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.

the side of the chamber and saw Reika tell her two followers to take off elsewhere. Jake wholeheartedly supported that decision as having two

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 a bit too impolite to keep his face covered.

got you interested in these kinds of magic puzzles and general magic theory?” Jake asked his temporary partner. Once the barrier was fully active, he felt like it was okay to ask some more semi-personal questions, and besides, it would give him an idea of why

better question to ask why I wouldn’t be interested in magic theory? It’s a fundamental power that opens numerous paths and possibilities. Is it not natural to want to solve the mysteries of this new world and discover the truth, especially when learning

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

mage, I 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

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 mage. To my knowledge, you also make liberal use of magic in combat scenarios, and does that make you a mage?” Reika once

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

poison, but I also got quite a knack for potions and a bit of off-brand transmutation here and there,” Jake said, quite excited to meet

him that they weren’t even fun talking to about alchemy.

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 some pharmaceutical methodologies recently,” Reika answered, pretty much saying: ‘I mainly do catalyst-things, potions and flask,’ in

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.

me guess, you were in Uni before the initiation?” he asked

a second but quickly waved it off as she got a bit defensive. “I was working on my dissertation when the

up his hands

“What?”

Everything’s fine. Anyway,

what? Are you looking down on

Yeah, they’re freaking moving,” Jake said as he kept smiling and appeared

she said, glaring at

eh? Two at the

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 his reputation was bad as he hadn’t done

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

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

that out of the ordinary and is triggered by the stabilized flux of mana from the previous step,” she finally answered, getting

his construct of mana as he made a particular section light up more. “Firstly, we will have to block

and then we need to open up that pathway,” Reika said, pointing at a specific part of the puzzle, “or the pathway will be mana-starved

equilibrium intact, we need to also stabilize the other side of the section, or the entire thing will go out of balance and break apart,” Jake said, not really asking but

that’s right,” she answered while Jake

than his own, and their methodologies were entirely different. Jake was the type of person who relied way too much on his gut and would often make impulsive moves and rather than 100% plan out the process from start to end, only go in with a rough draft and then micro-adjust and wing it, as he

academic that didn’t simply try to understand an issue and solve it 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 his face quite a few times. He doubted that ever really happened to her, and being a chemist before the system, it did seem like good work

work before the system, it would 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 during his concoctions due to Palate, Scales of the Malefic Viper, and