The Primal Hunter

The methodology had been established, and there was nothing to explain related to Jake’s approach as he began the process of selecting a new skill. As dictated by proper practice, he would begin from the first – and lowest rarity one – on the list.

Firstly, he was faced with one related to contemporary happenings but with a disappointing rarity.

[Condense Curse Marble (Uncommon)] – Make the intangible powers of curses material as you forcefully condense their energy into a physical shape. Allows the alchemist to create Curse Marbles of curse energy. Must be able to fully control the curse energy in order to condense it into a curse marble. Be aware that based on the nature of the curse, it may be harder to restrain and keep sealed within the marble. Adds a minor increase to the effectiveness of Condense Curse Marble based on Willpower.

Jake wasn’t sure what the think about this one besides… why would he ever want that? Not to be misunderstood, Jake understood why someone else would want it as it allowed them to condense curse energy and add it into alchemical creations, but why would Jake want it?

The answer is he wouldn’t, so he moved on.

[Distill Powder (Rare)] - Sometimes, poison can be more than a liquid. Perhaps it is in the air itself. Allows the alchemist to distill a concocted poison, creating powder with similar effects. Mixing the powder of different distilled poisons will work synergistically if possible. If the powder is burned, release the poisonous effect into the air. The poison powder’s effects and nature depend on the poison distilled and potentially powder-mixes. Adds an increase to the effect of the powder based on Wisdom.

Another blast from the past. Jake had passed over this skill back the first time he was offered it as uncommon-rarity, and to be honest, not much seemed to have changed except he could now mix powders to make new kinds of poison. Kinda neat and definitely something he would consider looking into doing.

He just didn’t need a skill for it, as he already had Sagacity. Due to that, he decided to move on down the list. The following skill jumped from rare to ancient rarity and was the first interesting one.

[Soul Ritualism of the Heretic-Chosen Alchemist (Ancient)] – As a master of your own path, the power of your Soulspace and authority of self is unquestionable. Grants knowledge of and allows the Heretic-Chosen Alchemist to perform rituals pertaining to the soul. Soul Rituals must be performed both within the Soulspace and the real world. As a forger of your own path, Records infused during any soul ritual will hold more weight. Effects of the ritual are based on the nature of the ritual performed as well as the materials used during the ritual. All rituals will scale with Willpower in addition to other stat bonuses applied according to the nature of the ritual performed.

Soul ritualism was a term Jake had met a few times during research, but he still wasn’t entirely clear what it was about. Well, basic deduction dictated it had something to do with the soul, but soul magic in itself was just an incredibly broad realm of magic if it could even be called that. Mental magic was technically a form of soul magic but was most often not classified as such.

Curse magic was, too, due to how it affected the soul. Yet, again, it was often not put in the same classification as pure soul magic. Soul magic, when actually called soul magic, tended to be unbelievably pure and messed directly with the soul without any intermediate layering. The King directly draining Jake’s resources and breaking down his soul layers was an example of the purest form of soul magic.

Interestingly enough, the classes that most often used soul magic were healer-variants. Many of them had ways to directly shield souls, and with the soul shielded, it could also block other magic that interacted with the soul through some intermediate means. Heck, as health points were part of the soul, one could argue anything that did damage interacted with the soul.

However… perhaps the purest form of soul magic was contracts or unions. Like the Union Oath Jake had made with Sylphie, the bond created between an individual and any Soulbound item, the bond created between Jake and the King, or anything in the same vein. This skill would allow Jake to probably make bonds like that… though he would for sure make it more like Sylphie’s. To be fair, he probably wouldn’t do them at all. Unless maybe it was in relation to the next type of customary soul rituals:

Soul Nurture rituals.

Jake had already participated in one such ritual before when he helped Sylphie. Of course, that one had been directed by Mystie using her own magic, but Jake had been a big part of it. Jake had actually considered asking Mystie for help when he wanted to awaken the Bee Queen and maybe still would, but he was also aware he would have to take the lead on that one.

It wasn’t that Jake didn’t think Mystie would be helpful… he just didn’t think she was strong enough. The Bee Queen would be born at level 100 and already be a fully-fledged D-grade right out of the egg, and the one doing the ritual had to be able to really influence it, and Jake believed he was the only one capable of that.

This did not make the skill a necessity. Jake did not know many things about the skill, and even if the rarity was good, it wasn’t exactly legendary. Also, everything it did, he could learn himself by studying and using Sagacity down the line. It was a hard choice, but there was some pull, especially the thing about his Records holding more weight.

Either way, he moved on, and next up was…

Okay… this just seems like a big no-no.

[Supreme Curse Assimilation (Legendary)] – To others, a curse is a restriction and a demerit, but to you, it is merely another method to grow your own power. Embrace them as they embrace you. Allows the Heretic-Chosen Alchemist of the Malefic Viper to assimilate curses with his soul, gaining far more control of the curse energy related to any curse assimilated. Increases the potency and effect of all curses wielded by the alchemist when infused into Soulbound items. Allows the alchemist to consume curses to rejuvenate himself. Strengthens the bond between the alchemist and assimilated curses, allowing either part to affect the other more effectively.

If Jake read that correctly – which he was pretty sure he did – then this skill would allow Jake to far better use curses in any aspect of his life… but it would also allow the curses to use Jake in far more aspects of their cursed lives, making this solidly a bad idea to pick.

He was certain someone like Casper would absolutely fucking love a skill like this and probably even had one similar to it. Jake would find it a bit funny if he were offered a better one than his mate, though, even if this wasn’t really related to actually using a curse, but just getting better at merging with them.

Jake already had enough problems dealing with the influence of the curse, so bonding with it further seemed like a great way to lose control.

Hence, he moved on… to more curse stuff.

[Curse Attunement (Unique)] - You have shown yourself able to control and remain dominant over the harsh emotional energy of curses, allowing you to far more easily manipulate it. Transform a portion of your mana, health, and stamina to permanently become curse energy, empowering and reducing the cost of all curse-related skills and abilities. This energy intrinsically feeds off and amplifies emotions while often doing soul damage to your target. Also allows the user to more transform all other energy sources into pure curse energy far more easily.

This was Jake’s second time seeing an attunement skill. The first time was all the way back during the Forgotten Sewers dungeon, where he had been offered the Dark Attunement skill. Back then, he had not chosen it, and he wasn’t going to take this one… but the implications of it even being offered mattered.

One can only be offered an attunement skill to an affinity one has an incredibly high level of compatibility with. Jake could, as an example, easily use a bit of fire magic and even some water and earth magic if he tried, but he did not have high compatibility with any of those affinities. The only one Jake had experienced he had such a high affinity with so far was dark… and now apparently curses?

Was Jake really naturally talented with curses? What did that even mean? Curses weren’t really an affinity as much as they were a concept. There was no curse mana or curse stamina or such like with other affinities. There was just curse energy.

To pick this skill would be Jake permanently choosing the path of a curse user, which was something Jake had no intentions of doing. Even if it was a path that Jake was compatible with.

A part of him understood why he was compatible. Jake had spent his entire life learning to control his own emotions and impulses due to the Bloodline. His approach had been to simply mute everything, which honestly hadn’t ended very well as Jake had only a handful of positive memories of his life before the system. Shit, he had muted huge aspects of the entire Bloodline at some point to the level of it needing to be awakened in the tutorial.

This seemed to have led to high compatibility with curses. However, this compatibility also came with risk. Perhaps Jake could become a damn strong curse user, perhaps even become able to utterly dominate curses somehow, but right now, all it would lead to was issues.

Oh, and also, Jake really didn’t like curses. They felt a bit icky to him. Arcane magic was way better anyway.

Jake looked over the entire list a bit and considered a few skills he had been offered prior but ultimately decided to just go with Soul Ritualism of the Heretic-Chosen Alchemist.

The moment he picked the skill, Jake felt the knowledge begin to enter his head as Jake closed his eyes and reveled in the influx of information for a few moments while also waiting for his body to fully heal.

Once he was back in top form, it was time to explore a bit further down the hive and maybe, just maybe, take a little peek and stab at the C-grade lording over it.

Vilastromoz and Duskleaf stood together, both having diverted a bit of their attention to what Jake had been up to, as the Viper had failed to hold back his curiosity. Usually, people would be careful when performing risky experiments or rituals, and if they discovered a flaw or it went in a direction that was too unexpected, they preferred to abandon it entirely, lest they risk long-term consequences or even death.

This was doubly true when dealing with something as volatile and dangerous as curses.

Yet, as always, Jake had acted without hesitation and refused to abandon what he was doing. He had taken a huge risk and come out on top yet again. The Viper was beginning to think it truly was happening a bit too often to be a coincidence, and once more, the only explanation he could find was the Bloodline… or perhaps more accurately, the insane level of synergy between Jake’s entire personality, mindset, drive, ability, and Bloodline. As with most things, it was hard to determine if these traits came courtesy of the Bloodline or if they were simply who he was.

“A novel but effective application of his Soulspace to suppress the emotional aspects of the curse. Most certainly risky, but after the suppression and successful absorption of a drop of your blood, it should not be surprising he was able to,” Duskleaf nodded along as he had observed Jake as he transmuted and created the weapon.

“You see no cause for concern? Merging with such a curse while only in D-grade isn’t generally recommended,” Vilastromoz asked his disciple.

“Perhaps, but I doubt it will ever result in a complete takeover of his Records,” Duskleaf shook his head. “At worst, he would temporarily transform, resulting in a less than fortunate path to C-grade for those around him. Maybe he would do something a bit akin to what you did to your own planet? Such a path holds a lot of value, and it isn’t like the loss of a minor planet like the one he is on would affect anything in the long run.”

The Viper smirked. “Not sure how Jake would feel about it.”

Duskleaf just shrugged. “He’ll get over it. Those powerful enough to matter would survive, and those too weak or unwise to avoid him would be no loss of consequence anyway. Doubt any but a few on his planet will be alive in a few thousand years anyway.”

“You keep forgetting, Jake is only a few decades old. His perspective is still narrow and grounded in how he perceived reality before the system,” Vilastromoz chuckled. “But I do agree, it would be of little consequence in the long term, even if the effect on his path would be interesting. He is already far more emotional and impulsive than most so-called geniuses out there. He takes risks with glee.”

Not that the Viper necessarily saw that as a bad thing. Hesitation and doubt were some of the biggest threats to one’s path, no matter how powerful one became. The moment you believe you can’t do something, the chances are you can’t… but the opposite was also true - If you genuinely believed you could do something, the chances of it happening increased. Not only due to psychological reasons but also simply due to how the system worked. Willpower was a wondrous stat, and the system had a tendency to reward those daring.

“Making a mythical item in mid-tier D-grade is indeed not something done without risk,” Duskleaf agreed.

The title wasn’t going to do him any harm either. It was one of those titles most would get with time anyway, but there were always benefits to getting it early. Its effects weren’t the most tangible but were more linked to the nature of Records than actual power.

Well, there was a slight bonus. When creating an item, it was effectively just a collection of Records given form and function. The total level of the Records would be determined by the materials used during the creation and the creator behind it. The creator’s skills, stats, methodology, but also Records as in what kind of person he was. This was both a curse and a benefit in some ways.

Vilastromoz would never be able to create equipment Jake could use, as an example. He simply wouldn’t be able to craft something with a level requirement low enough for Jake to equip, so all he could possibly make was auxiliary products without level requirements, like alchemy puzzle cauldrons and such.

The reason he couldn’t was because of the sheer level of Records involved in anything he made, simply because he made it. The same was true for anyone who got stronger. There were some methods, like creating a Legacy item or such, purposefully made worse with system assistance, but that was honestly just much harder than making an ordinary item.

That it worked this way did have some consequences but also opportunities. Firstly, it meant that items of any level requirement had value as a god could not simply create a million legendary rarity swords with a level requirement of 100. This, in turn, made craftsmen able to craft a level 100 legendary sword more useful to another level 100’s than a god if they wanted a new sword.

Needless to say, this was one of the reasons why factions even existed to begin with. An ecosystem was needed to uplift those worthy of uplifting – a support system. This was part of the reason Vilastromoz had bothered with an Order and even an Academy.

But what did this mean for Jake? Well, it meant that every single item he made now was made by someone who had shown the capability to make a mythical rarity item – or at least transmute and merge items into one. So from now on, extra Records would be present in all of his creations if he wanted them to be or not.

Overall, that was a good thing, but it could be a bit annoying, as now all creations of sufficient quality would begin to refer to Jake as the creator with more than just a vague descriptor. It also meant that him transmuting anything to be useable for anyone below D-grade at his current level would be a miracle.

Talking so much about Jake, he suddenly recalled something.

“By the way, when is the next enrollment?” Vilastromoz asked Duskleaf.

“You asked me to hurry it up, so it is scheduled for in two weeks,” Duskleaf answered, clearly not happy with it.

“No way Jake is making that.”

“Should we postpone it?” Duskleaf asked concerned. Vilastromoz knew Duskleaf only really cared about Jake entering, so he could see him create an administrative nightmare just for Jake. Not that the Viper had any regrets putting his disciple in charge of the academy, even if it had forced him to “come out” as a god and be a bit more in the spotlight. It was good for the old hermit.

As for postponement?

“Nah, no need to. Transfer student tropes are also fun.”