The Primal Hunter

As expected, Jake didn’t take long before he made it to the Fort. On the way, he took note of one thing in particular… he never left the influence of the Pylon. Even when he stealthily entered the outskirts of the Fort, he was still within its range.

The Fort had expanded even more than before. Jake could see why Hank had to be there. If construction in Haven was rapid, the expansion of the Fort was just insane. He knew a lot came from caravans or smaller settlements that chose to integrate themselves, but this was far more than expected.

From what Miranda had told him, one of the major reasons why so many came was the lack of regulations yet still-ensured safety. Many other cities had a faction ruling them, and that faction wanted to at least ensure a modicum of loyalty, or at least an assurance a group or a powerful individual wouldn’t work against them.

Miranda had asked if they should do something similar, but to Jake, that wasn’t needed. Sure, there were some basic rules that pretty much just boiled down to: don’t start fights, don’t be an asshole, and if you piss off the leadership of Haven, get the fuck out. If you choose to stay anyway? Well, that luckily hadn’t happened yet. Jake guessed this was where he would possibly have to come in as the owner to take out the trash.

Jake thought it was nice he hadn’t needed to do that yet. Phillip was apparently the guy in charge of security, and considering the man had half a rifle-bearing army already, it made sense. Should he go by and check up on him too? Nah, no need. He was pretty sure Phillip wasn’t a huge fan of Jake anyway.

Having the Fort now be actually a part of the Pylon’s area after Miranda evolved was great news to everyone involved. It would allow the people of the Fort access to all the system-stuff City Lords made possible and Miranda to get a better handle on all those who lived there.

Sneaking through the outskirts of the settlement, Jake became aware of exactly how much construction was going on. Brick houses were being made by the dozen, and hundreds of workers were visible within his sphere at any time.

It appeared that Hank had gone for a more normal look for the Fort. Brick houses, stone, and even something that looked a lot like concrete. If Haven was the city of wood, this would be the city of stone. Which, in retrospect, probably was most cities, also in the old world.

While Jake enjoyed looking over the city, he still prioritized getting to the central Fort itself.

No one noticed him as he jumped over the walls and into the courtyard that was a wealth of smithing and crafting as usual. The gun production was still going strong, and Jake noticed that the level of the crafters had increased yet again. Maybe some of them had evolved their profession already… if not, they would soon.

Entering the building, Jake saw all three people of note instantly. Arnold was in his workshop as always, while Neil and Hank were in the same meeting room he and Miranda had gone to back when they first came to the Fort. Seeing them all together made everything a lot easier. Being a bit cheeky, Jake marked both Hank and Neil with Mark of the Avaricious Hunter as he went to talk with Arnold – just in case they left.

Jake tried to sneak into Arnold’s workshop but found something odd at the door-entrance. A shimmer of sorts covered it. He could see it both in his sphere and with his eyes ever-so-faintly. Jake didn’t know what it was exactly, but it didn’t give him any feeling of danger.

Now, Jake did also notice one other thing. A doorbell right beside the door. It took him a few seconds to decide between trying to sneak in and just ring the damn doorbell, and in the end, he decided on being polite.

In one smooth motion, he rang the doorbell, opened the door, and used One Step Mile to the other side of the room where he crouched down, focusing on the stealth-functionality of his cloak and the Expert Stealth skill.

He saw Arnold turn around towards the open door, looking confused. He then took a quick look around the room suspiciously. Jake, being childish, tried to sneak up on him as he began moving forward, but at that moment felt that he had been detected.

to see you back. How did the field test go?” Arnold asked nonchalantly, not even questioning why or how Jake had tried to

and saw his detector. A floating eye-ball-looking machine was suspended at the ceiling, looking straight at him. He had to admit, Arnold was very

Not that effective against the variants, though,” Jake answered, deciding

be accurate,” Arnold said as he wrote down some notes on a tablet-looking device. “How would you compare the intensity

after all. Considering the spheres were slightly bigger than an

much energy

it when he took the metal balls to begin with, and the devices had been helpful. Also, the Nanoblade was nice, and Jake believed

to a D-grade, and it had taken dozens of them along with dozens of other attacks for the man

fought. Well, he did have a good idea based on all the drones and different robotics around. If he had a class that synergized and allowed him to make better

level of the user. Quite peculiar how the same item can have such a massive difference in effect just based on who

He could

annoyance in handling them. The nature of the mana infused makes it inherently highly unstable and destructive. The leakage also only makes them more unstable but overall less destructive. Yours reduced in effect at a substantially slower pace. May be due to you being the infuser or due to the unique properties of the affinity,” Arnold explained, shaking his head. “I decided to settle

regular-fire affinity? Thankfully, he didn’t do

31 hours and approximately 40 minutes, while after that, the pure fire-affinity becomes more effective due to

that out for fun a bit later. He figured out dark mana, so he should be able to figure out fire mana. If he

crafters. I understand you aren’t a typical craftsman, but I thought to ask anyway as the Nanoblade is great. So if you have something, I may just have something for you too,” Jake

record, I am not in need of

as Jake had expected. Thankfully, Jake had

fair trade no matter what. I am certain what I offer

skeptical but nodded

of metal appeared on the ground. It was a head and a torso made of metal. Both of them looked badly battered with dents and scratches, as well as many signs of Jake’s arcane affinity having burned into it. The neck even had signs of what

on the torso. Jake saw his hand emit some mana as a pulse seemed to try and go through

The frown on his face grew by the second until he finally stopped infusing mana but didn’t get

said, shaking his head. “Even while inactive, its core is protected, and all my attempts at scanning are completely blocked. I have no way of even researching it beyond the surface without trying to split it apart, and even if I do so, there

explode or have any other issues due to where it comes from and how the creators wanted it back. Either way, does that mean you aren’t interested?” Jake asked teasingly. He already knew the answer. He saw the unabated greed in the man’s eyes

caressing the metal. He was already looking

have any other cool gadgets,” Jake answered, tossing the head up and down, taking way more pleasure than he