down a message,” Jake interrupted as he began to walk closer. “Not the most subtle form of communication. Pretty sure nobody else could pick up on it, but you really need some better magical encryption if you wanna communicate long-distance like that.”

The young man made a decisive choice when Jake got within only a single step. He lowered his head as if he was giving up, only to quickly stab forward with the knife. An odd yet recognizable black energy revolved around the dagger as Jake caught the blade directly, the young man’s eyes opening wide.

“You really do despise her, huh?” Jake said with a smile as he looked at the dagger and felt its energies try to invade his body. “No… you despise not just her but the entire system that allows someone like her to exist.”

The energy Jake recognized from the dagger was one he had also used quite a bit himself. It was pure and dense curse energy, born from within the young man himself. Only a high level of natural talent in curse energy and a deep-seated negative emotion could give rise to something like that, not much differently from how Casper had originally realized he could also wield the power of curses.

In this half-elf’s case, Jake felt the pure hatred within the curse energy being the source of his power.

“You… you…” the young man stammered. “Why would someone like you serve that disgusting molefucker.”

“Disgusting molefucker? Never heard that one before,” Jake muttered. “As for your question? I am not serving her. No, I believe I am about to do just the opposite.”

The young man was thoroughly confused by now, as Jake had already made his decision. “Say, kid, you ever heard of alchemy?”

“Ye… yes?” he stammered out as his eyes darted to the knife Jake was still holding by the blade in his hand.

“Ever done any?

“No…”

“Well, better late than ever,” Jake grinned as he leaned forward. “You want revenge, right? On her and this world?”

Seemingly having had some time to steel himself and gather his thoughts, the young man didn’t hesitate. “Of course!”

“Great!” Jake said as he tossed the dagger back to the half-elf. “Revenge is a great motivator, and I believe I can help you get it.”

To try to sound more convincing, Jake let his aura leak as he mixed in Pride of the Malefic Viper and a bit of his Bloodline to really seal the deal. He looked down at the young man as he grinned beneath his mask. “So, what do you say?”

It took the half-elf a moment before he clenched his fists. Dark smoke began to be emitted as his nails dug into his flesh, and he gritted his teeth. “If I can get revenge, I’ll do anything… you can do anything to me, even if you-“

“Wow, wow, wow, calm your horses,” Jake stopped him. “I’m talking about teaching you alchemy and controlling that special energy of yours.”

The poor guy looked confused again as Jake just sighed. “So, want to make me your teacher? I’ll help you get stronger and have your revenge, and in return, you’ll help me. How exactly this will help me you don’t need to know, but just think about it as me investing in you for future personal gain, yeah? Honestly, it’s a win-win situation. For anyone that isn’t your target of revenge, that is.”

Slowly, the young man nodded, and just like that, Jake had gotten his very first student.

Now, to backtrack a bit, Jake had been very close to just blowing up that entire sky mansion the second he saw the picture of a twenty-year-old-looking young man on the tablet as he quickly realized exactly what was going on with this entire “lost pet” situation.

However, he stopped himself and instead decided to figure out if there was more to the story. Which there was. The young man who had run away turned out to be involved with some rebel group or something down in the slums, but they were far too weak to do anything as things were now. Still, they tried, and one of their hopefuls was this young man as he was slowly getting close to C-grade.

The fact he could still level and potentially reach C-grade was proof he had some innate talent. When Jake detected the curse energy within him, he got intrigued, with the determination in his eyes and his ability to stay upright under Jake’s gaze sealing the deal. To summarize, the young man had determination, a decent level of talent, and he was even pretty close to C-grade. This meant that Jake had an idea already for a Creation to submit:

A student who evolved to a new, intriguing Path. What’s more, Jake could allow the young man to take revenge on a shitty “pet owner” along with the rest of the society that had led to the dystopian megacity. As he said to the young man, a win-win.

The only sad thing was that he had to give up on the Merit Point mission, but that wasn’t too bad. He could always pick up another, and finding a potential student was definitely worth it. Finally, the earlier he got a student, the better it would also be, so Jake would have more time to make his Creation and didn’t have to spend several years in the Challenge Dungeon.

Acting like a mysterious master, Jake brought the young man back to the same portal he had entered the world through. These worlds each had several portals spread throughout, with a system compass in a window provided to find them. When he reached the portal, the young man still looked confused as he couldn’t see it at all. Jake was pretty damn sure he could still bring him through it, though, which was proven true a few seconds later.

“Where… where is this?” he asked when he appeared on the other side of the portal, standing in the large white room.

“Your home for the foreseeable future,” Jake answered. “Not this room in specific, but this place.”

Turning around, the young man looked straight at the portal they had entered the room from. “I… is that the gateway to my planet?”

“Right on,” Jake smiled. “Can you see any other portals anywhere?”

The young man frowned. “No?”

“Hm, alright,” Jake muttered. Maybe he had to take him through a portal at least once for him to be able to see it, or perhaps he could only see and interact with the portal, leading to his own world. “Either way, follow me. Also, what’s your name?”

“Temlat,” he answered.

“Alright, Temlat,” Jake said. “How much do you know about the multiverse, if anything?”

“I… I know the basics?” Temlat said, clearly unsure as to what Jake was getting at.

“You ever heard of the Primordials?”

Temlat looked at Jake as if he was an idiot. “Of course? They’re the twelve leaders of the multiverse and are all gods. I heard that other gods have begun to appear, too, but I am not sure if that’s true. Even if it is, they wouldn’t be Primordials.”

“Hm. And what era do you think we are in?” Jake asked as he found the answer weird.

“I don’t know?” the young man asked, confused.

“How many universes are there? Heard of a new one getting integrated?”

“Well, we live in the second universe, so there are two, I guess?” Temlat answered, looking progressively more confused with each of Jake’s questions.

Jake could also understand why as something quickly became clear… this young man was from the second era. Or at least he thought he was. It was entirely possible the Architect had taken a snapshot of a certain planet in the second universe to make the world, and in some ways, it even made sense. His Records would be vastly different from Jake’s own, making influencing him easier.

Plus, it being the second era, Jake saw a great opportunity.

“Then do you not know who I am?” Jake asked in a haughty voice.

Temlat looked Jake up and down as he shook his head. “No, sir… teacher. Am I supposed to?”

Jake took off his mask, covering his face in dark green scales as two black wings sprung from his back. At the same time, he didn’t hide his True Blessing as he stared down at the young man. “You stand before the Chosen of the Malefic Viper.”

He had done all these theatrics to try and get the young man to be receptive to his teachings… but maybe Jake had taken things a bit too far considering the poor young man’s reaction.