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.

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 be admired, but those who chose to wallow in their own misery deserve no pity or mercy. Tell me, if I came to you here and now and told you to become a slave or die, what

knew he and Villy had different views on many things, and this was clearly one of

death and die 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

– on your planet too – always had a tendency 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

can advocate for making a beast into their “pet” and 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, it is a fate far worse than death – a fate the beast will never have had the option

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 fighting power. Just don’t enslave anything you actually value – that would just be ruining them and nothing else. You can even bring that troll out with you. Slaves are tools, nothing more. Treat them as such, and never become some hypocritical asshole who talks about how you actually value

Jake heard the undertone of anger in disgust, especially in the middle parts. Throughout it all, Jake frowned as he had to consider many things he had never even

double standard of viewing tamers and slavers as different clearly irked him, and Jake could

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

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 and killing. He would be totally fine with a strong foe fighting and killing him in

hated the Minotaur Mindchief so much. If the Minotaur had had just decided that it would kill all

would be the worst kind of existence he could imagine, which was why the concept was so abhorrent in his mind. Jake truly would rather die than be 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 – as the Viper said – turn another

I am not a fan of slavery," Jake answered incredibly bravely. "I guess you

came to serve me willingly, so why would I force others to? Enslaving someone is also a great way to ruin any future they may have, which is why it’s pretty much never done with anyone of value. Also, you won’t have to fear ever being

Well, Villy likely

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

to know, I guess,” Jake answered. “Does 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

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.

but I guess it doesn’t truly matter,” Jake finally said. “I don’t like this whole domination business. If I could release people again and just use the skill to bring the trolls out

practicing soul magic it would provide, but don’t do it if you don’t feel like it’s your path. Taking a skill like this will greatly impact your 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 to. Probably for selfish reasons, the lot of them, but that’s still better than some forced bullshit contract as at least they do it willingly – and reaffirm

non-slavery form of employment myself. Thanks for the talk, as always, Villy. I have a feeling this topic will come up again. I guess slavery just isn’t my thing, and honestly a bit of a dickish thing to do. Glad you grew out of that behavior,” Jake said snarkily, bidding his

them enlightening. Mainly because everyone else I talk to just agrees or refuses to even engage. Good luck and have fun. Oh, by the way, don’t