The Primal Hunter

Jake had no idea how many of the damn imps he had killed before they stopped coming. The demon captains who had once led the army of small-winged casters had long been slain, but that didn’t mean the swarm didn’t prove a challenge simply due to their sheer numbers.

His body was covered in burns and wounds by the time they were all dead, as it had simply been impossible to avoid every attack. His party members weren’t in a much better condition, as they had been fighting at other entrances to the large cavern they found themselves within.

Luckily, before more demons could arrive, Dina made her way over. A soothing green aura washed over him as several small plants grew in his vicinity, making Jake nod at her in recognition. “Thanks.”

“No problem,” she responded with a smile. “Are there more coming from this way?”

“Doesn’t look like it,” Jake responded as he released a Pulse of Perception. “Not from any of the other tunnels either.”

“Alright, we should be safe to regroup, then,” Dina said. “You may also need to have your Golden Mark reapplied in case something does happen.”

“True,” Jake nodded with a sigh. These demons had been a bloody nightmare in that regard. They kept using dispelling magic and disrupting mana, which resulted in them removing the Golden Marks over and over again.

When they made it back to the center of the cavern, Jake also finally dropped his boosting skill as he sat down exhausted. The other three were already there, also recovering from the ongoing fight. Entering meditation, Jake felt Dina reestablish her restorative domain around them. This made Jake not only recover his resources and heal faster, but it also allowed the period of weakness to go away faster.

Which was needed in case more demons came back. Jake had quite a few complaints about floor seventy-nine, but a lack of enemies most certainly wasn’t one of them. In fact, it was nearly the opposite, as there were pretty much only enemies who stuck together in huge swarms.

The fact that the last objective of this floor was to defend the giant crystal within this particular mountain didn’t help either, as it just resulted in all the enemies funneling to them. The only semi-good part was that the long and narrow tunnels allowed their party to not get easily surrounded.

While meditating, Jake checked his system notifications, pleased to see he had gained another level from the fight. The first in a while, as the period of faster leveling from the Challenge Dungeons was well and truly done already, at least when it came to his class. Not that Jake was complaining. The gains had been pretty damn good over the last few years, and he was even getting pretty close to yet another skill selection.

*’DING!’ Class: [Arcane Hunter of Horizon’s Edge] has reached level 284 - Stat points allocated, +50 Free Points*

*’DING!’ Race: [Human (C)] has reached level 273 - Stat points allocated, +45 Free Points*

It had been a bit over ten years since they were all done with their Challenge Dungeons, and Jake had evidently gained quite a few levels during this period if he said so himself. In fact, it had been even faster than after he just reached C-grade. The reason for this was primarily the fact that they had met rather strong enemies on every single floor, unlike when they first entered and had to grind through a lot of easy floors. Especially the bosses had been tough, and on floor seventy-five, they had faced one of those event bosses. That had been the strongest opponent they had encountered throughout Nevermore thus far, being a level 325 variant with respectable power.

The fight had been pretty damn long, but it did help that Jake had significantly weakened it with his opening shot from stealth. In the end, the Sword Saint ended up using two Glimpses of Spring, leaving him weakened for a while, with both Sylphie and Jake also overusing their boosting skills. Dina and the Fallen King had been a bit better off, but that was mainly because the fucker had ignored the Fallen King for the most part, as it had been borderline immune to soul attacks, making the Unique Lifeform the smallest threat.

Dina had been fine just because of her many defensive means. She was naturally still tired afterward, having used her most powerful skills too, but as a healer, she was naturally good at making sure she wouldn’t be the one in most need of healing and recovery after a long fight.

In summary, the event boss on floor seventy-five had been strong to the level where they had to use everything in their arsenal, save for their most powerful trump cards that would leave them incapacitated for a longer period, with potentially permanent consequences. That is to say, the Sword Saint didn’t have to fully use his transcendence, the Fallen King didn’t have to use his unique skill, and Jake didn’t have to pull out some weird Bloodline bullshit out of his ass. But it had gotten a bit close to comfort.

Anyway, from there, the next few floors had been pretty straightforward, with just a lot of fighting and a lot of levels.

Having cleared nine floors – he counted this one as pretty much already completed – in just around ten years was pretty fucking good if Jake said so himself. But it had come at the sacrifice of some things. They had taken no breaks and even purposefully avoided the city floor after floor seventy-five. For some reason, Jake had a feeling going there wouldn't be a good idea, and his party had no reason to disagree as they hurried onwards.

The lack of breaks also resulted in a lack of focus on professions. As they kept up a constant tempo, Jake barely did any alchemy at all during this last decade. He did do a bit to keep them restocked on potions, elixirs, and his own poisons, but a lot of it had taken place within time dilation as the Sword Saint sometimes set up small time chambers for them to more quickly get through timed events.

Due to this, despite the boost in momentum from the Challenge Dungeons, Jake had only gained a total of three levels in his profession in an entire decade. That was less than one every three years and just around a third of the levels he had gained from popping in and saying hello to a bunch of Primordials having a streaming party. Looking back at his notifications, it wasn’t even as if he was close to another level, as his last one was half a year ago.

*’DING!’ Profession: [Heretic-Chosen Alchemist of the Malefic Viper] has reached level 262 - Stat points allocated, +35 Free Points*

Still, levels were levels. And at level 260, Jake had naturally unlocked another skill selection. All in all, it had actually been a pretty damn interesting selection, if utterly inconsequential for now, the reason of which would be clear when one knew of the skill he selected. Ah, but the two first ones offered had been just a bit too basic, to put it nicely.

[Fortifying Curse Toxin Theory (Uncommon)]

[Acid Chemistry Theory (Rare)]

To clarify, these skills were purely related to knowledge, and they didn’t really have any effects when crafting. At least not anything Jake didn’t feel confident doing with freeform magic or, more importantly, through Sagacity of the Malefic Viper. Sagacity already had Records related to these two knowledge skills he just hadn’t fully unlocked yet, so selecting either would only be done with the intent of merging it with Sagacity down the line. Something Jake thought was a waste of a skill selection. Not to say the third skill offered was that much better.

[Advanced Arcane Sealing (Ancient)] – Protect what is yours, and should anyone try to rob you, leave them with nothing. Allows the alchemist to create a seal of arcane magic to cover an object or several objects at once. While the object is sealed, energy leakage is nearly entirely eliminated due to the stable arcane mana. The sealed object will be hidden from nearly all senses and be unaffected by all outside sources. Should anyone try to forcibly destroy the seal, the arcane mana will turn destructive and damage or destroy the sealed object as well as itself. Sealed items can only be unsealed by those possessing the arcane affinity of the hunter. The effectiveness of Advanced Arcane Sealing is improved by Wisdom, Intelligence, and Willpower.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

Jake did still like this one, though, not because he wanted it as a skill, but because of what it represented. This skill – much like the two before – was clearly based on what he had done in House of the Architect. For Jake to be offered an ancient rarity skill just for sealing an item in his arcane mana was honestly bonkers. Sure, some of the obscuration features in the skill probably weren’t fully innate concepts spawned from just placing a barrier around an object, but he reckoned some of them were.

This told him that the simple act of sealing something in mana was roughly equivalent to, at the very least, an epic skill through pure conceptual power from his arcane affinity. So, yeah, this skill offering was damn great to see, but he didn’t select it because the two next ones were more… interesting.

Jake had naturally looked at them individually back during the actual skill selection, but in truth, it made a lot more sense to see them as a set, considering the two skills were effectively identical.

[Chosen’s Offering of the Malefic Viper (Legendary)] – To deliver an offering to your Patron and gain recognition in kind is the greatest honor. Allows the alchemist to make an offer to the Malefic Viper and be granted an Offering Fragment. Based on the value of the Records and energy in the offering, you will be rewarded with a better Offering Fragment. The Offering Fragment contains Records and energy related to the Malefic Viper and can help empower other sources of Records and energy related to the Malefic Viper. All offerings must surpass a certain threshold to be submittable, and out of respect to the Malefic One, there is an internal cooldown of the skill dependent on the value of the Offering Fragment received. Whenever an offering is made, your connection to the Malefic Viper as his Chosen grows.

[Heretic’s Offering of the Malefic Viper (Legendary)] – To infringe upon the domain of the Malefic Viper and rob the Primordial’s Records is a great achievement. Allows the alchemist to make an offer to the Malefic Viper and be granted an Offering Fragment. Based on the value of the Records and energy in the offering, you will be rewarded with a better Offering Fragment. The Offering Fragment contains Records and energy related to the Malefic Viper and can help empower other sources of Records and energy related to the Malefic Viper. All offerings must surpass a certain threshold to be submittable, and to hide your heretical actions from the Malefic One, there is an internal cooldown of the skill dependent on the value of the Offering Fragment received. Whenever an offering is made, your status as a Heretic of the Malefic Viper grows.

These two skills, as mentioned, did effectively the exact same thing. They allowed Jake to make an offering and get an Offering Fragment in return. An Offering Fragment that could then be used while crafting to infuse Records from the Malefic Viper into the creation, functioning a bit like a light version of when Malefic Viper’s Poison activated. Jake sure as hell didn’t doubt that using an Offering Fragment as a catalyst during crafting would prove highly effective.

In addition to this, each of the skills also served to push Jake further down either the Path of a Heretic or the Path of a Chosen. This was just a small note at the end of each skill, and it probably wasn’t something that would bother them if others saw either of these skills. Why would a heretic care about becoming more heretical, or a Chosen care about being closer to his Patron? They naturally wouldn’t. In fact, walking further down either Path was just purely positive, as it would solidify their Paths.

However… Jake wasn’t either of those. He was the Heretic-Chosen, someone who walked straight down the middle between being a Chosen and a Heretic. He was both at once. A living paradox. That was why alarm bells instantly went off when Jake read that last part of the two skills.

For the system to directly push him down either Path couldn’t end well. Jake’s instincts also warned him about both of them, yet the longer he looked at them, the more he also got the feeling they could be really good… which was when Jake had a little thought.

See, Jake felt pretty confident using either of those skills would prove detrimental, but what if, ya know… he just picked both. If he could offer both Heretical and Chosen Offerings at once, wasn’t that a Heretic-Chosen offering right there? At least, that was Jake’s logic.

And now for the real genius: in order to not trigger this effect, Jake would just never use the legendary skill, ever.

The only downside to this ingenious plan was that Jake would select a legendary skill he would purposefully avoid using or even thinking about for the next thirty levels. Then there was also the slight risk that picking one of them would lock him out of the other, making Jake end up pretty damn screwed. Oh yeah, and then there was also the fact that skills innately contained Records, so did he fuck up just by picking one? Who knows? But hey, nothing ventured, nothing gained.

So, with that in mind, Jake had asked the Sword Saint to flip a coin for him to determine which one he would go with first. It had resulted in Jake picking Chosen’s Offering, so worst case scenario, Jake would just have to fully lean into being a subservient and ass-licking Chosen… or just never use the skill until he one day found a way to get rid of it or merge it with something else.

Returning his attention to the present, Jake opened his eyes and stretched a bit, having meditated for a bit over two hours to heal up. Drinking a potion, he also used a Pulse of Perception and saw that the attacks were pretty much over. Sylphie was down one of the tunnels, shredding a few stragglers, but that was it. The other large entrance was guarded by a floating Unique Lifeform, watching out if anything was coming while Jake recovered.

Dina had gone over to the crystal and infused the small domain she had established around it to make it mature faster. The Sword Saint had also joined her, and while he couldn’t use time magic as that would screw up the maturation process, he could at least help provide some mana and even water the dryad’s plants, assuming that even did anything.

Soon enough, the crystal fully matured as a light beam shot into the air. The entire mountain began to break apart as all its mana was sucked in, and they witnessed the birth of a powerful natural treasure. It was an impressive one for sure, not that their party was sticking around to admire it. They couldn’t even steal it, so what was the point?

A few seconds passed before two elementals teleported down to them, both of them powerful B-grade variants with sapience. They thanked the party for defending the crystal before taking it away, and with that done and dusted, a few notifications popped up.

Seventy-ninth floor completed. 15800 Nevermore Points earned.

With the notifications also came a door, standing right where the crystal had been. There was no need to delay as they all entered the in-between room, and just as they did, Jake turned to the old man.

”How long do we have left?” Jake asked him. As someone Blessed by Aeon, he was surely the best at keeping track of time, right?

The Sword Saint considered for a moment before answering. ”Can you allow me to fully Identify you?”

”Sure?” Jake said as he let the old man use his identity on Jake. He clearly used it on all the others, too, before answering.

”Ten months, twenty-three days, and twenty-two hours,” the Sword Saint said after a bit. ”That is when Sylphie will be forced out of Nevermore. The rest of us are all within a day of that. This discrepancy is likely caused by the Challenge Dungeons and how the time distortion in those may vary slightly.”

Jake stared at the old man a bit, wondering how the hell he hadn’t known the old man could see time stuff when using Identify. Then again, maybe it was something new? In either case, Jake decided to do as the Sword Saint had done, as he identified everyone in the party. Jake himself was level 273, which was pretty good, in his opinion, but his leveling speed looked horrible compared to both the Fallen King and Sylphie.

[Fallen King – lvl 281]

[Juvenile Sylphian Hawk – lvl 287]

As monsters, they were natural cheats and tended to level faster than enlightened races. Sylphie was even more of a special case as she was still naturally growing. Still, it sucked to lose to them. But hey, at least Jake did beat both Dina and the Sword Saint when it came to leveling.

[Dryad – lvl 270]

[Human – lvl 272]

Alright, the margin with the Sword Saint was a bit low with only one level, but a level was a level. Dina was the slowest of them, which wasn’t that surprising. Her race levels were slow because she was a Dryad, a long-lived creature who also grew naturally, albeit at a far slower pace. One of her racial skills literally allowed her to merge with a powerful tree and sleep within it for potentially thousands of years to get a few levels. It wasn’t something she planned on doing, but that it was an option at all felt silly to Jake, even if Dina was half-plant.

”Ten months and change is not a long time…” the Fallen King commented.

”Neither is it a little,” the Sword Saint said.

”It should be enough,” Dina said with confidence.

”Ree!” Sylphie agreed.

Jake also nodded. They should have enough for one more floor, though that would definitely be their last. Jake’s mission wouldn’t just be to beat it, though.

”We’re going for the event boss, right?” Jake just wanted to make sure.

His party looked at him as if his question wasn’t even worth answering, making Jake smile. ”Then let’s get a move on already. One more floor of Nevermore to go… so let’s make it a real banger.”