The Primal Hunter

”So, how exactly does this evaluation work? I would assume all of the submissions have already been evaluated upon submission,” Jake asked. “And even if they hadn’t, I doubt doing so would take you much time.”

“Indeed, each evaluation has already been completed. However, this final part is a bit different. This evaluation is not for anyone’s benefit, but your own,” the Architect answered. “Part of the purpose of this Challenge Dungeon is to benefit you, after all. Tell me, have you noticed something different about this House of the Architect compared to where you usually work?”

“A lot of things, considering it’s a Challenge Dungeon inside a World Wonder,” Jake responded in a rather deadpan tone. “Unless you expected me to notice something specific?”

The Architect sighed. “The environment. With your senses, you should have noticed a slight difference. Tell me, how would you evaluate your gains during your time spent here?”

“I felt like I made a lot of progress?” Jake semi-asked. “More than usual, but there can be many explanations for that… one of which is that the environment is actively helping somehow. But it isn’t like it’s anything extreme.”

“To you, perhaps it didn’t feel like it helped much, but to others, it is far more extreme,” the Architect said before elaborating further. “The environment in which you are crafting is incredibly impactful on what you can make, and the House of the Architect is filled with the Records of C-grade crafters throughout the eras. The effect was weaker for you compared to many others as you already do many things at a high level, but it will help uplift the Records of many of those who are struggling, allowing them to accomplish new feats they thought impossible.”

Jake frowned a bit at the explanation as a thought occurred. “Does that mean I make better things when I craft at the Order of the Malefic Viper compared to at my lodge back on Earth?”

“No, the differences in Records between those two places simply aren’t enough. They aren’t focused enough. Also, the environment itself wasn’t designed by a higher being to support crafting, and even if the Viper wished to do it, it would inadvertently come at the cost of weakening other forms of Records. In fact, places like this are nearly exclusively found at Challenge Dungeons or very unique locales, such as World Wonders,” Nevermore explained.

“Huh,” Jake let out, guessing that the Challenge Dungeon he had done when he first got his profession probably also counted.

“Are all the Challenge Dungeons in Nevermore like this?” Jake questioned, remembering when Nevermore first mentioned that one of the reasons why Challenge Dungeons didn’t give levels was to improve Records. Maybe every single Challenge Dungeon was also designed with special Records there in mind.

“In some aspects, yes, but it varies dependent on the era and the Challenge Dungeons in question. The Challenge Dungeons are ultimately evaluations for a grander achievement, and that is their primary design above all else.”

Jake nodded as he moved along the conversation. “So what does it mean when you say this evaluation is to my benefit?”

“Rather than simply give you an achievement and throw you out, we will go through your submissions and you will receive feedback. However, only the feedback you ask for yourself, outside of some very broad conclusions,” the Architect explained. “I will also give you a general oversight as to how good each submission is if that is something you want.”

“Damn, feels almost weird being told I won’t just be thrown out of the room for asking one question too many,” Jake smiled.

“That can still be arranged if you want,” Nevermore responded in what Jake really hoped was a joking tone. “I do have some leeway, after all. This part isn’t anything the system demands but merely an extra reward, so to say.”

“But there will still be a real reward after, right?” Jake said, trying to change the subject.

“That we will discuss later… for now, let us proceed with your submissions, starting with your first one,” the Architect said. “So, any questions regarding the submission of our first meeting?”

“Well… was I an idiot for deciding to submit it?” Jake asked, a bit unsure.

That first submission had been made entirely on impulse, and after over two years in the House, Jake felt more uncertain than ever if it had been a good idea.

“Answering that question is far from straightforward, as in order to provide a satisfactory conclusion, I would need to know what you would have submitted instead,” Nevermore answered, and honestly, she had a good point. “However, I will say that the submission didn’t drag down your overall evaluation when it comes to the ten Creations you submitted. Its uniqueness and vanity were enough to allow it to stand on its own. Also, if nothing else, it was highly time-efficient, was it not?”

“So, I wasn’t entirely an idiot, got it,” Jake nodded. “Now for my other submissions... I am not sure it’s worth it to go super into detail about all of them, so can we just batch all the mediocre or even bad ones together? Do a quick-fire round, so to say?”

“Very well,” the Architect said as she summoned a few projections showing Jake’s Creations. “First of all is the Cursed Stimulant of Hunger. This submission is rather unique due to its curse-related properties, but the Creation itself isn’t of extraordinary quality compared to all the others. From my observations, you are already aware of its shortcomings, so it does not appear pertinent to go into detail.

“Next is the ritual circle, which, while fine and also satisfactorily diverse, isn’t that impressive either relative to your other submissions. The Elemental Confluence Spirit Orb falls into the same camp as the prior two, where it is different but not outstanding on its own. It did help these two that you managed to upgrade your Sense of the Malefic Viper during their creation process, but the impact wasn’t extreme. Finally, we have the Adaptable Arcane Acid of Brittleness, which admittedly is the best of these four, but from a pure quality standpoint, it simply isn’t that impressive. The fact that this was your first time crafting an acid and the uniqueness of your arcane affinity did manage to uplift it significantly, but not enough for it to truly be considered a great submission in relative terms. Do you have any further questions regarding these four Creations?”

“Honestly? Not really,” Jake said. He had created the latter three not with the intent to make great submissions but because they were in fields he wanted to work on anyway. He was a bit surprised the Architect hadn’t tossed his final poison in there, which was a pleasant surprise. Jake also felt oddly happy that Temlat wasn’t mentioned in this batch, showing his Path hadn’t been one of the things the Architect evaluated as mediocre or bad. He did have one thing to add, though.

“You use the word relative a lot,” Jake pointed out.

“Making absolute comparisons during this evaluation strikes me as meaningless,” the Architect answered, shaking her head. “Your definition of mediocre may be the peak of others or below average for a third person. When Creations are also put into the context of their crafting journey and the crafters themselves, it complicates matters further, so the only thing I will compare your Creations to are those of your own making.”

“Can’t you throw me a small hint? Like, how did I do compared to, let’s say…” Jake thought for a bit about the best crafter he knew as a face instantly appeared. “Arnold, that weird guy. He must have done well in here if he has done this Challenge Dungeon already.”

“No hints,” the Architect shook her head. “Now, did you have any questions or can we move on?”

“No questions… at least not any I think you will answer,” Jake muttered.

Pretty quickly, they had gone over half of his submitted Creations, just leaving the Blackheart Poison, Unseen Arcane Hunter skill upgrade, weird Arcane Marble, Grimoire, and, of course, Jake’s first student.

“Then let us proceed,” the Architect said. “With the remaining five, how do you wish to approach the evaluation?”

If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

“Just go from worst to best,” Jake said.

“When you say worst from best, do remember this is only in comparison to everything else you have submitted, so if a particular Creation is too close in nature to another, its evaluation will naturally fall due to a lack of uniqueness and repeated concepts.”

“I am fully aware of that,” Jake nodded.

“Alright then. The fifth best submission we will look at is the Malefic Blackheart Poison. In terms of absolute quality, this one is without a doubt ranked as one of the best possible I would expect to see out of a C-grade. However, the evaluation is severely harmed due to the overflowing Records of the Malefic Viper that has been mixed in. Moreover, as a poison, it aligns closely with several of your other Creations, not to mention the journey you took to create it didn’t require much substantial innovation but more simply procedural iteration on prior ideas. Overall, the quality of the item does make it an excellent submission and most definitely one to be proud of.”

“Would it have been better if I just submitted a regular Heartrot Poison?” Jake asked, wondering if maybe submitting an item that benefitted from the Malefic Viper’s Poison had been a mistake.

“No, most certainly not. If you had done that, it would have been batched in with the other mediocre submissions,” the Architect shook her head.

“Alright, that’s good, at least,” Jake nodded, happy to have even gotten a straight answer. “I don’t really have any other questions.”

“The fourth best is the Unseen Arcane Hunter skill upgrade. This is once more a skill of impressive quality, and the upgrade was most certainly substantial and integrated many new concepts, but its evaluation is harmed primarily due to two things. First of all the fact it relied on many prior insights and ideas. Simply upgrading the skill a few rarities wasn’t too difficult, and while what you accomplished was a feat, it was primarily forced through due to your Bloodline and, quite frankly, ridiculously high Perception stat for someone who is barely mid-tier C-grade,” the Architect said, Jake only taking the last part about Perception as praise. “The second reason the evaluation is harmed is in part due to one of your later submissions already showcasing concepts of your Bloodline and arcane affinity.”

The arcane marble, Jake quickly concluded. It was actually a bit surprising it hadn’t been mentioned yet, but Jake only saw that as a good thing. At least, he really hoped it was a good thing.

“Any questions?” the Architect asked.

“Hm, not really,” Jake shrugged. He didn’t have much he needed to ask and partly considered that asking could be harmful. If she threw him off with her evaluation, making Jake doubt something he had done, it could hurt upgrades in the future. Her clear attempt to not mention anything negative about the details of the Creations themselves also wasn’t lost on him. Clearly, she was careful about her words.

“As you will,” Nevermore nodded as she had a slight pause. “With these last three submissions, it is a bit difficult to separate them in terms of the value of their evaluations, so I would deem it best to not do so. The Grimoire, Perennial Arcane Marble, and the Path of your student Temlat are all unique and stand tall on their own. So, rather than simply saying which one is best, I will explain the good and bad points of them all. Is that acceptable to you? If you so wish, I could also simply rank them all one by one.”

Jake initially felt a bit disappointed at not just being given a top-three list but ultimately just nodded as he realized how little it mattered. He also got the feeling Nevermore was partly doing it like this for his sake, as he kind of felt scummy having to think about Temlat’s life and Path just being reduced to a placement on a list.

“Just do it your way.”

“Then let us start with the most… peculiar of all your submissions: the Perennial Arcane Marble. This item exists solely due to your Bloodline and, despite not having any actual use cases, is by far the most valuable item of the bunch from any outside perspective simply due to its research value. However, since this Creation exemplifies your Bloodline and the many concepts related to it in such an overwhelming fashion, the impact it has on all your other Creations that utilize your Bloodline or arcane affinity is not to be underestimated. I can say that if you had only submitted a single Creation within this Challenge Dungeon, this one would have been the best by far out of them all,” the Architect explained as a projection of the small sphere hung in the air. “Of course, if you had only submitted one Creation, your overall evaluation would have been horrible.”

Jake looked at the projection of the marble as he got an idea. Hiding a mischievous smile, he asked: “So, I have been wondering… can you give me a more in-depth review of the item? Some details regarding the energy sealed within the stable arcane marble specifically, and the true meanings of that Perennial tag in front of the Arcane Marble name?”

The Architect looked at him before sighing. “Truthfully, I would be more than happy to do that, but I am unable to. This isn’t simply me withholding information but a system-imposed rule specifically regarding Bloodlines and Transcendent skills. Nothing can be shared with anyone, not even the ones who submit it. Sometimes, I can still bend the rules a bit and offer some information, but this Creation of yours only consists of elements related to your Bloodline, so I can’t give you anything more than you can already glean.”

“Fair enough,” Jake conceded. He did know the system could be a real stickler when it came to stuff like that. It was as bad as Villy when it came to wanting Jake to just find out shit about his Bloodline himself.

“Moving on, let us discuss the Grimoire you submitted. In truth, there is not much to say here. It is a high-tier Grimoire related to your very unique Path and mentality toward your Patron. There are many new concepts in there for sure, and even if your mentality is once more heavily based on your Bloodline, as it is only a side effect, the penalty in uniqueness is minimal,” the Architect explained. “Ah, and on a personal note, I would heavily advise you against publicizing any of your Grimoires. The response will more likely than not be negative and get you into more problems than I believe you desire.”

“So, keep it between me and closely trusted people who won’t throw a fit that I got a bit of heretic in me, got it,” Jake said with a nod. “But, I do actually have a question related to this one, especially the uniqueness part. Something that is pretty hard to ask anyone about and that I feel the Viper can’t really offer a proper perspective of either… is this Path really that unique? From what I have seen from others, there are many who treat their Patrons more as friends or supporters rather than, well, Patrons. Shit, I have a few friends, just to mention a few, and even if they are only like that due to being influenced by me, are you really telling me no one with some kind of presence resistance like me has ever been around before?”

This was legitimately one of the things Jake had wondered for a long time. Jake understood he was considered a heretic because he viewed Villy as a friend and not just a Patron, while he got the Chosen part by still being, well, his Chosen. Also, he was fully aware that his questions had been more of a ramble than a concise one.

“I may be overstepping here… but alright,” Nevermore began. “The uniqueness of your Path does not merely come from how you want to treat your Patron, but from how you are capable of treating the Malefic Viper. As you have said, others out there also treat their Patrons more as friends or allies, especially when the one blessed is an S-tier or even a demigod, but you do not merely treat the Malefic Viper as a friend but as an equal.”

“Still can’t see the difference,” Jake muttered.

Nevermore seemed to think for a bit before the elaborated. “Usually, the relationship between a Patron and someone blessed is a one-way street of giving. The god gives to the one who is blessed, with all returns coming in the shape of Records and other such intangible things. At the same time, the god can take back any privileges if they so desire, holding all the power.”

Jake nodded. He already knew all that from talks with Villy. However, that didn’t explain how he got the Heretic Chosen profession in the first place. It was true one of the effects was that the Viper couldn’t take back the Blessing even if he wanted unless one of them died, but again, that was an effect from the evolution and not something Jake had caused beforehand.

“Your relationship with the Malefic Viper is far more two-way. As I said, I may be overstepping, but… he benefits more from you than a usual Chosen. As do you benefit more than usual. The ultimate cause of this is not your mutual willingness to be friends or partners or whatever else you desire… it is your ability to make it so. No matter how much a god and a mortal wish to be equal, they are fundamentally not. The mortal will always be positioned lower in the hierarchy, and they simply do not have the ability to leverage their Blessing to take anything from the one who blessed them.”

“But I can,” Jake mumbled. He remembered taking that drop of blood from the Viper right after the Tutorial… had that been the trigger?

“Precisely. You are capable of taking despite being blessed. But do you know what the name of those who are not blessed yet still manage to obtain Records of a god, without said god’s permission, is usually called?”

“A heretic?”

Nevermore simply nodded as she finished her explanation. “The reason why you can take from the Viper without permission while remaining blessed is because you are capable of being his equal. Your Truesoul is capable of standing up to his. The fact that you both accept this dynamic is ultimately what gave birth to a Heretic-Chosen. If you had tried something similar with a god who had other sentiments and found your attitude unacceptable, I doubt we would be speaking right now.”

“I see,” Jake muttered. “Just to clarify, you didn’t mean that I have a Truesoul rivaling that of a Primordial, right?”

“No, yours is naturally far weaker as it is merely that of a C-grade mortal,” Nevermore shook her head. “However, when it comes to the pure quality of it, things get complicated, as every Truesoul of someone who has a Bloodline is effectively mutated. If you want my personal opinion, then no, your Truesoul is far from being able to rival any gods… not that I think you will ever acknowledge someone else as fundamentally superior to yourself.”

“Of course, I recognize that,” Jake scoffed. “Any god is, of course, stronger than me right now.”

“I said superior to you.”

“Superior in power, sure… for now. I’ll catch up eventually.”

Nevermore looked at Jake with a smile for a few seconds before Jake just scratched the back of his head. “Alright, point proven, but in my defense, I’m the one that’s right here… can we move on now?”

“Very well,” the Architect nodded, clearly finding the situation amusing. However, quickly, her face turned a bit more solemn as she spoke. “Now let us discuss the final Creation… the Path of Temlat, your first student.”