The Primal Hunter

Jake knew his class was considered good just based on the stats it gave and the – in his opinion – not very restrictive downsides it had. Yet he hadn’t expected it to grant him a legendary-rarity skill right at level 120, much less one that would give him such mixed feelings.

[Domination of the Avaricious Arcane Hunter (Legendary)] – Your avarice knows no bounds, and you claim whatever you decide belongs to you. Allows the Avaricious Arcane Hunter to initiate a Soulbinding Contract with other living beings, forcing them to serve him if they surrender to your desires while making them more inclined to work towards realizing your avaricious goals. Any bound being will serve you for life, and your demise will mean their deaths, while your advancement will give them opportunities to continue serving you. In your arrogance and avarice, you have even become able to force those above your level to serve you. Your ability to dominate a target or not is determined on an individual basis. The number of maximum dominated entities is determined by Willpower and how powerful those dominated are. If those you have dominated are foolish enough to attempt to break free, crush their souls to dust. Naturally, your avarice does not allow any possession of yours to escape your will once bound, and only death shall be their release. Dominating a living being will count as slaying it, rewarding extra experience.

The description was incredibly long… and hot damn. There was a lot packed in there. This skill appeared to have little to no relation to his arcane-affinity as far as he could tell but was clearly entirely related to the “Avaricious” part of his class.

He had to read it a few times to get it… and he really hoped he misunderstood something. Jake had seen many skills – especially those related to Villy – with some weird-ass descriptions, many of them obviously yelling “I am evil!” but this one took the cake.

Jake barely knew where to start… so he decided just to share the entire damn description with Villy to get a reaction.

“A domination skill? Good time to get one. Soulbinding a dungeon creature will effectively turn them into your possession and allow you to bring them out. Yours even sounds like a rather powerful version, definitely not an easy one to break out of. It even sounds like it includes a Record and experience-boosting part to make those dominated be useful to you for a longer time. Good skill all around,” Villy answered, far more casually than Jake expected.

“I guess… but… it’s kind of fucked up, isn’t it?” Jake asked. The entire skill just rubbed him the wrong from here to the moon. It was fucked up, right? Or did he have some skewed perception of things? He didn’t… did he?

“Well, these kinds of skills do have some drawbacks. For the dominated target to progress much further after being bound is rare. I can’t say if it’s due to the targets having low levels of innate ambition that limit them or if it’s just inherent in these kinds of skills. Having a few Soulbinds can be very beneficial, as they do things you don’t have the time or desire to do yourself while being 100% loyal. They can function as meat shields too..”

“You know what I mean. Isn’t this essentially just forcing someone into slavery?” Jake asked.

“So that’s what you’re worried about? What a weird mentality. You are killing so many already, so what’s the difference? Soulbinds are essentially just pieces of equipment that can serve certain functions for you. They may be living entities, but viewing them as anything more than tools is meaningless. Those with such weak mentalities to agree to a Soulbound Contract aren’t worth anything to begin with. And have no doubt, they do need to agree to it. The system has some hard rules related to things like these contracts, and signing one cannot be fully forced. Coerced? Sure, but not forced,” Villy said, his tone still far too casual for Jake to feel comfortable.

“I think there is quite a big difference between killing someone and forcing them into servitude and manipulating their minds to serve you till the day they die.”

“I already told you, you cannot force anyone or anything to accept it. They will always have a choice – even if the choice will be between becoming Soulbound or death. It often doesn’t even come to that. Many pathetic individuals choose to become Soulbound by those more powerful or influential than themselves, hoping to improve their own fates that way. Sure, it works for some, but advancing a single more rank or living a more luxurious life than before by giving up control of your own life does not make you any less pathetic,” Villy said, and Jake could practically hear his voice dripping with venom before he continued.

for once. You grew up on a planet with a history where forced servitude has quite the bad connotations – ones I agree with – but for the wrong reasons. Slaves are not to be pitied or seen as victims. They are weak and pathetic individuals who surrendered themselves to fates worse than death. The humans who rose up and died to fight for their own freedom are to

and Villy had different views on many things, and this was clearly one of them. Perhaps it was because the Malefic Viper was exactly that: a viper,

rather than agree. But that is me and the current me at that. It is inherent to human nature to try and stay alive no matter the circumstances, even if it means becoming a slave. The sheer desire to stay alive and the hope of one day escaping a bad situation is incredibly human. Sometimes all people have is hope, so they choose to hold unto that – because once you’re dead, all hope dies with you. There is also the whole family aspect to it and how some chose to become slaves to protect those they love. Oh, and finally,

to enslave anything they deem lesser than themselves, yet admonish others for enslaving - a tendency that continued after the system. Before, you could at least excuse your enslavement of other races and calling them pets or whatever with the limited intelligence and lack of sapience for those enslaved, but what now? Fuck, it isn’t even a problem with humanity but all enlightened races. You talked about how they knew nothing else… that is how every damn beast feels when they grow up slaves and gain sapience while already forced into it. They never even got the choice as they decided before their level of intelligence was high enough to,” Villy said,

at the same time admonishing the evilness of a slaver. There is no fucking difference between the two, but the perceived value of the lives of two different sapient beings and the fact that the enlightened one is often in a better position to decide. Fuck, if one had to compare, taming a beast is far worse. It is deciding that the beast will one day evolve into realizing it is a fucking slave or condemning them into never evolving into sapience at all. Either way,

to my pets!” “I love my pet like family!”. Well, guess the fuck what? It doesn’t change shit. You’re still a slaver, and you should own up to it and stop making bullshit excuses to make yourself feel better. Ah, but don’t get me wrong, I am not saying it is wrong… it is just the pathetic double standard I hate. In fact, I would advise you to pick up the Domination skill. Get a few good slaves or beasts and have them serve as defenders of your city, or maybe just as temporary

he had to consider many things he had never even thought of before. Was having pets in the old world kind of fucked up? Jake would say

As a beast, the double standard of viewing tamers and slavers as

that he was technically a mass-murdering machine. He knew that many of those he killed were intelligent beings with sapient thought, but he had killed them anyway, only for his own selfish goal of getting stronger. He didn’t delude himself into thinking what he was doing was somehow moral; it just is what it is. The way the world

ever enslaving anything or anyone or forcing them to do his will. Jake was a firm believer in not doing unto others what he didn’t want them to do to him… which was why he was fine fighting

happening. It was why Jake had hated the Minotaur Mindchief so much. If the Minotaur had

a slave and would rather kill than enslave others. Temporary prisoner? Maybe, if the situation called for it, but the Domination skill was permanent. It was a one-way ticket to

of slavery," Jake answered incredibly bravely.

since I became a god. There simply has been no reason for me to do so. People came to serve me willingly, so why would I force others to? Enslaving someone is also

Villy likely wouldn’t have it, and

an item to your soul, and as you know, you need to meet the requirement to bind an item before you can do so. Due to the nature of bloodlines, this means that no one can ever meet the requirements to bind your soul,” the

all this mean there is no way to properly have animal companions or something like that? You know, without making them slaves or forcing them to serve you,

on fighting with companions of other races, not just other humanoids. Alphas, nobles, leaders, or other kinds of leadership-focused paths function to amplify the progress of other enlightened or monsters around them and are found everywhere. You don’t need a contract or some kind of magical connection to be companions. There will never truly be a soul-bond of equals unless you fully bind your soul to another. These kinds of bonds do exist, but they will never be available to you either due to your bloodline. All your Soulbinds will automatically become those of

don’t like this whole domination business. If I could release people again and just use the skill to bring the trolls out of the dungeon, that would be one thing, but this is just too fucked

future and your progress from here on out. Picking what is compatible with you in the long run is far more important than just going for some short-term benefits. You don’t need a bond to be companions or friends. It is only for those insecure if the other will betray them or those lacking the confidence to have others serve them willingly. Or the worst part, those too cowardly to battle themselves. Slaves have uses, but any task that a slave can accomplish, a willing servant or companion can do better. All who now serve me don’t do so because I make them, but because they want

come up again. I guess slavery just isn’t my thing,

and I always find them enlightening. Mainly because everyone else I talk to just agrees or refuses to even