The Primal Hunter

The gods watched the screen as Jake just relaxed on the floor while yawning lazily. In space, the Forsaken Dragonkin was rampaging, truly motivated by a promise of a potential Path to godhood. No one in the room really said anything as they simply observed events unfold until, finally, Minaga chimed up.

“So… another note in the development log?”

“Yes,” the Wyrmgod simply responded.

“Alrighty then,” Minaga smiled, clearly not upset with the situation. Looking at Vilastromoz, he couldn’t help but give a big thumbs up.

“I fail to understand… how did your Chosen even do that?” the Blightfather questioned the Viper after a bit. The Wyrmgod had shown the screen to everyone in the inner circle –the Primordials, Nature’s Attendant, and Artemis – so he was fully aware of the shenanigans Jake had been up to. This was naturally with the Viper’s permission, as he found their reactions very amusing, and what was better than bragging to old acquaintances?

“Do what?” the Viper asked, feigning confusion.

“Project your aura… or at least a cheap imitation of it.”

“Oh, that… yeah, Jake ate a drop of my blood infused with my Records and power a while back and has thus far not volunteered to give it back,” Vilastromoz answered nonchalantly.

There were a few raised eyebrows around the room as the Holy Mother also joined the conversation for once. “Impressive. To be able to handle such Records without seeing his own Path broken is not something you see often, and it truly shows his dedication. It isn’t something I would expect many mortals to be capable of, much less a C-grade.”

“C-grade? No, he ate it in E-grade, and my guy didn’t even ask,” the Viper sighed as he shook his head.

Eyebrows were raised even higher than before at the revelation. The only one that seemed entirely undisturbed was Valdemar. Unsurprising. He and Jake had many similarities in this regard, as Valdemar was also known for eating stuff he really shouldn’t be capable of while he was still a mortal. Even now, as a god, he would just gobble down natural treasures other Primordials were wary of nonchalantly.

“In any case, Jake did pretty damn well,” Minaga said, carrying along the conversation. “He even gave us so much good feedback on the Challenge Dungeon, outlining many things to address for the next era. Of course, most of the stuff he pulled off was things I wouldn’t really expect many others to be capable of, but there were some good data points anyway.”

Minaga was in a great mood, and the Viper couldn’t help but take a jab. “Feels good to see another Challenge Dungeon be utterly exploited after your labyrinth, eh?”

“I have no idea what you are talking about, and such accusations are utterly unfounded and unwelcome,” Minaga tried to shut him down with a deadpan face. “Minaga’s Endless Labyrinth is a marvel of dungeon engineering that is perfectly balanced with no exploits.”

“Right, right,” the Viper nodded as he kept smiling.

“You speak as if the Endless Journey Challenge Dungeon was an utter mess, but I believe its self-correcting mechanisms did well. The Viper’s Chosen also adequately adapted to the situations he was in, and even if he had unique advantages, he also faced some extra challenges due to them. Ones he overcame, mostly due to these same unique advantages, true, but if one can say one thing, it is that he is good at exploiting said advantage,” the Wyrmgod finally said after a while.

“There were a lot of problems, though,” Minaga pointed out. “Admit it, this entire Challenge Dungeon was a bit of a mess and not the most successful launch.”

“While some would argue that nothing truly scenario-breaking happened, and the overall performance was fully acceptable. A few individuals being able to exploit a Challenge Dungeon does not make the entire project a failure. If it did, we would have had to decommission your entire labyrinth many eras ago,” the Wyrmgod said in his usual dry tone as he verbally murdered Minaga.

“No need to bully the poor Unique Lifeform,” the Viper shook his head. “But hearing you talk about how it isn’t a total failure… I wonder, how are Jake’s team members doing in this Challenge Dungeon? Or if they’ve already completed it, how did they do?”

The Wyrmgod briefly threw a glance at Nature’s Attendant, and after the god nodded, the Wyrmgod turned back to the Viper. “Three of them have already completed it, with only the Unique Lifeform yet to be done. As for how they all did or are doing… see for yourself.”

With a wave of his hand, the Primordial summoned four new screens. Each showed one of Jake’s party members inside the Endless Journey in a highly sped-up fashion, showing their entire runs in mere seconds in Realtime, which was more than slow enough for the gods there.

Now, let’s see how they did,the Viper thought as he looked at the four screens one by one.

The first screen showed the Sword Saint standing on a podium in what looked like a conference hall, talking to the many figures present. Among them were dragons in human form, the Founder, and a few other S-grades, including beings Jake had never encountered or even knew existed. This was clearly the end of his run, and the mere fact he had gathered all these individuals was impressive in its own right.

After days of debate and division of land, an accord was struck, as peace – at least temporarily – was established. A clear political victory, achieved in an entirely intended way by a man who had been ruling a massive clan and navigated politics for close to a century before the system.

Even if the swordsman had repeatedly said he wanted to distance himself from politics and focus on his Path of swordsmanship, that didn’t mean he had to throw away the political abilities he already had. Skills that were borderline second to none.

Needless to say, the Sword Saint’s performance was considered exemplary, as he ended his Endless Journey run with a Legendary Medallion, still a good distance away from getting a mythical one. Perhaps he could have done slightly better if he had not lost two lives trying to set up this political meeting and if he hadn’t had to make as many concessions in the final negotiations as he did.

On a second screen, Sylphie chased around an entitled customer while pecking him on the head until guards came to arrest her. She then proceeded to peck them, too, until more powerful people came, and she had to run away and flee from the very first starting city in the Phoenix Wing Empire.

Her first Endless Journey Challenge Dungeon life ended with her getting fired as a Courier on her second job with a lengthy criminal record, something she didn’t like, which got her killed as she tried to fight an entire city’s worth of guards.

With her second life, she managed to do a bit better but still got mad when a woman tried to scam her, making Sylphie retaliate by having a tornado rip a small village to pieces. In the Courier World, this was considered bad business and Sylphie failed her job. This she did not like and raised a ruckus in the Guild, and ended up getting chased away from the city again. Having decided to just explore a bit, Sylphie eventually ended up in a too-dangerous area while searching for something tasty to eat, which got her killed.

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After these two deaths, she got a bit more serious and even did a number of jobs, but she barely did one a week as she got bored and just flew around. That is until she got a Special Courier Job that ended up getting her in contact with the son of the Infernal Baron. The difference here was that this man didn’t want to recruit Sylphie but had detected her elemental heritage and now wanted to consume her. This was how Sylphie ended up joining what Jake had called PETE, and Sylphie ultimately ended her Endless Journey while taking down the Duke of Flames in a political act of mutual destruction that also got the hawk burned to a crisp.

Sylphie’s overall performance in this entire Challenge Dungeon was what many would be considered pretty damn substandard for what one would expect of a “genius.” Sylphie was happy enough, though, as she did manage to scam some natural treasures out of PETE before she left. She ended up with a Rare Medallion only, despite having spent quite a while in the dungeon, mainly just messing around.

A third screen showed Dina walking on a vast grassland as the plants swayed with her steps. The entire land was alive, pulsing with power, reaching the very peak of S-grade as the living planet allowed her presence. All across the massive planet, portals had opened as the enlightened races entered, the Guild Founder and many others among them as they prepared to establish themselves anew, knowing they could not face the dragon tribe in combat without facing total destruction.

Things had been especially bleak after the Nine Seals Demon returned and managed to get the Forsaken Dragonkin on their side with promises of telling him of a place in the universe that could give him the final push to godhood. Luckily for them all, Dina had managed to work with a seed sent out from this new planet that had landed on the main Courier World one and made a deal, relying on her Bloodline.

Her Endless Journey had been far from a conventional one, as she had relied on her Bloodline perhaps more than Jake and used plenty of summons to carry out tasks. Annoying customers and those trying to scam her were also easily dealt with, mainly through a few compliant-making spores in the air.

As for the larger political issues she faced… well, all the conversations she had with the Sword Saint about the art of Leadership had really come in handy there. This all led to an ultimately great performance, even if she did make a lot of mistakes, netting her an Ancient Medallion, just shy of a legendary one.

On the fourth and final of these new screens, the Fallen King was still doing the Challenge Dungeon, as he had done the same as Jake and saved this one for last. He had struggled a bit with being treated like a mere Courier in the early parts but had quickly suppressed his own pride to simply follow the objective and focus on getting a good reward.

Using his soul magic, he did better than most would expect from someone who rarely had to use words to get their way. Also, while it was a skill he rarely used, being able to detect lies of those a lot weaker than him was no difficult feat, and liars and scammers utterly failed to get one over him. When it came to the Special Courier Jobs, he also performed great. In fact, he even had many advantages, as the Fallen King managed to leverage his identity as a system-recognized king to get his way in certain situations. One had to remember that while Jake was also a noble, he didn’t really integrate this fact into his Path, nor did he openly project his nobility rank.

The Fallen King, on the other hand, did this openly, acting as if he were some high-level diplomat working for another massive faction far away. This did seem to get the job done for the most part, as he progressed steadily and kept everyone on their toes while making them hesitant to make aggressive moves toward him. This status as a king would also have its very own note in the Endless Journey Exploits Log, but ultimately deemed a non-issue as C-grades with the system-recognized title of king wasn’t really a thing, and making changes just to address the uniqueness of a Unique Lifeform wasn’t worth it in any way.

One big weakness the Fallen King did have in this Challenge Dungeon was his lack of speed when delivering goods during the regular Courier Jobs, and while he did alleviate this a bit through different means, this was ultimately still his big limiter as he continued his Endless Journey. However, even with this, his final result should be more than acceptable.

In the final Challenge Dungeon the gods observed, Jake soon enough had visitors. The Forsaken Dragonkin was returning, but he was not alone. With him were several others, including the Guild Founder, Phoenix Queen, and even the Nine Seals Demon, who looked a bit worse for wear while leaning on the Phoenix Queen.

Jake stood up as these figures approached the chamber. The barrier sealing him in naturally faded as Jake stepped forward and saw the S-grades approach. “I take it matters have been settled?”

“They have,” the Guild Founder said with an exhausted but happy smile. “It will take a long time to rebuild… but with the dragon tribe no longer lurking as a threat, I have hope our future will be a bright one… now, let us return to the Human Capital. While there are many losses to mourn, there is also your unquestionable achievement to celebrate, and-“

“Before any of that… you have a promise to keep,” the Forsaken Dragonkin interrupted as he looked at Jake with narrowed eyes. “Or did things change?”

The Forsaken Dragonkin did not hold back as he used a skill to make completely sure Jake was telling the truth. It was certain that should he try and bullshit his way out or lie, the situation would not turn out well, especially considering Jake had yet to be told he could leave the Challenge Dungeon. So he did the only thing he could. Jake told the truth.

“I am still a bit spent from the preview I gave you earlier,” Jake said completely honestly. “But I swear to you that I will share with you the true Path to godhood soon. The method every single one of the dozens of gods I am aware of have in common.”

Jake had some time to think as he was waiting, and he had gone over what all the gods he had ever spoken of had in common. He had considered their Paths and what they had done to reach godhood and realized one universal truth about them all that he would share with the Forsaken Dragonkin was ready.

There were some amusing reactions from the Guild Founder and other S-grades when Jake mentioned gods, but none of them said anything. The Forsaken Dragonkin had looked skeptical, but at Jake’s reassurance, he simply nodded. He did seem like he planned on staying close to Jake for the time being, though.

“In that case… let us return and celebrate as the Courier recovers,” the Guild Founder said as the group of S-grades and Jake departed back toward the city.

Once back, they held a nice celebration and ceremony. The deaths of those who fought were honored; the Forsaken Dragonkin was called a hero that all of the nations would support, and the fighters who stood their ground were rewarded. However, despite all the S-grades, Jake was the main character as he was celebrated in a big ceremony put on by the Guild Founder.

Jake was praised, and in the end, the Guild Founder decided to do something unprecedented, as the first-ever Mythical Courier was crowned. Throughout this all, Jake just smiled and waved as he seriously hoped the system message would soon appear before he had to fulfill his promise to the Forsaken Dragonkin… luckily, it did right as Jake had his Medallion upgraded and officially got his final promotion.

Congratulations! You have completed the Endless Journey Challenge Dungeon!

You have risen to an otherwise unknown realm of Mythical Courier. A Courier rank that only you possess, granted to someone recognized by all in the land. As a Mythical Courier, you can choose to stay in the Endless Journey and continue completing regular Courier Jobs, or you can choose to retire and end your journey for good.

Exit the Endless Journey?

Seeing this message, Jake smiled… but he still had one more thing to do. After the ceremony was over, Jake and the Forsaken Dragonkin went to a chamber by themselves, as it was time for Jake to teach the S-grade how to become a god. He wouldn’t be bullshitting either because Jake had truly figured it out.

“You should be fully aware of what will happen if you have attempted to fool me,” the Forsaken Dragonkin said as Jake took a seat across from the dragonkin.

“I know, so I’m not going to bullshit you,” Jake said as he took a deep breath. “Do you know what godhood is?”

“Surprise me,” the dragonkin said with narrowed eyes.

“While you may see godhood as your ultimate goal, in reality, it is just another step on your Endless Path. It’s the hardest one by far, but far from the end. From what I’ve heard, some call it the moment you truly realize your Path and “prove” it, so to say, but in the end, it all boils down to simply staying true to yourself and dedicated to your Path.”

He spoke only truths, as the Forsaken Dragonkin seemed more receptive than before. “But the question is how…what tangible methods can one deploy to reach godhood?”

Jake took another deep breath as he looked upwards. “The how… is simpler than you think. From all the gods I have observed, and how they followed their Paths, I realized they all did one thing that those who failed to reach godhood didn’t.”

“What is it? What do I need to do?”

With a serious look on his face, Jake quickly prepared himself to leave the dungeon as he answered.

“Get good.”