The Primal Hunter

As Jake had been briefed on earlier, then the majority of presents would not be handed to him directly. Most would go through the Order and simply be delivered to his residence, or somewhere else he designated, with Miranda or Viridia briefing Jake on any important things he may want to bring along to Nevermore.

Only gifts from the top factions would be handed over directly and opened in front of everyone. Even if the gift was not one that could just be handed over, they would still voice what it was. This was not really for Jake but for the factions handing over the gift. It was their way of showing intent toward the new Chosen of the Malefic Viper and, at the same time, flex on other factions. In some ways, this did benefit Jake as the gifts given openly had to be impressive in some way, or it would be an embarrassment to show everyone how shitty gifts you could give.

Viridia led Jake to one side of the room as the tiled floors raised themselves to form a small platform. Jake honestly thought this was overdoing it, but he knew these kinds of theatrics mattered to others. The many people present all observed him as Viridia invited him up to the stage before the Hall Master turned to address them.

“I do wonder what the denizens of the multiverse wish to gift our Chosen, considering his rather unique status as someone from a new universe and still a C-grade. Even more so when you consider his upcoming trip to Nevermore,” Viridia said with a big smile, pretty much hinting to the faction they better have something useful.

“Now, who would like to go first?” Viridia asked.

Jake was pretty damn sure this wasn’t a real question, as only one person responded. A Risen wearing a golden crown and immaculate robes stepped forward and bowed. “The Risen would be more than honored to do so.”

The man wasn’t some low-level person either. He was an S-grade and even had a Divine Blessing from the Blightfather himself.

“One of the Ghost Kings of the Risen. A title given to those who are deemed to have a high chance of reaching godhood,” Viridia informed him with telepathy.

“Considering the Chosen’s affinity to alchemy, we made some inquiries and believe that these gifts will be more than fitting, especially considering your adventure to Nevermore. Specialties from the depths of the Ghostlands itself, the Blightsea,” the Ghost King said as he kneeled and presented two items.

One of them was a box, and the other a black flask. Jake used telekinesis to accept both items as the Risen retreated a bit, giving Jake the opportunity to check out his things. This was pretty much mandatory, and something Jake had been briefed on. He needed to “show off” the items to everyone. That was part of the deal.

As he opened the box and saw ten black roots within, intense death mana was released, and he flashed a pleased smile beneath his mask after using Identify.

[Blightroot (Legendary)] – A root found on the shores of the Blightsea. Contains incredibly dense death affinity energy and is extremely potent when mixed with necrotic toxins. Has been pre-primed for alchemy, making it easier to work with than usual Blightroots. Direct consumption for non-Risen is not recommended.

They were pretty fucking good. Without delay, Jake also checked the flask

[Dead Man’s Flask (Legendary)] – A flask containing Blightsea Shore Water. Indestructible to anyone below S-grade. The water within will never lose potency, no matter how much time passes. The Interior is spatially expanded.

He lifted it up and took the small cork off, and poured out a single droplet which he also quickly Identified.

[Blighttsea Shore Water (Ancient)] – Water that has been taken from the shores of the Blightsea. Contains incredibly dense death affinity energy and is extremely potent when mixed with necrotic toxins. This water is primed for alchemical use, making it far easier to work with. Direct consumption for non-Risen is not recommended.

The liquid floated there for a while, long enough for everyone around to see it, before Jake put it back into the bottle and the cork back on before he nodded.

“I hope the gifts are to your satisfaction, Chosen of the Malefic One,” the Ghost King said.

“Thank you, and I thank the Risen for their gift. I am certain they will all prove useful,” Jake said, getting a smile from the man as he bowed one more time before retreating back into the crowd, with everyone else nodding and a few clapping at the exchange.

Jake just felt relieved he had managed to receive a gift that was actually useful. They quickly moved on as Viridia introduced the next guest who would give gifts. This guy was from some merchant group that he hadn’t heard of before.

And with that… it began.

“We at the Evergreen Conglomerate have long considered what we could possibly offer the Chosen of Primordial and finally settled on a gift we believe is only proper: assistance in establishing your dominance within the newly integrated universe. Thus we would be honored to offer the Chosen one thousand D-grades and one million E-grade slaves who are all natives of the ninety-third to help populate and expand the Order of the Malefic Viper. Naturally, they will come with resources to make the transition as easy as possible, too,” the merchant said as he bowed deeply.

Nods of approval and comments on how good a gift it was came from all around as Jake practiced his poker face. What the actual fuck? Like, he knew he would get slaves, but a million fucking people? That was just… insane. How was he even supposed to house them? Luckily, he had discussed this plenty with Miranda before. He simply nodded, not voicing a single one of his thoughts. “Very well. Go through the Order to handle all logistics.”

“As the Chosen commands,” the man smiled as he bowed out and walked down from the stage, getting more claps as people clearly thought it was a great gift. Why they thought this was quite obvious too…

Because the next three people did the same thing, putting Jake’s total count of new slaves to five million. Naturally, they had to praise others giving slaves if they had the exact same fucking idea too.

Finally, after those three, it was then time for someone Jake actually wanted to receive a gift from. A high elf woman wearing a white dress with golden embroidery walked up the steps toward him as Viridia gave a quick brief.

“A princess from the Altmar Empire. Her father is an S-grade system-recognized king who rules several galaxies, with her mother also an S-grade from one of the highest-level noble families in the entire empire. Also, she is one of the people here as a potential party member.”

“I greet the Chosen,” the high elf bowed as she went on stage. She took out a small box and presented it to Jake as she spoke. “Per the wishes of the Chosen, relayed by my little cousin who privately discussed with your excellency earlier, we have prepared an item specifically for the Chosen.”

Her words were purposeful in communicating that the Altmar Empire had talked with him beforehand and that they had a personal connection while also explaining their gift and why it was so special. She also sprinkled in that she was family with Izil, though from what Jake remembered, Izil was not from some high-level nobility family. So that entire cousin thing was probably a hard stretch that was only true on a technical level.

Jake graciously accepted the box and opened it to reveal a ring. Just what Jake had hoped to get to replace his current Altmar Signet, and he used Identify with high expectations as he already felt the dense energy packed into the small piece of jewelry.

He was not disappointed.

[Altmar Signet of Supremacy (Legendary)] – A ring presented by the Altmar Empire to the Chosen of the Malefic Viper. This ring is made of an unknown but extremely energy-dense metal, with an unknown gem of immense power embedded in it. This ring was originally based on the Trial Signet design but has been further refined and improved to make a fitting gift for a Chosen. The first time the wielder equips the ring, they will become able to distribute the signet’s energy into whatever stats they desire. Distributing any of the stats will make the ring Soulbound. A brief recharge period is required between each re-distribution of stats. Stats cannot be redistributed during combat. Enchantments: +5000 stats (undistributed).

Requirements: lvl 200+ in any humanoid race.

What Jake saw was the Altmar Signet, but better in every conceivable way. Five thousand fucking stats packed into one small ring was utterly insane and surpassed all items he had seen prior. Then again, the ring only gave stats with no other functionalities, which was probably why packing so many into it was even possible. Well, Jake said no other functionalities… except for the ability to redistribute stats repeatedly.

Jake’s current ring could be set once, and then it would be Soulbound and locked forever. This one he could re-configure on the fly if he needed some other stats or to play around with stat caps. Jake wanted to play around with it there and then but knew he would have to wait till later. One thing was certain, though: with this ring, he had hit the stat cap from equipment and even gone well beyond, allowing him to get more and more out of every level-up as the cap increased. Jake was even able to get the stats he wanted… and as he could change stats, nothing stopped him from making it give 5000 Perception.

In conclusion, the ring was bloody insane, and Jake did all he could to not have a giant grin on his face. That would be unbecoming, after all.

“I sincerely thank the Altmar Empire, the ring surpasses my expectations,” Jake said, making the high elf smile as she slowly retreated away. More claps all around, though, for some reason, people seemed to think this gift was somehow lesser than the damn slaves.

Only people related to Jake knew the ring was infinitely more useful.

Things progressed as expected, with four more factions coming up and offering him various miscellaneous alchemical items and specialties of theirs. Oh, and a few slaves, too, because why not? Jake had honestly not believed it when Izil and everyone else had mentioned that the majority would offer slaves, but that did turn out to be the case.

The only good thing was that because so many offered it, Jake could act less and less thankful every time and simply nodded when they mentioned the gift of slaves. After these four, the ones who only gifted slaves didn’t even want to come up to the stage anymore, and those who did offer other items along with slaves only spoke of it as an addition.

Not that it was much of a comfort… because they were already up to fifteen fucking million slaves. More than many countries pre-system. Jake already felt bad for Miranda when he saw her stand in the hall with a hollow look on her face.

When Jake heard from Viridia that the next group was also from some merchant group, he wanted to scream, but then she mentioned which merchant group. Golden Road Emporium. Jake remembered that was the one Sultan and Renato were both in, and as Viridia added, it was the biggest merchant faction in the multiverse.

The one who offered the gift was an S-grade dark elf that Jake naturally didn’t know, but Viridia informed him he was one of the people working on issues related to the ninety-third universe.

“We at the Golden Road Emporium spent a long time considering what kinds of gifts we fought suitable for the Chosen. Anyone can simply offer slaves, but we would like to offer something even better. Knowledge and training for those who join the Chosen,” the dark elf said with a smile while taking a dig at all the slave gifters.

“My associate, a merchant working close with the Chosen, gave us the idea to diverge from the other merchant alliances, and we have thus prepared two gifts. One is a set of special formation discs that can be used to summon a projected expert from the Golden Road headquarters, capable of teaching those interested in their crafts. Dungeon engineering, construction, enchanting, any kind of profession. This will be for a period of ten years, with thousands of experts ready to serve the Chosen.”

Jake slowly nodded along at the gift he had quite frankly not even considered, but… that actually sounded kind of useful? While most people he knew had damn good teachers – if they even needed one - it was something entirely different for Earth as a whole. Granted, Jake didn’t really care overly much about how everyone else was doing, but he could see it give him some good PR to pretty much create public system schooling. If they had these experts teach others who could then go on to teach themselves… yeah, that could be useful. Throwing a glance at Miranda, he saw her eyes were practically shining. Definitely seemed like a good thing.

Jake happily accepted the spatial ring that contained these formation discs as the dark elf looked slightly nervous before bringing out the next item.

“The second is not a gift to the Chosen’s forces but for the Chosen himself and was specifically recommended by your associate. We would like to offer the Puzzle Box of the Seeker. A box created by the famous god of puzzles and secrets, the Seeker, filled with mana puzzles. This one is designed for mortals but is not one to be beaten in but a few millennia. We hope it can bring the Chosen entertainment and challenges for ages to come.”

Murmurs were heard all around as people seemed to question a gift such as this. Jake himself was also confused about what kind of gift this was. It didn’t at all fit the prior mold of what was given. Still a bit confused; Jake used Identify on it.

[Puzzle Box of the Seeker (Divine)] – A puzzle box created by the god known as the Seeker. This box is filled with a total of 10000 levels of mana puzzles of ever-increasing difficulty. Fully unlocking the box will reveal an item sealed within. Soulbinds to anyone who beats the first level.

Jake saw the Divine rarity and was incredibly surprised. Then he read the rest of the description. He stood there and stared at the box still held out by the nervous dark elf before he finally accepted it.

The entire cube was about the size of a Rubik’s cube. It was made entirely of some kind of metal and had odd patterns covering its surface with confusing scripts. As it was his gift, Jake quickly tried infusing some energy into it, and instantly he felt like his mind had shifted somewhere else. An odd scribble of lines appeared in his mind, and without thinking much, Jake “fixed” them, inadvertently clearing the first level as the puzzle box bound to him forever.

A new level appeared, and Jake finally realized what he was dealing with.

“This is awesome,” he muttered, completely forgetting the demeanor he was supposed to adopt. The box reminded him of the practice cauldron Villy had allowed him to play with before he returned to Earth after the tutorial, but this one seemed way better. Jake nearly lost himself and wanted to try and second level, but he snapped out of it after a small nudge from Viridia and returned to the real world.

Jake collected himself as he smiled at the merchant.

“A wonderful gift,” Jake said. “I do enjoy these kinds of challenges. I am sure it will prove incredibly entertaining and a fruitful endeavor.”

The dark elf had already heard Jake mutter before, and he only got happier as Jake praised them. Jake was pretty damn sure Sultan had been involved in this, as he faintly remembered once mentioning to the merchant that if he could find something like the practice cauldron, it would be awesome. Hopefully, he would get a promotion.

Sadly, they had to move on, and Jake stored his gift away, pretty damn happy with what he had gotten. All in all, he had gotten some good gifts, and this entire event had been nice… at least, he thought that.

Until it was his turn.

Jake’s mood, which had been at its peak, suddenly fell as he got a bad feeling. He saw the next person walking up, and his stomach sank.

Felix…

The madman.

“Chosen of the Malefic One!” Felix kneeled deeply as he went on stage. All around, Jake saw a few people cringing back, recognizing the fanatic as a member of the Primordial Church. “To have the privilege of being allowed in your presence and presenting you with the accumulation of my life’s work and the sincerity of the Primordial Church is the greatest honor imaginable!”

He had tears in his eyes as he said this, and Jake felt like activating Wings to escape.

But it was too late.

“This is not simply a sculpture. Not simply mine and my Patron’s efforts. Nay, it is a statue created from the Chosen’s enlightened vision of the Malefic Viper himself!”

Oh… oh no.

“Behold!” Felix yelled. “The Vision of the Malefic Primordial’s Chosen!”

In a bright flash created from literally destroying the spatial item it had been transported in, the fruits of Felix’s labor appeared, making Jake’s eyes open wide as gasps appeared throughout the hall at the revelation of “sculpture.”

Felix looked at it proudly, like his greatest dream had come true simply by being allowed to display it.

Yet all Jake saw was a nightmare.