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.

side of the chamber and saw Reika tell

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. It should also be good practice for him, and besides, it would be easier to talk to her if she could see his face if a bit risky as she would

the barrier was fully active, he felt like it was okay to ask some more semi-personal

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

to outright 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 in some ways, though Arnold was far weirder, and

You’re a 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

certainly an ability of mine, but I am uncertain if that makes me classified as a mage. To my knowledge, you also make

part of what she had said. Alchemy. 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

and a bit of off-brand transmutation here and there,” Jake said, quite excited to meet

fun talking to about alchemy. Shit, he was certain he still sucked

I have also 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 some pharmaceutical methodologies recently,” Reika answered,

think she was a bit younger than him. Physical appearances weren’t always a good indicator of age anymore, so

in Uni before

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

all,” Jake said, putting up his hands

“What?”

nothing. Everything’s fine.

what? Are you looking down on me just because

See those two pathways? Yeah, they’re freaking moving,” Jake said as he kept smiling and appeared

said,

moving mana pathways, eh? Two

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,

himself. He was childish and liked having fun and fucking with people. Especially those straight out of university or those still studying. They always acted so awkwardly, even by his

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

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

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

to open up that pathway,” Reika said, pointing at a specific part

of the section, or the entire thing will go out of balance and break apart,” Jake said, not

true… yeah, that’s right,” she answered

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

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

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