The Primal Hunter

After a good conversation with his resident god, nothing was better than a new skill selection.

Jake did want to use Path of the Heretical Chosen right away again, but the skill didn’t respond. He assumed he didn’t meet that magical unknown threshold, as it didn’t feel like the skill had a cooldown or some other limitation.

Jake had gotten some inspiration besides Pride. Especially the moment all those magic attacks had hit the scales of the Viper gave him some food for thought. All of that was for later, though, because now… now it was skill-selection time!

*Heretic-Chosen Alchemist of the Malefic Viper profession skills available*

Every skill selection was exciting to Jake to see what the system had cooked up. He already knew he would avoid all the shitty religious skills and stick to alchemy. A hallmark of his profession so far had been an overflow of high-rarity skills that he thought sucked ass because they wanted him to become a priest or some shit.

So with tempered expectations, he went into the skill selection. The first one was a very familiar one but in a new and improved version.

[Transmute (Rare)] - Attempt to transmute any object into one of greater value. Transmutation is an ancient art used by alchemists since the beginning of time. Must have suitable materials. Transmute does not require any additional tools or equipment, but the skill’s effect can be amplified with the use of certain catalysts. Adds a small increase to the effectiveness and chance of success of attempted transmutations based on Wisdom.

That one brought Jake back a long time. Man, when was it, level 10? Heh, been a while, Jake thought with nostalgia. Ah, being trapped in a Challenge Dungeon on a timer before you will die to poison. Good times.

Back then, Jake didn’t really think much about transmutation. He was a bit busy with the whole not-dying thing and had found himself too busy to pick up the skill. With all the other skills also coming along, he had never picked it up until he eventually upgraded Touch of the Malefic Viper.

Would this skill benefit him? For sure. Jake wasn’t sure exactly what he could properly transmute, and his current way of transmuting things was crude as fuck and pretty much just a way of screwing up items to make them Soulbound to himself.

And to be honest, that was good enough for now. The only thing interesting about this choice was that it proved Jake had the potential to pick up old skills he passed as higher-rarity ones now. That wasn’t enough of a reason to pick Transmute, though.

Hence, Jake moved on. The next skill was also a Rare-rarity one.

[Refine Core (Rare)] – Cores from beasts or many other types of monsters are one of the most numerous kinds of treasures in the world, but does that mean one must simply accept their current state? Allows the alchemist to refine cores and empower the Records within. Refined cores will, in most cases, be more effective, and you can also choose to amplify specific effects. Adds a small increase to the effectiveness of Refine Core based on Wisdom, Willpower, and Intelligence.

Now there came a skill Jake knew a lot about already. It was one he had come across in many books when studying elixirs and even other unrelated books. It was mentioned nearly everywhere. The reason?

Everyone fucking had it.

Not even all alchemists. Everyone.

Blacksmiths, leatherworkers, tailors, jewelers, even the damn cooks got it offered. It was just one of those skills that were useful to everyone as the use of cores was so universal. Practically every crafting profession would get it at some point, and the only impressive thing was that Jake could get it as Rare-rarity right off the bat, as he had read it came as Uncommon-rarity by default.

something is popular doesn’t mean it’s bad. In fact, many things tend to get popular because they’re good. Movies, games, brands, and even things like books. Of course, sometimes they only got lucky because the consumers didn’t know

just too valuable to pass up on. So, if Jake

not one at all

eventually, and it would be up to the last three skills if he just went with it or not. The next one was a

stabilize the existing properties and destroy the unwanted. Attempt to purify any alchemical ingredient and reduce it to its most basic state while stabilizing it, or use Arcane Purification to eliminate unwanted properties from an ingredient, making it purer. Must have suitable ingredients. Purification

and will

Purification all this time not to get at least get one damn upgrade to it? Seriously, this skill spelled out how to improve it, and

often a mix of those two. So why didn’t he use that destruction on Purification, considering what the skill did was practically destroying an ingredient’s unwanted properties?

pick the skill. That one looked like one he could easily upgrade to himself without losing a skill choice. It wasn’t like Mark of the Avaricious

the next skill. This one was

Viper (Ancient)] – Claim power

It wasn’t great.

off already with that shit, Jake thought as he shook his head. When would the system understand he wasn’t going to be a fanatical

about doing that? Nah, it should be fine. He swiftly moved on to the

and the unorthodox heretical knowledge at once. A true paradox you can now pass unto others. Allows you to far more easily convey knowledge of alchemy and your path to others, and your teachings will have a larger impact on the paths of others. Allows those who listen to your teachings to earn experience and Records and reward you

day happen. The day where the system would try to force upon the same title as his little brother,

brother was a schoolteacher, while Jake would be a teacher of being a dick to gods and cool-ass alchemy. If in a school context, he would be the most irresponsible chemistry teacher around, just telling people to throw shit together and hope it doesn’t explode. Also known as

felt it was expected was that… well, it was pretty much a staple of D-grade to get some teaching skill

bat. He quickly came to understand why, though. It wasn’t just a simple teaching skill… it was one meant to pass down a Legacy.

and teach others, even if Jake was pretty damn sure his teachings about being a Heretic-Chosen weren’t the

You only need to be immune to their passive presence and suppression, be kind of weird, be able to detect if the god will be open to your antics, and hope they end up liking you and not

wasn’t gonna fly. It would probably get a lot of people killed, though. Or maybe not? All the gods Jake had met so far had been pretty chill and seemed okay with him just treating them like people. But, of course, he knew this was primarily

this teaching skill? Maybe. It said it helped him teach alchemical knowledge but also stuff about his path, so

any kind. He was fine with giving advice and pointers here and there, but if he imagined himself in front of a classroom of hopefuls, he could only cringe. He remembered this one time Jacob had him come along to a university to talk about how great their workplace was to convince the innocent students to get unpaid internships. Jake only spoke for like five minutes while Jacob spoke

the progress of those he taught. That was kind of nice. He just had to find someone to teach, or equally as importantly, someone who

the form of his race.

your ability to stand on the shoulders of your ancestors and pass down Records. While each human’s lifespan may

teach others. The system at least

the future. He could see it as a new challenge, maybe? If he did a good job, it said it would reward him too, hopefully with more

find a way to

choices are hard... Jake complained internally. In the end, he just

out