The Primal Hunter

Jake stared up at the woman as she seemed to be deep in thought. Considering she had helped him, he started up the conversation.

”You have experience with these kinds of puzzles?” he asked her.

She seemed to exit her stupor as she collected her thoughts and answered. ”Yes, I have some experience from the tutorial, and through some practice objects I acquired.”

”Practice objects?” Jake asked, his eyes lighting up. Had she managed to get something like the practice cauldron Villy had lent him? He still missed that cauldron every single day, but sadly he couldn’t bring it back to Earth.

”From the tutorial store, I got an evolving puzzle box to keep practicing magic theory,” she explained courteously if still a bit tensely.

Why the fuck did I not think of that? he asked himself. He had so many damn points, and yet he had chosen to buy that damn Omnitool as the fifth item. Why hadn’t he gotten a practice cauldron? Man, did Jake want a practice cauldron.

”Very neat,” he nodded, thinking it would be too rude to ask to see it. ”Name’s Jake, by the way. Nice to meet you.”

He got up from the ground, as talking to her while sitting down was a bit awkward. Jake was just about to extend his hand for a handshake, but luckily, before he had a chance to do so, she introduced herself with a bow, sparing him the embarrassment.

“Reika of the Noboru clan, it’s a pleasure to meet you, Lord Thayne,” she said, keeping up her courteous yet guarded attitude. The two men behind her also bowed but didn’t offer up any names. The silent types, eh?

“Pleasure is all mine. Real good catch on those entangled pathways; it wasn’t something I had encountered before, so thanks. Did you come here to solve the puzzle door too?” Jake asked.

Jake had been aware of her presence but not really noted her. Sure, she had looked at his construct, but so had dozens of other people. However, in such a short time, she had managed to analyze his framework, understand the puzzle on the door, and find a solution. In conclusion? She was good at these kinds of things, hence why he asked if she had experience.

“In part, yes,” she answered, not looking like she wanted to elaborate.

He just shrugged in response. “Either way, thanks for the help, and best of luck.”

“If we both aim to solve this puzzle, would it not make more sense to collaborate and solve it together?” she quickly cut in.

“Hm,” Jake said, a bit embarrassed to admit the thought hadn’t’ even crossed his mind. But then again… yeah, she was totally there to probe him or something. Well, he saw no reason not to give it a go. “I guess we could.”

He wasn’t really against it. On the contrary, it seemed like an interesting experience, and Reika seemed competent. He hadn’t really worked with anyone else besides birds since… well, pretty much ever, and It was a novel experience and seemed like fun. Also, Miranda would get super happy if Jake made friends with the Noboru clan, and the woman in front of him seemed to be quite the influential figure considering her two followers.

“Great, should we move elsewhere and do so in private?” she asked her attitude still as tense and annoyingly courteous as before. She sounded like she was at work and interacting with a customer she had to talk to but would really prefer just to avoid.

an optimal working environment. He moved to the side of the chamber and saw Reika tell her two followers to take off elsewhere. Jake

the side, she waved her hand as a magic circle appeared and created a barrier around them. It was a basic isolation barrier, and Jake had seen Miranda and others use similar before. He should really learn how to make those. Anyway, being isolated and all, he decided to make his mask invisible as it did seem

theory?” Jake asked his temporary partner. Once the barrier was fully active, he felt like it

and possibilities. Is it not natural to want to solve the mysteries of this

admit she finds it fun. Got it. It was an easy conclusion as she talked about it with such fervor, and her demeanor completely changed. It reminded him a bit of Arnold

guess?” Jake asked Reika. He felt her aura, and she did give him the feeling of a spellcaster over a melee fighter. She gave off a magical presence more than a

I primarily began learning about mana and its application through alchemy, and I then expanded upon that knowledge and applied it to other areas. Spellcasting is certainly an ability of mine, but I am uncertain if that makes me classified as a

That did explain some things as alchemy was a profession all about mana control and mana theory, but even more so… this was Jake’s first time meeting and talking to another alchemist. Okay, maybe he had seen others, but

mainly do poison, but I also got quite a knack for potions and a bit of

and Duskleaf were also alchemists, but they were so far ahead of him that they weren’t even fun talking to about alchemy. Shit, he was certain he still sucked too

dabbled in more classical alchemical works such as potions. Recently I have worked on making performance-enhancing consumables, also known as flasks. I take heavy inspiration from the chemistry of before the system, and I have also begun to apply

like her before. She was the kind that had been practically living within the educational world for her entire life. This did make Jake think she was a bit younger than him. Physical appearances weren’t always a good indicator of age anymore, so he couldn’t exactly use that. As an example, Miranda and Reika looked about equally old, and Miranda was older than Jake by a few years. But her way of talking was just

Uni before the initiation?” he

fraction of a second but quickly waved it off as she

at all,” Jake said, putting up his hands as he

“What?”

fine. Anyway, the

down

pathways? Yeah, they’re freaking

said,

mana pathways, eh? Two at

he was fucking with her, and Jake had committed to the tomfoolery. The reason was that he found her entire manner of speech and behavior from the start oddly uptight but also defensive. From the start, he had a feeling she had an odd interpretation of who he was. It wasn’t Jake’s first time either experiencing something like this, and it was totally his fault such interpretations existed out there. He had acted like some kind of mysterious powerhouse who didn’t put others in his eyes, mainly because that was honestly the easiest way to operate. Well, he didn’t think

They always acted so awkwardly, even by his standards, when they finally got out into the ‘real world,’ so to

was pretty quick to shoot him down as she completely ignored his antics and just focused on the task at hand… not knowing this was partly Jake’s plan all along to get through the small talk and unto the real task at hand, and for her to act a bit annoyed at him was far better than her acting fake. He also believed he would ultimately learn more about her through this puzzle-solving session than he would by

isn’t that out of the ordinary and is triggered by the stabilized flux of mana from the previous step,”

particular section light up more. “Firstly, we will have

pointing at a specific part of the

also stabilize the other side of the section, or the entire thing

right,” she answered while

and would often make impulsive moves and rather

but also comprehend the underlying causes and theory behind why things worked as they did. Jake also liked figuring out how things worked, but he preferred to do so through testing and practical experience. Reika struck him as the type that would rather read all the research on the topic than half-arse an experiment. This was probably a good idea, in retrospect. Jake’s approach did lead to his cauldron blowing up in

just be a broken excel sheet, or he would lose a bit of money in the short term for the company. Now, after the system, Jake was just durable enough not to take severe damage even if he fucked up