The Primal Hunter

”The new housing complex in the western district is nearing completion, but we have run into a shortage of stone. A few builders are attempting to reinforce regular stone to make it useable, while several alchemists are working on transmuting soil into solid rock,” the manager of the western district said.

”Sadly, the southern district has run into the same issues, and we are working on similar solutions. If the expansion continues like this…” the manager of the southern district said, with a bit of doubt.

”We cannot turn away those who come here seeking refuge, and we must keep expanding. We must hammer while the iron is hot and make sure we have a solid foundation for the future, so we must endure!” one of the three cardinals of the Holy Church said.

Jacob just sat back in his chair as he took it all in while drinking some tea. Sanctdomo was a holy city, but that didn’t mean it was entirely run by the Holy Church. They were very-much highest on the hierarchy, but Jacob also believed that more mundane leadership was necessary to make a city work. This is why some of the district managers had turned out to be less religious than many from the Church would prefer, but Jacob didn’t care. They were dedicated on their paths to leading the city to greatness, and that was the most important.

He finally opened his mouth, all of them looking to him to solve their dispute: ”Towards the mountains in the south, hidden away in between the two southmost mountains lies a vast valley. Elementals and beasts dominate it, but a cavern shall be found, and a natural dungeon discovered once slain. It should only be braved by those above 50 in their race or have at least their class at 70. Within this dungeon, we will find the solution to our struggle.”

All the people around the table looked at the Augur as they all nodded eagerly. ”Truly?” the manager of the western district said. ”In that case, we should send some of our parties there to secure the area… we should also make sure each dungeon group has at least one builder with a storage skill.”

”I believe you will all see to it… now let us move on to the main topic at hand: the World Congress will soon commence,” Jacob said before continuing. ”The Undeads are expanding far to the east of us, with the Court of Shadows even further in that direction. They should not be an issue for now, as long as we keep our guard up. Several other factions have also been building themselves up, and I believe we have made contact with a few of them already.”

”Indeed,” another of the Cardinals said. ”After securing the third Pylon, we have made contact with a collective of smaller factions who have banded together to claim one, and negotiations are going well there. But… towards the south…”

The Cardinal hesitated to speak, so Jacob gladly put his teacup down and took over.

”In all due time. When the World Congress arrives, all things will become far clearer. To all of us. For now, just try not to antagonize the Sword Saint more than necessary,” Jacob spoke, with a clear warning in his voice.

The Sword Saint was no easy opponent, and his faction was powerful too. Jacob was unsure if they were related to a larger faction of the multiverse, but he had his doubts for some reason. The Holy Pantheon had not granted him any knowledge about them as they did with most other factions. It was mainly simple information they gave, as rules or perhaps just an agreement of sorts stopped them from sharing more… but he had expected to at least hear something based on the size of the faction.

They had claimed at least two, possibly three, Pylons already, and they were truly a force to be reckoned with. Especially their leader was dangerous… it was a man that could face down D-grades alone without evolving, and from the last report, he was close to that evolution.

To make it all the more perplexing… his divinations failed when he tried to peer into the fate of the Sword Saint. That in itself wasn’t unnatural; he couldn’t peek into the river of the destiny of many powerhouses or faction leaders due to their legacies or blessings… but it was precisely due to these things he couldn’t.

The Sword Saint was impossible to divine by his own power. Something that made Jacob very wary of him.

”Any movement from that small settlement to the north?” the northern manager asked, making Jacob zone back into the conversation again. Because he knew what settlement they were speaking of. He decided just to drink some tea and listen in, as he quite honestly was a bit interested in hearing what his old colleague was up to.

”A scouting party returned, and it seems to be expanding a bit these days, but in no way enough to be a threat… at least not by size. It’s called Haven and is led by a woman called Miranda Wells, who seems competent, but it is a bit early to tell. However, there are rumors of a city guardian or owner who actually runs it behind the scenes, one who even has several D-grade beasts under his command,” a representative of the military said. ”There are rumors this Miranda Wells is the mistress of this city owner and is-”

everyone. ”No, no, sorry, please continue, I am just getting used to the changes after D-grade, that’s all!” he said, a bit flustered as he leaned back in his chair as

it would be good for him, I guess. But… for some reason, I just can’t see it happening. Unless she is the aggressive type, that is. Yeah, Jake has no resistance to that at all, Jacob thought, completely ignoring half the report about Haven. What was said next did

the closest Pylon to ours, and I doubt we would meet much resistance considering our more prominent

anything up to discussion. They all just threw a look his way, nodded, and moved on to another topic. All of them had learned all long ago that arguing with the Augur was a lost

of the planet was opened up, though the only one area was

after the system changed it, but the city had begun getting a good idea over the last few months. It helped new citizens came in from far and wide, having thousands with scouting

- as many had believed - but had instead been gathered in relatively close proximity. Sure, the distance had increased significantly, and they were spread out over an area larger than Earth was before… but with the planet now around the size of the Sun before the system, that was still only a tiny

of kilometers separating each Pylon, but travel had also gotten significantly faster. While moving a large number of people was still hard, a single powerhouse or powerful party could travel far in just a single day. This meant that Sanctdomo had managed to make contact with many larger factions Jacob had become aware of through his divinations already. Some significant forces were still too

to scout out directly. Hence, all their knowledge came from seers with the ability to look over vast distances, divinations, or other skills, allowing them to get a general

stages and a way to make connections with other factions for the

shall be claimed, and the congress will

Heads

He picked it up, and before he even flipped it,

It landed on heads.

Tails.

Tails.

a major crisis. The method that had been used by countless people to flawlessly choose between two equally attractive options was now failing him. He looked down

of course,

he was quite happy when he finally got one, as he used to love using

because he knew where it would land moments before he flipped it. It made the entire thing pointless as it wasn’t random

or profession first. Jake could imagine

bad options wasn’t really in his control anymore either… sure, he could choose not to evolve both until he was

had only evolved a few hours ago and hadn’t left his valley during that time, only spending a bit of the time with the birds. He

–

“E-grade,” even if it hadn’t really come with any changes. Jake had a feeling that Sylphie wasn’t actually E-grade and hadn’t been F-grade either… she was born at D-grade. She hadn’t undergone any evolutions at the

and Mystie not being around as he would love to finally be able to Identify them… but that could wait. For now, he had

the hawk that just

understood as he changed the