The Primal Hunter

Jake considered what Challenge Dungeon he would do for all of five minutes until he decided to just go with the one he felt the most confident about. It was also the one he thought would be the most fun and familiar.

Ultimately, he had to do all of them, and as he still felt a bit groggy after having his character tested, he wanted to do one he believed would be interesting. Maybe it would not be super challenging, but he firmly believed there would be some level of challenge, especially the further he moved in.

During the first part, most of the entertainment definitely would have to come from Minaga. Jake genuinely hoped the Unique Lifeform would be commentating again and complaining about Jake. If not, it probably would get a bit dull during the early parts of his labyrinth.

Having only arrived outside of the Challenge Dungeon entrances for five minutes, Jake walked straight to the entrance of Minaga’s Endless Labyrinth and placed his hand on the massive gateway. Without further ado, he accepted the prompt to enter as his vision went dark, Jake ready to conquer and utterly demolish Minaga’s grand creation.

In a certain meeting room filled with gods, Minaga let out a massive groan as he saw Jake enter his dungeon.

“Bloody hell, he just had to go for mine right now, didn’t he?” Minaga grumbled. “This is on purpose, right? He is trying to bully me after showing off here, isn’t he? Yep, everything he has done was definitely a personal attack on me to throw me off my mental game.”

“I am impressed you think Jake would ever plan that far ahead,” the Viper commented.

The Wyrmgod had already isolated the area with the Primordials, Minaga, Nature’s Attendant, and Artemis, making them the only ones capable of hearing the conversation, likely in preparation for what was to come next.

“Well, if he can attack me like that, I should definitely strike back in kind!” Minaga huffed while ignoring the Viper’s comment as he waved his hand. A screen appeared before all of them, not just the Viper and the Wyrmgod, as the Unique Lifeform grinned and threw Artemis a look.

“Let’s have this entire Challenge Dungeon be a live performance so you can all see how unfair he is!” he said, hiding a smile as he saw the cute god from the Pantheon of Life lean a bit forward while trying to remain dignified and hide her interest.

“You just want to have an audience to vent to during this, don’t you?” the Wyrmgod questioned in a deadpan tone.

“Well, duh?” Minaga said. “If I have to suffer, it should at least be entertaining to the rest of you and give me more people to complain to. Now sit back and see injustice and unfairness personified.”

Jake opened his eyes in a very familiar hall. It was a perfect replica of the one he and his party had entered the first time they arrived at Minaga’s Labyrinth in the regular part of Nevermore. And just like that time, a familiar figure also teleported into the room, appearing on a central platform.

Light filled the room as music began playing, but Minaga quickly clapped his hands once, making it all stop. The room darkened as Minaga just sighed. “Oh boy, here we go again…”

Right as he said that, a system message was triggered and popped up in front of Jake.

Nevermore Challenge Dungeon Entered!

You have entered Minaga’s Endless Labyrinth. An endless maze that extends forever until you can no longer keep going lies before you, ready for you to explore, the entire labyrinth split into Labyrinth Sections to conquer one by one.

These Labyrinth Sections will each serve as separate challenges, and passing each will trigger a checkpoint. Some checkpoints will allow you to rest and recover for a while before continuing on your journey.

Each Labyrinth Section has a time limit that will begin upon entering a section. Your goal is to navigate your way through each section as quickly and safely as possible while overcoming foes, traps, and other challenges along the way. The further you progress in the Endless Labyrinth, the more challenging it shall become.

During the Endless Labyrinth, the magnanimous Minaga has taken pity and granted you five attempts in case you should fail any Labyrinth Sections, allowing you to retry them should you run out of time or meet an unfortunate - yet expected - early end. The Labyrinth Section’s layout will not change even after an attempt has been expended, but all traps, creatures, and other such challenges will be reset.

Minaga wishes you luck. For if you wish to challenge his Endless Labyrinth, you will sorely need it.

Objective: Complete as many Labyrinth Sections as possible.

Current objective: Complete Labyrinth Section 1.

Attempts remaining: 5

Jake read the lengthy description as he quickly got the gist of it. It was pretty much exactly as he had expected it to be. It was just an endless string of “floors” that Jake had to complete as quickly as possible, hopefully doing as many as humanly possible.

No, better than humanly possible. Jakely possible!

“You done reading it all?” Minaga asked before Jake even had time to consider the whole message.

“I get it. Not like this is that complicated or different from the prior floors,” Jake shrugged as he threw the Unique Lifeform a teasing smile. “Also, I must thank thee, oh-so magnanimous Minaga. To bless the lowly me with five attempts, your kindness is truly unrivaled.”

Minaga looked at him for a bit before crossing his arms. “I am going to broadcast this to everyone live, so you better not be a bully, or everyone will come to learn how rude you are.”

“Eh, there’s not that many watching,” Jake said, shaking his head. “I guess you’re only showing it to a select few and not all the representatives present.”

“Maybe I’m recording it and will show them later,” Minaga pointed out.

“I guess you could do that,” Jake nodded as he smiled. “I must admit, I hadn’t taken you to be that kind of guy. You sure are full of surprises.”

“… I’m not going to take that bait, so you may as we-“

“Who would have thought Minaga had a humiliation fetish? Truly an astonishing discovery.”

“I am beginning to question my decision to broadcast this live,” Minaga muttered to himself as he got a bit more serious. “Anyway, let’s just get this started, alright? While I am not going to disagree that you have a huge advantage in my Challenge Dungeon, you shouldn’t think it will be a complete cakewalk. The difficulty scales infinitely, and you will reach your limit at some point.”

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

“I shall keep that in mind,” Jake nodded, pretty much getting told what he already assumed. “I am looking forward to seeing what interesting things you cooked up in your Challenge Dungeon.”

“Then let’s get started. I am obligated to say this, so good luck! And more importantly, try and have fun!”

With those words, Minaga teleported away as the massive door behind him began opening. Out came the special fog Jake had seen so many times before. The one that limited Perception and how fast you could move within it while also fucking up divination magic and many other schools and affinities. Of course, what it didn’t fuck up was Jake’s sphere.

Right as the system message telling him the Challenge Dungeon had truly begun appeared, Jake closed his eyes and released a Pulse of Perception.

You have entered Labyrinth Section 1 of Minaga’s Endless Labyrinth.

Time Remaining: 9 days, 23:59:59

Jake opened his eyes again with a mental map before him. The first Labyrinth Section was pretty large, extending nearly one hundred kilometers into the distance, with a classic maze-like design. A super classic design, in fact, as one could technically beat it by just continuously following the left or right wall until one reached the end.

Heck, based on what Jake saw, the first section could easily be beaten by doing just that and walking at a brisk pace. Of course, Jake wasn’t going to do that as he bent his knees and smiled a bit to himself as he shot forward into the first Labyrinth Section.

There weren’t even any enemies or traps in this first section. It was just a pure maze and, quite frankly, kind of boring. Luckily, there was one thing present to not make it entirely mind-numbing.

“Oh great, he just charges right in as if he already knows where to go… oh wait, he probably does… yay…”

Jake smiled to himself as he navigated through the shortest path toward the end, not slowing down for a single second or even taking his time to respond to Minaga’s very exciting commentary throughout. Though, to be fair, rather than commentary, it was more just Minaga venting in a passive-aggressive tone.

“How exciting, will he go down the wrong path!? No, of course, he’s not, how silly of me…. Is it left or right at the next… right, it was right, yeah… yeah, good job. Halfway already, huh? Nearly there… and… congratulations for finishing the first section!”

Reaching a giant double-sided door, Jake quickly touched it as a notification popped up in front of him, and the door began to open. Through his sphere, he also saw that the next part of the Endless Labyrinth simply manifested behind the door, popping into existence all at once.

Labyrinth Section 1 clear time: 1:17:42

“Damn, it still took me over an hour, huh?” Jake said. “Longer than expected for sure… then again, the maze was just long, not hard.”

“… screw you and keep moving. The timer for section two already started.”

Grinning, Jake shrugged as he saw that was indeed the case. He had just been too focused on the clear time to really notice it.

You have entered Labyrinth Section 2 of Minaga’s Endless Labyrinth.

Time Remaining: 9 days, 8:59:52

“Time allocated is going down fast,” Jake commented, and he released another Pulse of Perception. “But the size of the section is about the same. Say, can you give a scoop on the average number of sections cleared?”

“Four million, four-hundred-twenty thousand and sixty-nine, so if you don’t at least do that many, you suck,” Minaga said, clearly being entirely truthful and not at all salty over Jake casually using Pulse to cheese his Challenge Dungeon.

“Damn, that’s sure a lot. Better get going, then,” Jake smiled in response as he released another pulse and headed into the second section. This one had a few traps added into the mix, but it was still pretty straightforward. So, the result also didn’t come as a surprise.

Labyrinth Section 2 clear time: 1:12:30

“Better than last time,” Jake said as he touched the second door.

“It will get harder, okay? I promise. Just… it may take a bit, alright?” Minaga said with exasperation. “So keep keeping on and stuff…”

Jake didn’t need to be told twice as he proceeded to have some more fun in a Challenge Dungeon that felt the exact opposite of the Test of Character one. In the Test of Character, Jake had no idea what to do or where to go at any point. It was just an exercise in confusion and frustration as you figured out what the hell the damn dungeon wanted you to do.

Meanwhile, Minaga’s Labyrinth was as straightforward as it could be. Disregarding the fact it was infinitely more straightforward for Jake as he knew the straight path to the end, even for those without a cheat-like Bloodline, Minaga’s Labyrinth was still simple. You just had to make your way through a Labyrinth within a set timer and then keep doing that over and over again until you couldn’t reach the end in time anymore.

Soon, Jake completed sections three, four, five, six… ten… twenty… Jake just kept going as Minaga kept commentating. Most of it was just him talking and Jake returning the banter, but there were some things of substance said, too.

“Did you notice the wall there? You have seen those before, right?” Minaga asked at one point. “I am giving you an actual hint here.”

Jake had noticed the odd markings covering many of the walls, and he even felt the magical energy infused into them. It was some complicated magic, and while Jake couldn’t immediately figure out what they were about, he had an idea.

“These are hints for solving the labyrinth in time, right?” Jake asked as he rushed through section twenty-seven, jumping over and sliding under traps on the way.

“Exactly! See, I know you could figure it out! How about trying, just once, to do one of the sections without relying on your cheats but doing it properly? Just for the experience,” Minaga semi-pleaded.

“Hm, I could,” Jake muttered.

“Really?” Minaga exclaimed with surprise.

“Yeah, I definitely could. I won’t, but I could.”

“... bullying behavior is not going to get you far in life, you know that, right?”

“Didn't you tell me a bunch of stories about you bullying and annoying larger factions or stronger gods into submissions, making use of the fact that you are a cheat-like existence?” Jake countered.

“Well, stories are always exaggerated, and I wouldn’t say I bullied them. I just made very appealing arguments with adequate levels of insistence until I got my will,” Minaga said in a holier-than-thou tone.

“Right, right, and I am carefully evaluating your proposition for me to handicap myself for no damn reason and finding your arguments for doing so wholly inadequate.”

“It was just a suggestion…” Minaga muttered. “And I put so much effort into those hints, too…”

On the topic of the hints to solve the Labyrinth, Jake got the feeling they were borderline mandatory if one wanted to do the latter sections. Stumbling in the dark or keeping a hand on one wall as you sprinted through could only take you so far, and already by section twenty, that tactic no longer appeared viable as the difficulty began to step up. Not just with the labyrinth getting longer and having more dead-ends but also with the addition of stuff like traps.

Anyway, Minaga’s Labyrinth also included some level of puzzle or maybe even riddle-solving, which was kind of fun. Jake wasn’t entirely sure how it worked as he never bothered to study the hints given at the start of every section fully, nor did he take his time with the markings covering the walls at other places. But it was probably fun for others, right?

In the labyrinth in section twenty-seven, he took a sharp turn, avoiding the mech-like beast that barred the way down one of the hallways that wasn’t the fastest path. Jake threw the beast a look as he remembered a prior talk with Minaga about these creatures inhabiting and barring his progress in the labyrinth.

Jake had sadly confirmed one didn’t earn any experience inside of the Challenge Dungeon, even if you did kill some of the monsters barring the way. Jake naturally had to question the Unique Lifeform about this, and he actually got a straight answer when he did.

“Eh, they aren’t real monsters but just summons tied to the energy barrier. Killing them just cuts off power to the barrier and allows you through, nothing more, nothing less. As for why it isn’t designed so you get experience? Well, there is a good reason. I won’t tell you the reason, but there totally is one, trust me on that. Definitely not just some random decision the Wyrmgod and I made when designing these Challenge Dungeons. Definitely not.”

Alright, Jake called it a straight answer, but at least it was an answer. Only the first part really mattered, explaining they were just summons that powered the barriers.

But, it probably did make some sense? If the creatures gave experience, it would be an incentive to take the paths where they were and not the fastest route. Of course, Jake wouldn’t bother to hunt the monsters in these earlier labyrinths as they were far too weak and often died in a single arrow, but maybe he would have later if they gave him experience.

After Jake passed section twenty-nine, he entered number thirty, and finally, something changed. With a Pulse of Perception, Jake saw that this labyrinth had introduced a new element: teleportation circles. Were they shortcuts? Ways to set your progress back? A mix of the two?

Jake didn’t know if each teleportation circle was good or bad, and while he could try and decipher the hints on the walls around the teleportation circles… he could also just do none of that and leave the decision entirely to his intuition.