The Primal Hunter

Vilastromoz smiled as he considered going on a bit of an expedition. He hadn’t been to the Altmar Empire in… well, since he went into seclusion in his realm, so it would be interesting to send an avatar there to check things out. There was no way he would go in person with his real body, as quite frankly, that would just be a needless risk. Even he didn’t take the perhaps most powerful empire of the multiverse lightly.

The Altmar Empire rose to power during the early parts of the second Era. While Vilastromoz wasn’t certain, then there were good chances the leader of the empire was the first few gods that rose to power after the 12 Primordials from the first universe. At least he had been born in the first universe and went to great lengths afterward to wipe out details of the exact time he attained godhood.

While the Altmar Empire was run by a council that did everything, the leader of the council was the one truly in charge. Known as the Autarch, he and the council ruled with an iron fist, and through his leadership, they had created one of the only race-led organizations of the multiverse. While they did have “guests” from other races among their ranks, every single council member was an elven god.

“To make natural dungeons like that… I wonder how they did it,” the Malefic Viper wondered out loud. He had never been much into dungeons. That had always been more the Wyrmgod’s field of expertise. Of course, the Wyrmgod was busy with his namesake Nevermore to care about somehow creating artificial-yet-natural dungeons.

Still unsure if checking out the Altmar Empire right now was worth his time, he instead did a quick inspection of the Order and saw that preparations were coming along nicely. Jake had joked about hoping never to do any more exams after university. He was lucky in that Villy had no intentions of making him take any.

Too bad for him, he wouldn’t be able to dodge education as a whole, though. The Order’s academy was still preparing for the next admittance. The notices had been sent out, not just to the factions related to the Order but also to a few other organizations. Today he had just decided to send the Altmar Empire one too. It was a notice for them to send their talented young alchemist to learn at what had once been known as the greatest academy for poison-based alchemy in the entire multiverse.

To come, learn, and see that it was still the best.

Jake appeared on the metal disc that led into the Undergrowth. While he was in a generally great mood, he still sighed as he looked down at the platform. He felt a bit sad about failing to bring the Cave Troll and its two kids out with him.

“Sorry, bud,” he muttered as he jumped out of the hole and up to what had once been a biodome. He saw that quite a few plants were growing there now, and if left untouched, it would surely turn into a biodome once more. For now, he would just let it grow naturally with the hope that something valuable would appear, so he made his way back to the lodge.

On the way, he checked his status and saw that his two dungeon-related titles had been updated.

[Dungeoneer VI] – Successfully clear a Dungeon suitable for your level. +8 all stats.

[Dungeon Pioneer VI] – Be the first to clear a dungeon suitable for your level. +24 all stats.

The basic Dungeoneer had increased by 3 to all stats while the other one had increased by 9. That was 12 to all stats in the bag. Both bonuses had tripled as Jake had expected. It did make him wonder how high the title counted for D-grade… well, he guessed up to 10. Hopefully, he could find four more suitable dungeons while still in D-grade. Fingers crossed.

Once he got back, he saw a small magical note on his door simply stating that Miranda had been by and when she could return. It also let him know that she had left the city for a while to make her own push for D-grade and not to worry as Neil’s party members only needed their professions for their own perfect evolutions and were all staying back in the city themselves to level.

It also included that Neil had evolved to D-grade while Jake was gone – evolved, and gone straight to the Fort to try and improve the teleportation circle there. This reminded Jake that he should pay a visit to Arnold again. But not now.

Now… now it was math time and stat-allocation time.

The first thing he did was take off the things he would replace. His shitty cloak was replaced with a hopefully-not-shitty invisibility cloak. At least, that is what he thought it to be from the description. This didn’t change his stats, as neither gave any. He was beginning to think cloaks didn’t give stats at all, actually.

Next up were the pants. Jake removed his old Badger Pants, losing 25 endurance and 25 agility, as well as the absolutely vital technique Badger Jump. He wasn’t sure what he would do without the critical ability to jump higher by infusing his legs with stamina – a technique he totally hadn’t figured out how to do without a skill a long-ass time ago.

Putting on his new pants, he bound them to himself and felt the influx of energy rush through his body like a warm flood. It was a sudden spike of 200 extra stats, making him instantly feel great. He also got a basic understanding of what that whole Life Burst ability was like.

It really was a bit like an extra health potion, but it wasn’t as controlled or system-assisted. Instead, it just flooded his body with life-affinity mana, and Jake would have to direct it himself to heal his body. Meanwhile, a health potion did everything for you, and while you could control the vital energy somewhat, if you didn’t, it would just automatically prioritize what it deemed most important.

If he didn’t direct the life-affinity mana from the Life Burst ability, it could end up just turning into a big tumor or be wasted entirely. So he would have to be a bit careful with it.

The Aura of the Undergrowth he couldn’t really test, but at least he didn’t instantly see moss begin growing in or around his lodge after putting them on. He did feel like the grass outside looked a bit… happier? His Sense of the Malefic Viper also let him know that the area around him was more suited for growth.

didn’t give off any energy. It was more like his mere presence encouraged the plants. As it didn’t seem to have any inherent affinity to it, Jake

even felt nice to wear. The pants had a very solid and tactile feel to them yet didn’t

comfortable pants, Jake came to the most important thing:

Wisdom, and +35 Willpower. While he likely needed the stats on the first one more,

He bound it to himself, and instantly he became innately aware of his ability to redistribute all the stats. He had to hold himself back for a moment from just putting them all in perception. It

two things that had to be remembered when it came to rules related to

possible stat gain from items – which was 20% in a single stat, and how you could only get a total of 15% total extra stats from gear. This was a hard cap as far as Jake was aware of, and there was no way to

just got gave him 150 vitality. He didn’t get

bit with his status menu and consulted the one about items. He opened it up and took

stat. Some more than others. He felt like it was absolutely atrocious that he didn’t get a single stat point in perception from his equipment after taking off the ring. Taking it off also meant he didn’t get any stats

would be a thousand, so he could totally throw them all in there. However, his logical side stopped

it would be smartest to put the points, one had to look at percentage amplifiers. This was the second big factor Jake had to take into account. To do that, he had to refer to

in total, but of course, they weren’t equally amplified for all stats. Perception was the top stat, along with vitality, with 65% amplification each. This

from the amplifiers. So it was instead better for Jake to increase these two with natural treasures or free points as he got a higher net total through that. Of course, with how the caps worked, he was pretty much forced into getting some points in either, and as he couldn’t pick and choose gear currently, he already had a lot

four least-increased stats – and thus technically the best to get gear for as he shouldn’t spend free points on them – were agility, strength, endurance, and toughness. All sat at 45% stat-amplification. Naturally, this did mean that Jake wasn’t min-maxing

really give a shit

him or something to find the absolutely most optimal distribution possible. Honestly, that just sounded like a boring way to live, and Jake would rather just do stuff his own way. This didn’t mean he would completely disregard min-maxing and mathematical logic. They just wouldn’t necessarily be

now, he needed some stats more than others. He would hate to put free points in some stats, so

stat Jake really hadn’t focused on as much as he should, and it was his lowest besides toughness. With how much time he spent in melee and how much it would likely also help with his archery, he needed

get a total of 324 more from gear… so 300 strength from the ring seemed like a good idea. That would be close to a 20% increase

free points, actually. 367 in total.

could get around 400 more there, but he chose to settle on the ring giving 300. He wanted some space for other pieces

was 600 stats planned out - 400

Jake, in general,

honestly wasn’t that immense. A

top priority, he still chose to put 100 points into endurance. It

300 to go.

his arcane magic immensely and

200 to go, he

200 to perception.

0 stuck out like a

the stats in the ring. Once he was done, he mentally accepted – and then he felt a massive flood of energy enter his body. It

Empire and found worthy. This ring is made of unknown metal with an unknown gem embedded in it. This signet is proof of your performance and contains an identifying script designed to only be readable by the Altmar Empire. Yet even if this ring is primarily a display of status, it is far from just a showpiece. For with great status comes great power. This ring has been customized by its owner to grant him the distributed stats he desires. Stats cannot be redistributed once set.

Requirements: Soulbound

Soulbound just as it had said it would, and the description had also changed a

status after everything was done, he, of course, noted his stat

Status

Name: Jake Thayne

(D) –