The Primal Hunter

Jake sat regenerating on the ground, observing the trolls in his sphere. He was inside a dungeon, but everything was just like out in the real world. Yet he knew he wasn’t… dungeons were special. He knew that he himself could meet the trolls now and befriend them, the next party could kill them, and the one after that could never discover them to begin with.

The same troll could die a thousand times, give the same experience a thousand times, yet when party one thousand and one entered the dungeon, they would still see it. The dungeons were temporal pockets of sorts, so whenever Jake entered it alone, he started another timeline for the dungeon. A new reality. This was common knowledge throughout the multiverse and one of the reasons why dungeons were such valuable natural treasures for monsters and enlightened races alike.

But Jake also knew dungeons wouldn’t last forever. One day a natural dungeon would come to an end, and what happened to the monsters then? Where did these dungeon creatures come from, where do they go, where did they come from cotton e-

Anyway.

Were they born there? Had they grown up in the dungeon until one day a door appeared, and invaders came? What about if no one ever entered a dungeon… would time just stand still forever? Jake didn’t know the answer to any of these things… but he knew someone who did.

Vilastromoz stood within his realm as he once more tried. The entire realm shook as he mobilized every inch of his power. He put his hands on the obelisk as the runes came alive just like all the other times – his entire mind focused only on this one task.

Usually, he would have his mind split into countless fragments. One could talk to Jake, another theorize some magic, work on a concept, and if he needed something physically done, he could just use his Avatars or, if it was a smaller task that didn’t require much power, summon a temporary Incarnation. For him to have hundreds if not thousands of these fragments of his mind up at a time wasn’t unusual.

But at this moment, everything was gathered for him to use his full power.

A dark green glow emanated from the entire realm for a few moments before everything faded once more. Blood poured out of the Viper’s eyes and mouth as he shook his head. ”Failed again…”

It was expected in most ways, but every time inspired an immense feeling of failure and grief. He clenched his hands in anger at himself. It wasn’t power… he needed something more, but he didn’t know what the fuck it was.

Maybe he should fully return his focus to-

”Sup Villy, just making a phone call to see how you’re doing and to shamelessly get advice on things I probably should know to begin with.”

The Malefic Viper was stopped in his train of thought as the message came. After Jake’s evolution, he could no longer stop them… he could zone them out, but the connection between them had changed. A blessed mortal could not stop the divine message of a god, and now he as a god could not stop the divine message from his own Chosen. It was weird and something he had never encountered before. Yet he appreciated it.

Vilastromoz – or Villy as Jake insisted on calling him – answered with a smirk.

”I'm just dandy, and what studying did my Chosen skip out on this time?” Jake heard Villy’s voice say.

but Jake frowned. Villy seemed… down. His tone reminded him of the first time they met in his realm. If someone

things alright on your end?” Jake asked with

why do you ask?” Villy laughed it off. “What

my ramblings and constant questions, so of course you can do the same thing back. If anything is bothering you, just tell me. Even if you just need someone to listen. I am probably not the best at giving advice to anyone, much less a god. We’re friends, man, so unload

how he only ever

appreciate the thought, but no. Maybe in the future. Right now, a distraction is all I need,

if there is anything,” Jake relented as he asked the actual question he wanted to know. “How do living things and dungeons play

“In what way?”

monsters to leave

inherent mechanics allowing you to bring out living creatures, don’t expect it to happen. All dungeon creatures are, for all intents and purposes, considered dead

do you mean by

– becomes bound to that dungeon. From there, two things can happen once a natural dungeon reaches the end of its lifespan. One is that it will simply disappear along with all the creatures bound to it. The second thing that can happen is that it merely stops being a dungeon but becomes its own accessible separate space somewhere as part of the real world without any dungeon mechanics. Often a prolonged period will

lead to issues if one could simply make creatures leave with them… it also added the issue of possibly being multiple copies of the same creature out in the real world. For example, what would happen if Jake took the troll out with him, and then Miranda entered and also took the troll out. That would create two copies of the troll in the real world. It

actually lucky, an old mate did many experiments with dungeons, and this isn’t common knowledge as it really isn’t something that can happen often. If, say, you managed to bring a creature out, and someone else brought the exact same one out… the second one would disappear the moment it entered the real world. This is because they have the same Truesoul, and thus only one can exist. Well, there are ways to kind of circumvent this by doing some advanced stuff way above anything you are capable

And that I should just consider them almost virtual creatures that

some very limited exploits of sorts. Pretty much consider the kind of means deployed to get people out of the tutorial. If you kill them and do a

any way often leaves an opening, though this isn’t anything you can do. Trust me on that one. The only other way is to bind their souls to yours and make them be considered almost an extension of your being, but you have no ways of doing that either, as far as I can tell. This usually requires special items or

case back in the tutorial, but then I got a bunch of light-affinity equipment instead… speaking of which, I still have that book and staff sitting around… I really need to pawn it off…” Jake mumbled, deep in thought at the new

rewards tend to be related to what is in it. So, based on the dungeon you are

the hunter agreed. “Also, no comments in me

is exactly what I would expect of a

dungeon now and come back later? What if I wait a year or something?

be what happens if you just stay in the dungeon forever… well, nothing, really. Time will keep moving inside, but nothing will really happen. Due to how dungeons work, the creatures within cannot level or reproduce above a certain point. They simply don’t have the Records for it. So it will just be very boring. Of course, new herbs or ores or anything in that vein will never regrow

in on itself while I am in there? Nice,” Jake

somewhere else after an extremely long time has passed, and you will find yourself in a world all but foreign to you, as your prolonged stay in the dungeon has slowly corroded your mind,” Villy said, shooting back with a half-joke,

knew the old snake god was dealing with something, and Jake had a faint idea of what it was… but wasn’t going to press. He had enough emotional awareness to know

ping me whenever. The connection is two-way, and as I kind of claimed it a bit, you should also abuse this inescapable bond,” Jake