The Primal Hunter

Jake sat on the steps leading up to his lodge, looking at the weird banana time tree as he spoke with Villy.

His theory that gods truly had no idea what happened inside the World Congress turned out to be entirely accurate. The system just simply didn’t allow them to peek or communicate with their blessed ones in any way during the Congress, and the only way for them to find out afterward was to be told. That, or use some serious mental magic on the person, but gods couldn’t do that currently due to the other set of system-limitation on the entire 93rd universe.

”A Treasure Hunt… a bit unoriginal but not bad. It’s honestly hard to say what would be best due to the lack of information. There is no way of knowing what kinds of treasures will appear, so it could end up just being piles of junk. I doubt it, but it could happen. Personally, I would have gone for dungeons due to the two Challenge Dungeons and tend to be safe bets. On a side note, if you ever find one, do it. They are all done alone and often come with some sweet rewards, and you could likely have done both within the allotted time,” Villy chimed in, genuinely interested in all of the system stuff going around related to the integration.

”True,” Jake spoke, seeing no reason not to speak out loud. It was just easier than sending it mentally. ”But a Treasure Hunt can also be great, and it also feels more… new. Exciting. It will also allow me to finally butt heads with some of the other humans of Earth.”

”As I said, it isn’t a bad choice, and honestly, it would be impossible to determine what the best one would be. I am actually prone to trust your gut over anything else right now, including my own empty guesses,” the Viper answered back.

”Huh? Why?” Jake asked, a bit confused.

”The system restricted everything about these events. That includes all skills or other types of divination, intuition skills, soothsaying, all of that stuff didn’t do jack shit to give hints. But your bloodline isn’t bound by any such rules.”

”I reckon if the system blocks even gods, it would also block me. Sure, it’s strong as fuck, but-”

”No buts. It isn’t a question of strength either, but one of rules and absolutes. A bloodline operates on a different spectrum than skills or regular magic. It ignores all rules and acts as it is meant to act in all circumstances. You have a spherical perception ability of sorts, right?” Villy asked. Jake quickly confirmed with a nod.

“Well, that’s an absolute. Aka, it doesn’t give a flying fuck about anything. A god could use their strongest stealth skill, and you would be able to see them like nothing was obscuring you. Of course, it isn’t perfect, and there are always ways to still mess you up. In the end, the bloodline still relies on you, so don’t get complacent, but do realize exactly how powerful a tool it is.”

Jake sat a bit in contemplation. It was true he could see through those barriers during the World Congress, though he had tried to avoid doing so not to be a peeking tom. He also did remember how he could see “outside” the dungeons he was in, basically just seeing large black voids beyond the walls. Villy had also mentioned something similar before. He was pretty sure it was something about how only two things operated outside the system.

“I get it… so my gut feeling originating from my bloodline is better than nothing… this is related to when you talked about bloodlines operating outside the system, right? You mentioned two things do that… what is the second thing?” Jake asked.

“Something you’ll learn about in the future. It isn’t anything relevant to you yet, and you’ll know the moment you encounter it. Just know that the difference between these two things is that while a bloodline is something bound to your being and comes from your Origin… the other thing is claimed. Surrendered to you by the system. What they do have in common is that neither is inherently about strength or power.”

“Alright,” Jake answered. He was fine with figuring stuff out himself. Now, as for what Jake himself wanted to talk about…

related to that metal caster William who

go ahead, but if you want to leave him be, I doubt he will cause you much trouble.

we meet? Would that be the right thing to do? Morally, that is. The dude has done some seriously fucked up stuff, but… honestly… it isn’t that bad in the grand scheme of things, is it? Sure, he is bad, but compared to that Donald

disagree either. Honestly, if you look at how many humans he has killed, you have done far worse than him since returning to Earth. He hasn’t even killed in the double digits while you have. You

a too in-depth moral discussion, but doesn’t

me ask you, why did you go and hunt down all

more progress before

thing to do for himself. He thought it would give him a higher final reward if he were the only survivor, so he tried to make

took pleasure and enjoyment in doing what he did. He enjoyed killing people and causing all that mayhem,” Jake shot

chosen one, not knowing he was actually facing a Chosen. To him, there was no greater feeling than having power over others when he himself had felt so powerless his entire life. Eversmile was continually cultivating this mindset till the day you punted him into the ground. My actions back then should make it clear I hold no love for the little fuck, but that had nothing to do with me believing he is the bad guy or something, just

Jake shook his head. “Also, you make

smashed in. Also, I like you way better. I am just saying that trying to judge William by some grand moral doctrine is bullshit, as everyone is evil in the eyes of someone else. I personally don’t like him because he is weak-minded and so easily manipulated. I don’t like him because he messed with you, and I don’t like him because I like fucking with Eversmile. I don’t like him selfishly. So what I am saying is… if you want to kill him, do it because you want to, not because you feel obligated to. In the end, we’re all monsters leaving mountains of corpses in our wake, so trying

are as much people to me as any human… you’re technically a

all honesty, Jake just felt a bit… off about his entire mindset regarding things like revenge and bearing grudges. When he looked deep inside himself, he didn’t have anyone he really hated. Even those who betrayed him in the past just all seemed so meaningless now. Unless they posed an active

if he wanted to kill William. A part of him did, just to “finish the job,” and

judged deserved it. If people like Donald waltzed in, Jake would happily put him down again. But that was solely because

about it and even seems to think what he did was ”fine” as it was just him following his path or whatever, but Casper has every right to finish the job. As for the question if Jake would help Casper track down and kill William?

be put on trial,” Villy answered Jake’s bad joke that he made primarily

the talk Villy. You can always ping me if there

winnable, win it anyway,” Villy said with

a bit. He had 90 days or three months till the Treasure Hunt, and he would spend all that time preparing. During these three months,

knew it wasn’t easy and that it would take a while

also to make an uncommon-rarity beneficial consumable. He wasn’t sure if it would be a potion, as quite frankly, it would be impossible for him to make mana, health,

increase the potency. There was only depth and no width to expand upon. The fungicide was uncommon due to the sheer complexity of how it worked, not necessarily how effective it was. Which is to say, if Jake wanted to

rejuvenation potion that restored all three resources, though even that would likely not be possible. He could also try his hand at making regeneration potions that boosted passive regeneration for a time, or something like that. However, another option was to just