The Primal Hunter

He wasn’t sure if he should be disappointed or not as he entered the central temple. The inside sloped down a bit as he entered a small underground chamber – a perfect place for a secret treasure vault.

What he found instead was just a damn bush… tree… thing. As he looked at it, he actually found it a bit odd that his Sagacity of the Malefic Viper didn’t toss out a snippet of knowledge. His Herbology skill was also not giving him any idea what the hell he was looking at.

Luckily, the system still came in tight and offered a nice explanation as he used Identify.

[Ancient Celerita Musa (Ancient)] – This plant has been grown from an ancient Musa seed and brought new life by the advent of the system. Also commonly called a banana tree, this plant produces different sorts of bananas, a type of fruit unique to the newly integrated planet Earth. This tree has become intimately connected to the concept of time through unknown means, making its growth pattern highly unpredictable. Destroying this tree will have unpredictable effects, and using it in any kind of alchemical creation will require one to first anchor it in time. Can only grow in certain areas with intense amounts of mana.

You learn something new every day. Jake actually thought bananas grew on trees, something the system acknowledged. Maybe it was just being extra-nice with these new things and giving all of that sweet info? Either way, it was much appreciated. As for the banana Musa itself…

Well, this was without a doubt the rarest and most powerful herb Jake had ever come across. He felt the pressure just standing before it as he observed the weird plant.

It looked like it was growing in real-time. At least it was until suddenly it wasn’t. A minute or so later, a part of it suddenly began growing in the opposite direction – in other words, began retracting into itself as if time reversed. That was likely because time kind of did reverse… this was a time tree… time musa. Whatever. Anyway…kinda awesome, not gonna lie.

It wasn’t very big, only about five meters tall, though it was pretty wide with its large leaves. There was nothing else in the entire underground chamber aside from a few other minor herbs that Jake decided he may as well just pick up.

As he stood there considering that, something happened on the plant. One of the flower-like growths suddenly appeared to bloom as four small bumps began growing out. Within less than a minute, the bumps took the shape of bananas before the growth stopped.

It was – to the surprise of no one – bananas. Yellow and ripe, looking just like what Jake was used to buying in the supermarket. Jake was pretty sure modern bananas were selectively bred or something like that, but who’s gonna complain about delicious-looking bananas?

He went up to the tree – yes, Jake had decided to just call it a tree because it looked a bit like a tree - and felt like he passed a weird barrier as he got close. He felt like time being ever-so-slightly affected in the area a few meters around it.

Using Identify on the bananas, Jake was honestly a bit taken aback.

[Celerita Banana (Rare)] – As a banana from the Ancient Celerita Musa, this fruit contains intense amounts of Celerita-affinity mana with agility-enhancing effects. This fruit can be used in many different creations and is especially suited for flasks and elixirs. Due to this banana’s origin, it will be returned to the rivers of time if it is removed too far from the tree. Consuming or transforming the fruit will anchor the energies in time, removing this effect. +3 Agility upon consumption.

This was the second natural treasure he had seen that just stated how many stats it gave, the first being the Argentum Vitae Mushrooms all the way back in the challenge dungeon. These bananas were clearly a step better, giving three stats each.

With four of them, that was just 12 free agility. Well, not entirely free, as with most things, there was a cap.

Jake had considered at one point if the rich and entitled kids of the multiverse couldn’t just have their mama and papa give them a mountain of elixirs and whatnot and instantly make their children absolutely overpowered for their level, but that – luckily – wasn’t a thing.

Villy had explained to him that the cap was actually quite low and based entirely on race level. For level 1-24, aka F-grade, you could get 3 stats per race-level; for E-grade, you could get 5 per level and D-grade 15 per level. This ultimately resulted in Jake having a maximum cap of stat-bonus from consuming stuff sitting at 585 currently. Of course, he had already used a bit of that.

Jake had eaten his way to a total of 86 stats gained. 51 of it in vitality, 25 in toughness, and 10 in willpower. The stats were coming from the elixir he had chugged down after clearing the Valley of Tusks dungeon, the fucked-up concoction he had made to clear the challenge dungeon, and the mural with the history of the Malefic Viper in that same dungeon. Yes, things like that “glimpse” counted towards this cap too. This cap was pretty much everything you could get from outside sources.

it counted towards base values, and secondly, there was no limit to increasing any one stat. This meant Jake could go drink perception-increasing elixirs and get 499 perception at his current level if he so wanted. Which he kind of did want, but that wasn’t the

in front of a giant time tree-thingie that he really wanted, and based on all the descriptions going around, there

that were growing on the tree. Maybe he could put them in his storage, but he had a feeling they wouldn’t come out the way he wanted them. The barrier around the tree was

grown, he anchored them the easiest way possible as he grabbed the first one and peeled

a

+3 Agility

he munched on it. He had always liked bananas. They were like the candy of fruit and fit in any good smoothie. Banana cake

them, getting a sweet +12 agility total. If all things went well, this would only be the beginning as

(Rare)] – A favorite for nearly all professions. This tool is made of a liquid metal that can take on any pre-programmed shape that

given to some of the crafters back at Haven, so it didn’t just sit uselessly in his spatial storage like so many other things. Anyway,

idea if he could even steal

move it? Of

possible it could only grow within this temple, and he would just

with “intense amounts of mana” due to the Pylon? He

Jake just 100% taking a chance as he decided to dig up the entire tree and bring it with him to just plop it down outside his lodge just to get a cool-ass banana tree?

get some weird-ass-time-tree-musa-thing I can play around with, Jake thought as he began digging it up, finding it a bit annoying as the soil randomly

here. This temple was in an area that would be swarmed with new D-grades within a day or two once they noticed the Prima was dead, and a new alpha would claim the tree. Could Jake just kill that new alpha? Sure, but he was pretty sure it wouldn’t be nice to him

that anyway. No way he would just leave it here. It was also damn far away from Haven, and it wasn’t like he could position anyone here. Even Mystie and

have the soil be put back all the time. Stupid tree. So, he dug around the tree just where the barrier was in a radius of three

didn’t give much of a shit for all the political bullshit that would be going on – that was for Miranda to handle – there was something he had genuinely been looking

time to bring the tree back because he did have time.

do I

to clear his mind as he got more used to his reforged body. His blue robe was in impeccable condition, and

people. This meant the Noboru clan would have twelve representatives present at the

connect to each other, which was undoubtedly one of the major reasons for the World Congress,

linked up their three Pylons to better facilitate cooperation. The hope of this World Congress was not just to link with a few of the remaining

relax before the World Congress. Maja was with him as they talked about the upcoming meeting, not just between the many faction leaders around Earth but also the reunion with

on Earth, and while Caleb did believe in Jake, he was still worried as any family member would be. They hadn’t met in over half a

he had only heard

be the first time for

but was actually more busy thinking about how much he really didn’t want to attend the World Congress and at the same time how much he would hate to miss it. On the one hand, it would mean meeting many people who would hate him by default just because he was an undead – his

see Jake and even Jacob

not wearing a fucking dress,” Carmen said as she