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.

asked nonchalantly, not even questioning why or how Jake had tried to sneak

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

the grenade exploded with pretty good force. Could deal noticeable damage to D-grades around level 130. Not that effective against the variants, though,” Jake answered, deciding to stop messing

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

the same as his explosive arcane arrows, after all. Considering the spheres were

“I noticed you have a spatial storage. How much energy dissipated before you used them? And how long went between getting

Jake was interviewed. He went along with it as he had kind of agreed to it when he took the metal balls to begin with,

powerful than the ones left behind for Arnold. Arnold could only cause some minor damage to a D-grade, and it had taken dozens of them along with dozens of other attacks for the man to kill some. Yes, apparently, Arnold had been killing D-grades to test out his stuff. It suddenly made a lot more sense why the

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 use of all his creations, it would all make a lot more

41 soldier threw a sphere too. Quite drastically, I might add. Suggests even consumables items like these have inherent scaling to the level of the user. Quite peculiar how the same item can have such a massive difference in effect just based on who threw it,” Arnold said when Jake asked him about some of the other field tests

He could do a few

of energy and 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

his arcane-affinity was worse than regular-fire affinity? Thankfully, he didn’t do that. Lucky man. If not, Jake would have

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

do fire magic? Jake thought. He would have to test that out for fun a bit

I am in search of some new equipment, so I came to you as you seem to be one of the best 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 finally said with a smile, turning the conversation

some projects that may be useful to you. If adequately compensated, I may trade them away. For the record, I am not in need of Credits. I have sold a few choice items to traders and on the system store and have more

Jake had expected. Thankfully, Jake had something

a fair trade no matter what.

looked skeptical but

torso made of metal. Both of them looked badly battered with dents and scratches, as well as many signs of Jake’s arcane

a hand on the torso. Jake saw his hand emit some

on his face grew by the second until he finally stopped infusing mana but

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

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

want it. What do you want?” Arnold said without any hesitation. His hand was still caressing

cool gadgets,” Jake answered, tossing the head up and down, taking way more pleasure than he should in Arnold