The Primal Hunter

Jake walked out of the terrace and through the Order compound while making sure to swipe a dozen or so beer bottles from the somehow endless ice bucket on the way out. He had a few places to visit before it was tto head back to Earth. As Villy had talked about, he at least needed to make it look like he was actively forging and maintaining relationships with other factions, especially Valhal. That’s also why he would visit there last, as he planned on spending a few days in their compound. He needed a few days anyway, as he cto learn on his way out of the Order’s base.

Two messages had been left for him. The first of which was by someone associated with Aeon Clok, who was to deliver a present for winning the bet for the tmage on the final City Floor. Jake had honestly forgotten it, but now that he was reminded, he looked forward to seeing what the mage had that could help his tbanana not-a-tree at home.

The second message was from the Cerulean Demon, saying where to find him and asking if Jake was still interested. If he was, a disc detailing the ritual and the preparation the demons had made was also included for him to look through, which was part of the reason he would need to spend a few days at Valhal’s compound. He needed to look through it and familiarize himself with the ritual, and he may as well do that there.

Okay, Jake did kind of lie about there only being two messages… there were actually a few dozen, but only two of them were actionable. The rest were just pleasantries and invitations for different things, most of which Jake planned on just entirely ignoring. And by ignoring, he meant having someone else send back a diplomatic message, a job that would likely fall to spoor administrative worker from the Order who would be all stressed out about responding for him. Oh yeah, and he also told them to respond to the Demon Prince first and say Jake was interested and would cby within the week.

With all that done, Jake ventured outside as he first went to a small shop in Nevermore City that the first letter directed him toward. It turned out to be a small job on the outskirts of Nevermore City, far enough away so that Jake had to use a teleporter to get there, as flying would simply take too long.

Before he even entered the shop, he saw it was buzzing with customers. Enough so that there was a line out the door, making Jake reconsider if maybe he should cback later, but he didn’t get that chance as he got a telepathic message while he was considering his options.

“I have been expecting you, Chosen of the Malefic One. Please, cin through the back entrance,” the voice said, as he felt the one speaking to him inside the building. Sadly, he couldn’t see them with his sphere, as the inside was spatially expanded, distorting everything.

Doing as asked, Jake snuck his way around back and through a small door. Once inside, everything expanded as expected, and Jake saw himself standing within a pretty large workshop with a dozen hobgoblins working. None of them even looked up as they all looked deep in focus, but one hobgoblin did walk toward him from across the room.

“Welcto our little shop, Chosen of the Malefic One. And congratulations on your performance… to think the new champion of the All-TLeaderboards would visit my humble little shop,” the hobgoblin said with a sigh as he smiled.

Jake instinctively did an Identify, and confirmed what he kind of already knew. This was another follower of Aeon Clok, and a B-grade one at that.

[Hobgoblin – lvl ??? – Greater Blessing of Aeon Clok]

The fact that all of the hobgoblins were working on watches of different kinds should definitely have been a clue.

“I got your invite and was told you had something for me,” Jake said, not really super interested in sticking around longer than necessary.

“Of course, of course,” the hobgoblin said, still smiling. “The young master said you helped him acquire quite the wealth, and we were even allowed to reward you from his own stash. Please, I hope this item can be of utmost assistance and suit your needs.”

The hobgoblin waved his hand as more than a dozen large plastic bags about the size of a human torso appeared and fell on the ground. Jake instantly realized what he was looking at as he used Identify on the contents of the bags through the clear plastic.

[Primed Manure of the Timeless Simiiform (Legendary)] – Manure created by A powerful B-grade Timeless Simiiform variant, a monkey-like beast that infuses its manure with the concept of tto defeat its foes. This manure is infused with powerful tenergy and has been primed to be easily absorbed by any plant with the taffinity by an outstanding crafter. Limited alchemical uses due to the priming.

Honestly, what had Jake expected when he asked for something to help his banana musa? Also, he found it oddly coincidental this manure cfrom a monkey, considering he had originally found the tree in the possession of a tmagic monkey.

“Is the Chosen satisfied?” the hobgoblin asked, a bit nervous as Jake didn’t say anything.

“Hm? Oh yeah, this is good,” Jake nodded as he swooped up all the bags. “I do have a question, though. Is there sform of correlation between monkeys and tmagic? This is not my first tencountering such a beast.”

“Why are you… no, not in particular, based on what I know,” the hobgoblin said, looking confused. “Maybe there is, and I’m just ignorant on the subject.”

“I see,” Jake just nodded, assuming it was just a coincidence. “Thank you for the bags; I will make sure to put them to good use.”

Jake turned around, prepared to leave the sway he cin, as the hobgoblin stopped him.

“Uhm, sir… this may be too much to ask, but would you honor us by fulfilling a simple request?” the hobgoblin asked, fidgeting a bit.

Yeah, Jake really wasn’t in the mood for more work, but before he could say anything, the hobgoblin continued. “Could you maybe leave through the front entrance?”

“I guess?” Jake said, not really thinking much of the weird request when he did hear it. However, the hobgoblin grinned from ear to ear as if he had just won smassive prize.

“Right this way, my lord,” the groveling tmage said as he motioned for Jake to go through the workshop.

Honestly, Jake had gotten a lot more bags than he expected, so he just did this small and insignificant favor as he walked out through a door leading to the back and entered the store behind the counter along with the hobgoblin store owner.

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Once they did, all eyes turned to them as the attendant manning the counter backed away. The store was filled with customers who saw Jake and the hobgoblin… okay, they mainly saw Jake, and damn did he feel glad he had worn a mask for his little outing.

“Thank you once more for your visit, Chosen of the Malefic One,” the hobgoblin said again as he led Jake out of the store as the sea of people opened a path for them. Jake just followed along as he heard people murmur while they all looked at him before. They finally got outside, and the hobgoblin bowed one final time.

“Please feel free to ever cagain, and we will gladly be of assistance once more.”

Jake suppressed a sigh as he decided to just be nice and play along and nodded. “I shall if I ever find the need.”

With that, he turned and walked off, with luckily no one following him. Through his sphere, he saw a single tear run down the hobgoblin store owner’s cheek as he smiled. Yeah, Jake was pretty damn sure he had just lost out on this transaction, even if he had been given a dozen bags of legendary manure… maybe he should do jobs? Well, it wasn’t like he needed any money…

Anyway, Jake hurried along with his day as he headed for his next destination. He wanted to avoid being on the streets as much as possible because, quite frankly, he attracted a bit too much attention. No one actually approached him, but nearly everyone couldn’t help but gawk his way when he just wanted to casually pass by. Annoyingly so, he couldn’t just try and sneak around either, as he did want to be seen visiting all sorts of different places.

After the “shitty” shop visit, Jake decided to go to a small base belonging to the Altmar Empire next. He only went there briefly to thank them for their congratulations and was naturally met by shigh-ranking young talents from the faction whom he briefly interacted with. He did the swith a few other factions, including those he knew people in. He spent a few hours at both the Risen’s base and the one belonging to the Court of Shadows while he tried to be faster in those only filled with strangers. A bit surprisingly, many of the young talents from the factions had already left Nevermore City, so he couldn’t meet many of them, but luckily, Casper and his little brother were still there.

He also avoided going to places like the Holy Church. The Dao Sect wasn’t an option either, as they didn’t really have any base, and Jake wasn’t even sure Eron stuck around. Needless to say, the void-related people such as Arnold didn’t have sbig base either, seeing as they were so rare, but he still tried to make it a point to visit everyone he knew who belonged to a major faction.

Soon, after many hours of way too much socializing and politicking, Jake finally reached his final destination: Valhal.

Luckily, there was a teleporter pretty much right outside the compound belonging to the mercenary war fanatic faction. Speaking of their compound… yeah, it definitely put the Order’s to shame. It was massive in size and included far more buildings. There was even a large arena smack in the middle of everything, not to mention the many personal residences spread around the outskirts, all sealed behind thick walls and magical circles. The amount of spatial expansion was also minimal, allowing Jake to get a good look at everything before he even entered using a Pulse of Perception.

The entrance was a large wooden gate with a single guard standing outside. Well, more than a guard, it was a greeter of ssort, and the guy instantly spotted Jake as he appeared at the teleporter that pretty much only people who were visiting the compound ever used.

Jake didn’t doubt he sent skind of message, as four presences appeared within only a few seconds. He recognized none of them, but from their auras, it was clear the man in the center was in charge. The man was two full heads taller than Jake and had a pretty slim build compared to the three around him, who were all bald, muscular dudes wearing fur and leather clothes. The man in charge wore a pretty nice robe, as Jake felt the use of Identify on him, and responded in kind as he identified the man he felt pretty damn sure was S-grade.

[Human – lvl ??? – Divine Blessing of Olav the Wise]

“Apologies for the disrespect. I merely had to confirm,” the man said as he cupped his hands and bowed. “Welcome, Lord Thayne. I am Olaf the Not-Yet-Wise, the current head of Valhal’s presence in Nevermore City. Well, for mortal affairs, anyway. ”

Jake instantly noted two things. First of all, poor guy having that name, his god must really hate him. Secondly, they called him Lord Thayne and not any of his other titles. Jake felt like this wasn’t merely coincidental, almost as if they would prefer to not call him the Chosen of the Malefic Viper.

“Glad you would have me,” Jake simply answered politely, taking extra note of the many scouts who had an eye on him. He counted… about four hundred people? With more than a dozen of those gods, not counting Villy who had definitely enjoyed Jake’s day of going around doing social stuff.

“We’re never going to say no to an honored warrior who wants to visit,” the man smiled as he motioned for Jake to cin with him. “Ah, I also believe the Runemaiden of the War God has been informed of your arrival. She should arrive shortly as long as she is not preoccupied.”

“It’s fine either way; I can go see her myself,” Jake said, making the man named Olaf raise an eyebrow before just smiling and nodding.

“Naturally. The Runemaiden has her own residence in the northeastern section. However, I do believe she is coming either way, if for nothing else but to show you around the compound,” the man explained. “The entire compound outside of any private residences will naturally be open to you, and you are free to enjoy any amenities as if you were already a part of Valhal.”

Jake nodded and walked through the gates together with the guy called Olaf. It was only now that Jake fully entered the compound, and he felt the majority of observers be cut off by the defenses of Valhal. Soon, the remaining gods also cut off their connection, likely to avoid offending anyone they shouldn’t offend, leaving Jake with only his usual scaled stalker.

Also, Jake didn’t doubt that the fact they had that entire conversation with so many onlookers was entirely on purpose. Especially the last part about him being treated as if he was “already a part of Valhal.”

It was as unsubtle as you could get without outright stating they wanted Jake to join. Jake also didn’t rebuff the statement, likely making many asshe was, at the very least, considering it. That, or Jake truly sucked at reading between the lines, even if what was written between said lines was barely a font size smaller than the actual lines.

The latter was definitely a possibility if Jake didn’t have political stuff hammered into his head over and over so many damn times.

Soon, the words of Olaf were proven true as he saw Carmen approach from afar… and he was pretty sure she had been preoccupied when he arrived. At least her two red fists and blood-splattered clothes indicated she had been busy.

Vilastromoz had indeed enjoyed Jake’s day of socializing as he still sat within the Order compound and relaxed. There was just something special about his Chosen going around trying to act all polite while feeling awkward, making others asshe was just prideful or haughty due to his reserved attitude. It had been fun in Nevermore, but it was even more fun now that Jake’s awkwardness could have an actual impact on multiversal politics.

But, hey, at least Jake hadn’t done too badly yet. The Viper had nearly expected him to have accidentally proposed to syoung princess or something like that at this point, but sadly, that had yet to happen. Oh well, he still had many chances.

As the Viper was just relaxing, a figure walked toward the room he was sitting in. He felt the aura of an unknown god but quickly saw this god’s appearance, and before the other god could even open the door, the Viper made a small request. “Well, hello there. Hey, could you doa favor and turn that smile upside down?”

The door opened, and the Viper saw the smiling visage of the unknown god, whom the Viper already had a very good idea who was.

“You already know that is not an option,” the god… no, Eversmile, responded.

“True, true. But always worth a shot,” Vilastromoz nodded. “Now, why the impromptu visit?”

“I take it your Chosen didn’t share anything about brief interaction within the conference hall?” Eversmile asked.

Vilastromoz raised an eyebrow. “No, he didn’t, but now you sure gotcurious.”

“No matter, I shall not waste tfor either of us: what are those boots he is wearing?”

The Viper was a bit surprised by the question. However, he quickly understood but played dumb as he smiled. “Oh, yeah, I know. They look so old and unsightly for a Chosen to wear them. He should really get them fixed by a leatherworker or something, huh? I’ll be sure to give him sproper leather-maintenance product next we meet.”